Entries for August 2008

Tropical Storm Gustav has forced more than a half-dozen colleges in Louisiana to close today, with some New Orleans schools planning to stay closed until next Thursday.

Tulane University, Xavier University of Louisiana, and Southern University-New Orleans all canceled Friday afternoon classes and plan to restart classes Thursday. Delgado Community College plans to reopen Wednesday, and McNeese State University near the western Louisiana border hasn't confirmed a reopening date. Loyola University New Orleans will resume classes Tuesday via the Internet, using its Web-based Blackboard Learning System. On-campus classes will start on Thursday.

Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge did not cancel classes today but won't be in session Tuesday. Because of concerns over evacuation traffic and police manpower shortages, school officials and the governor's office decided to move LSU's season opener against Appalachian State on Saturday from 4 p.m. to 10 a.m. CDT.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is phasing out land-line phones, instead using the money it once spent on the seldom-used technology on wireless Internet, the Daily Nebraskan reports. The land lines cost the university up to $700,000 a year. Now, the school plans to only buy a third of its normal service for the 2008 fall semester and, by the start of the 2009 calendar, won't be signing any more phone contracts for housing at all. This also means there will be about 2,500 orphan phones fated for recycling; students who still want a phone can pay $9 a month.

With the money saved from phone lines, the school plans to spend $900,000 on wireless Internet.

Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing, is going to write a Facebook movie. Really. Sorkin announced his project on Facebook itself (how meta!) and has been fielding ideas from his adoring audience. The film will focus on the creators of the site, and my guess is it will feature the ominous dealings of a now extremely rich Mark Zuckerberg, hopefully played by someone like Jason Schwartzman or Michael Cera. But do me a favor, Sorkin. No mention of Jolt cola, please.

In other Facebook news, universities will begin experimenting with the site to send out emergency alerts to students. Maryland and UCLA are already working on projects, while Iowa, Texas, Florida State, and North Carolina have at least talked about it. Officials hope that the networking sites will not only allow the school to reach out to students but also allow students to report security concerns back to the school more easily.

The English department at UC-Berkeley has had to cut 11 classes because of statewide budget problems, which include a 10 percent decrease in funds from the state this year, the Daily Californian reports. If there's a silver lining, the number of classes that were eliminated was slightly less than expected; 16 courses was the original estimate.

As a result, students are finding it difficult to enroll in classes, and wait lists are generally longer than usual. As one transfer student put it: "I'm overwhelmed and can't think of anything but getting into classes."

The Wall Street Journal reported on the growth of temporary pop-up stores on college campuses stocked by big-name retailers like Victoria's Secret and cosmetics-powerhouse Kiehl's. Think of a hot dog stand but with overpriced lip balm rather than meat.

The mini stores—which are often open for a day or so to hand out promotional items or sell small amounts of merchandise—can turn a decent profit ($20,000 a day at Penn State for Victoria's Secret, for example) but also offer retailers brand recognition in the valuable youth market.

Victoria's Secret and Kiehl's, along with sustainable-clothing brand RVL7 and flip-flop maker Havaianas market to a dozen or fewer colleges each, usually in conjunction with the school, a campus bookstore, or a student organization.

Bike registration has increased almost threefold at Michigan State University in the past five years, the State News reports. Between July 1 and August 24 this year, 2,346 bikes were registered; 858 were registered in the same time period in 2003. Bike shop owners and the school's bike-leasing programs have also seen similar growth, especially in the past year.

Conversely, registration for commuter lot parking has declined 25 percent, decreasing from 2,124 to 1,661, although part of that can probably be attributed to higher registration fees.

An onslaught of scooters at the University of Arkansas has prompted campus police to revamp their enforcement of scooter law, the Traveler reports. Last year, scooters were mostly treated as bicycles and were allowed to ride on sidewalks and park at bike racks. But complaints of too many motorized two-wheelers speeding through the walking paths and their presence in residence hallways and elevators has forced police to change their enforcement guidelines, asking students to park in designated spots and generally watch out for pedestrians.

The University of Florida is offering Wi-Fi in two of its gyms, the Independent Florida Alligator reports. The wireless Internet network came at no extra cost to the university, which was already installing a new phone system. Officials hope the perk will encourage more students to use the gym—apparently, the thought of being away from their E-mail for an hour was keep students from working out.

The school doesn't yet have Wi-Fi in the dorms, but between this gym development, hand scanners, and new electricity-producing elliptical machines, the university has one of the most tech-fancy college gyms out there.

Much as it has done to the news cycle, the Democratic National Convention has hijacked normalcy from college life in Denver. The Auraria Higher Education Center, a combined campus for Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the University of Colorado-Denver, canceled classes from last Saturday until this Friday, and it even planned ahead enough that it started classes a week earlier than normal, way back on August 11. Around 40,000 students, faculty, and staff members have been affected.

