Entries for July 2008

This fall, the State University of New York will enroll 150 Chinese students who were affected by the earthquake in Sichuan province in May, covering their tuition and living expenses, the Chronicle of Higher Education writes. The agreement, which includes 22 SUNY campuses and was negotiated with the Chinese government, stipulates that the students agree to return home after a year to rebuild the local economy.

SUNY plans to raise $5 million privately for tuition and living expenses, while the Chinese government will pay travel and visa costs.

The University of Maryland sent a campus alert today warning students of a "possible cougar" on the College Park campus, the Washington City Paper reports. The cougar (the nonhuman type) has been seen at least twice and was described as "light tan and tawny brown, about 4 feet long with a 4 foot tail, and weighing about 50 pounds."

Cougars are not indigenous to the state (or anywhere so far east of the Rockies, really), leading to some confusion among Maryland public-safety officers. "We have never dealt with this before," said a DPS captain. "We will get the occasional report of a coyote on campus, which usually will end up just being a fox."

So where did it come from? "Your guess is as good as mine," officials told the paper.

The University of Florida plans to install hand scanners at campus gym entrances at a cost of $70,000 to $100,000 for two buildings, the Independent Florida Alligator reports. Officials say the technology will help keep nonstudents out of the facilities and will allow students to enter without their student ID.

A university official said installation will begin in September, although the school hasn't confirmed how it will pay for the new gadgets; the university may delay tennis court resurfacing to cover the cost.

Student reaction to the plan has been mixed—with feedback ranging from "cool" to "waste of money" to "kinda creepy." The University of Georgia and the University of Richmond also use the technology.

As the recording industry continues to take copious amounts of legal action against college students for illegal downloading, it has also notched a win in Congress, pushing through a provision in the Higher Education Act that holds colleges more responsible for stopping kids from swapping copyrighted works, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

One part of the bill—which Senate and House negotiators OK'd last night and will probably be approved by Congress by the end of the week—would force colleges to use "technology-based deterrents" to combat illegal sharing on peer-to-peer networks and also urges colleges to offer subscription-based music and video services.

College students and blogs are blowing up the Internet with the release of Princeton Review's ranking of top party schools, with the University of Florida at the top. Florida also tops the list of schools with students who study the least, which, according to some, means those Gators are just supersmart. "We don't even need to study that much," says one junior. "We know that we'll still get the grade, even with a hangover." Or classes are really easy, but—whatever.

The Princeton Review also ranks lots of other stuff, including a category right up our alley—the best college newspapers, based on popularity among the student body.

1. Yale University

2. University of North Carolina

3. Howard University

4. Harvard University

5. University of Georgia

Speaking of non-U.S. News rankings, a group of Ohio University students is part of a small think tank developing alternate college rankings that will appear on the Forbes site later this summer, the Post reports. The rankings will rely mostly on output data, such as alumni success, student satisfaction, debt amount, graduation rates, and awards won by students and faculty, according to one of the students working on the project. "We're challenging the country club campus, the endowed-chair professor, and the well-funded football team that doesn't bring anything back," he said. "Ultimately, we're focusing on students and how well they do in life rather than how well they did in high school."

Another sign of the bad economic times: College students are increasingly heading to the local food pantry or proudly declaring on Facebook their use of food stamps, the Associated Press reports. At the University District pantry near the University of Washington, overall demand has risen around 25 percent, with about 150 students visiting each week. At the food-assistance program run by the Community College of Denver, demand has doubled in the past year, forcing the school to also double the pantry's $3,000 budget.

"A lot of students can't call their mom every day to ask for that extra fifty dollars," said a former Benedict College student and founder of the Facebook group "I Ain't Afraid to Be on Food Stamps." "Right now, with things the way they are, a lot of students just can't afford to eat."

College Media Network, easily the largest distributor of college newspapers online, has launched its own network of college-related websites that compete with its own clients, Inside Higher Ed reports. To the dismay of some college newspaper editors and business managers, the company introduced a beta version of Campus Daily Guides, a group of sites that feature event calendars and restaurant and bar directories for individual campuses, along with info from Rate My Professor and links to campus news, direct from college newspapers themselves.