Even outside Denver, school life has been disrupted. Colorado Technical University, just south of the city, didn't cancel all classes but is expecting delays for commuter students. Its criminal justice department, however, has canceled a number of classes because so many of its instructors are also police officers who have been called for convention-related security.

For students who couldn't hightail it out of convention central, life has been eye-opening but mostly frustrating. University of Colorado-Denver students have been living behind gates ("Two weeks into college, everyone left, and we're just kind of stuck," said one student), while others pulled out their walking shoes. "I can't even get my car in here," a freshman said. "Last night I had to park 8 miles away and walk. It sucked."

Zombie Nation's song "Kernkraft 400" is about to cost the University of Central Florida about $400,000 in construction costs, the Central Florida Future reports. Students jumping and dancing in synchrony to the late-'90s techno hit was causing the school's brand-new, 45,000-person football stadium to sway at every game, earning the stadium the nicknames "The Trampoline" and "Bouncehouse."

The school, which will be responsible for about 25 percent of the cost, is now working to stiffen support beams in the stadium end zones by welding extra steel to the bottom of the beams and girders. By reducing the sway 50 percent, UCF hopes to improve "fan comfort" and ease the anxieties of the more sedate fans. Stadium officials say that the swaying is not a safety or structural concern.

If a Central Florida stadium malfunction story seems familiar, you might be thinking of last year's water shortage nightmare. During the stadium's first game ever, 18 students were hospitalized for heat exhaustion, in part because the structure had no water fountains. The school quickly installed fountains.

As for "Kernkraft": Students can rest assured that the song will still be played, albeit less frequently.

UC-Berkeley's Daily Californian is sadly not immune to the dreary fate of the newspaper industry and is implementing some drastic money-saving strategies in the upcoming year. The paper announced it will no longer publish a print edition on Wednesdays and plans to cut 25 percent of its staff, along with editor and reporter salaries.

The 137-year-old publication, which has a circulation of 10,000, has been independent from the university since 1971. The paper hopes to set up an endowment and is revamping its advertising strategy in hopes of returning to a five-issue-a-week schedule.

As students return to the University of Iowa campus this week, reminders of the flood that swept through the area in June still subtly appear, the Daily Iowan reports. Most students, especially freshmen, have hardly noticed a difference. Some worried that they'd be diverted to temporary housing or that school would start late, but almost all students ended up where they began and were settling in on time.

However, half of the campus's emergency phones and parking lot lights have not been brought back online. More police officers, security guards, and student security guards are patrolling those areas for the time being.

Temporary boilers remain in place to heat some showers and rooms (although the latter is hardly necessary in August and September). Permanent heaters should be in place in late September. UI also has counselors on hand to talk with students affected by the flood. The counselors are part of the Project Recovery Iowa program, administered by the state's Department of Human Services.

Several Penn State dining halls have converted to vegetarian or vegan foods—to the dismay of the diner who enjoys a greasy plate of fries every once in a while. According to the Daily Collegian, at least one cafeteria ditched the deep fryer and instead features a salad and fresh fruit bar, organic foods, and meat alternatives. The entrees all have 400 or fewer calories and the desserts 150 or fewer.

The transition hasn't been seamless, with students complaining of cardboard-like pizzas, small portions, and too few options. "Sometimes you just need a deep fryer," says one student.

As part of its battle against excessive partying, Southern Methodist University will adopt a new party registration policy this fall, the Daily Campus reports. Student organizations like fraternities and sororities must register all events that serve alcohol and are "publicized or advertised in any manner, either in print, online or through word of mouth"—even when they are off-campus. A group must apply 10 days before the event and be approved by a small committee comprised of police and school representatives and two students.

The new policy also says that parties can be held only between Fridays at 3 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m.

Police believe they found the body of a missing University of Iowa professor who was charged with four counts of accepting bribes for allegedly trading grades for sexual favors, the Daily Iowan reports. Law enforcement officials said that the scene where Arthur Miller was found conveyed "some consistencies and similarities that it is a suicide." The political science professor's wife reported him missing August 20 and said he had left a "cryptic" note that was "apologetic." Police quickly found his car near a park that day. In the car were Miller's cellphone, wallet, identification, and two boxes of ammunition with three missing shells that matched the gun police eventually found next to the body.

Although the search was suspended the next day, individuals continued to conduct their own searches, which eventually led to the discovery of the body. It has not been officially confirmed to be Miller. An autopsy is to be conducted Tuesday morning.

Four female students accused Miller of asking for sexual favors, including exposing their breasts and letting him fondle them, in exchange for better grades. Miller had been put on paid leave, and investigators had been inspecting his E-mail since he had been charged on August 8.