An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday to lift an injunction that's been preventing construction of an athletic center at UC-Berkeley, the Daily Californian reports. That means that the days could be numbered for the 44 trees on the construction site that have been at the heart of the dispute between the university and eco-activists. It's the latest development in a saga that already has lasted 19 months and generated 40,000 pages of legal documentation. The organizations that have sued to stop construction on the center can appeal the decision, though—without another injunction—the university could begin work while that appeal is being considered.

The development is bound to fluster further the protesters who have been living in those trees to block construction and their supporters. On Monday, five people involved in the tree-sitting protest at UC-Berkeley were arrested after allegedly attempting to plant an acorn sapling on the chancellor's lawn, the Californian reports.

"We went down...and planted a tree on his lawn, basically giving him a gift of kindness and an offering from the grove," said the de facto leader of the protest. "If I was a public servant...I would welcome that and say thank you for giving us a new life, especially during global warming."

The five were charged with trespassing, attempt to injure, vandalism, and conspiracy, according to the Californian. One also was charged with resisting arrest, and another was charged with battery for allegedly hitting a police officer in the head with a wooden pole, the paper says.

University of California officials are deciding what to do with the names of UCLA and UC-Irvine's engineering schools, both named for Broadcom founder Henry Samueli, who recently pleaded guilty to lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission about the manipulation of $2.2 billion in stock options, the Daily Bruin reports. UC has launched a review of the two engineering schools' names and could strip Samueli's name from both.

For kids who aren't marketed to enough, Sam's Club now offers membership targeted at college students, Reuters reports. The promotion includes a $15 gift certificate and a free second card to add a friend or roommate, so you can both buy a semester's worth of Easy-Mac and red and blue plastic cups in bulk.

Three Penn State bars owned by one company have come under scrutiny as "nuisance bars" after the state liquor board earlier this month voted against renewing the company's liquor license while a number of incidents requiring police presence continue to harry the establishments, the Daily Collegian reports.

The bars have come to the attention of the State College Borough council recently. Council members mostly agreed that problems exist but said that the company should be given a chance to clean up its act. "All I know is that it is kind of a nuisance for the State College Police because they spend a lot of time on calls to it," said one council member. "I think there is a case for pulling the license, even though I hate to see it happen to them." The attorney for the company that owns the bars did not respond to the Collegian's call for comment in time for the story.

Just this weekend (in the middle of the summer, no less), four people were charged with offenses ranging from underage drinking, disorderly conduct, and harassment to various combinations of the three at one of the bars in question. That bar, Lulu's, according to the Collegian, also has faced several liquor code violations before and was the site of a fatal stabbing in 2006, when it was known as Club Love.

Less than a year after a student was caught hacking into the Harvard's ID system last year, the university has unveiled a new ID card system that uses Smartcard technology, the Harvard Crimson reports.

With only ID numbers and $200 card reader bought off eBay, the hacker, a Harvard undergrad, had duplicated the ID cards of high-ranking officials, including university President Drew Faust, allowing him special access to campus facilities.

The change updates a 15-year-old system and brings Harvard up to speed with Princeton, Yale, and MIT.

The number of alcohol-related offenses at Ohio University this past school year has been reduced by more than half since three years ago, dropping from 1,597 in to 764, the Post reports. Since the 2005-06 school year, the school has enacted more antidrinking initiatives, such as steeper academic sanctions, a $100 fine, and intensified interventions.

A school survey also shows that the number of drinks per week decreased by two last year and the incidence of drinking at least three times a week dropped by 12 percent.

The number of marijuana-related infractions has seen more fluctuation however, starting at 261 in 2005-06, then rising to 328, and receding to 218 for 2008.

Proving once again that textbook prices are out of control, a Louisiana State University student was robbed of her books Tuesday, the Daily Reveille reports. The best part? The thief left the victim's phone, camera, and Coach purse behind.