Results of Latest Alcohol Study Raises New Questions for College Campuses
By Michelle Rothman
The Diamondback
(U-WIRE) COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The first comprehensive study on drinking’s impact on college campuses, released Tuesday, found alcohol has been a factor in more than 1,000 student deaths a year. The study draws more attention to an issue many university students became aware of after the recent death of a university student from alcohol intoxication.
The study, conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Task Force on College Drinking, found drinking by college students ages 18 to 24 contributed to about 1,400 student deaths, 500,000 injuries and 70,000 cases of sexual assault or date rape each year. The data was gathered by using a number of national databases with information about drinking and its consequences.
“The harm that college students do to themselves and other as a result of excessive drinking exceeds what many would have expected,” Ralph W. Hingson, professor of social and behavioral science at Boston University and lead author of the study, said in a statement.
Many university officials and students agreed with Hingson, citing the study as a cause to increase educational efforts.
“It’s startling when you hear that such a large number of deaths occur in each year,” Student Government Association President Angela Lagdameo said. “This study should be a catalyst for us to educate others more, especially woman who are in danger of sexual abuse.”
The Feb. 14 death of freshman Daniel Reardon, 19, warned many students about the dangers of alcohol, Lagdameo said. Reardon was found unconscious in a fraternity house Feb. 8 and placed on life support. Acute alcohol intoxication with complication was later ruled as his cause of death.
“Daniel Reardon’s death instigated us to take [alcohol abuse] more seriously,” she said. “Statistics are nothing unless a person takes them seriously but once you have a death on campus you can’t refuse that. It’s a reality.”
The study also examined the amount of heavy drinking on campuses, finding that about 40 percent of students binge drink. Also, in a recent survey, about 20 percent of students reported binge drinking more than three times in a period of two weeks. Binge drinking is defined as five or more drinks in a row for a man and four or more drinks in a row for a woman.
“I would think that the study is fairly accurate to this campus,” Leah McGrath, coordinator for substance abuse prevention at the University Health Center said. “We might be a little bit under that. With that 20 percent there can be people that’d get into trouble. I think it’s important to remember that most students do choose to drink responsibly.”
Some find contention with the statistics because of the study’s definition of binge drinking, claiming alcohol affects people on an individual basis.
“I do question their definition of binge drinking,” Lagdameo said.
“I’m curious to know why they choose that definition because in my mind that should be an individual definition.”
Officials said the study is relevant to the campus but they think the university is ahead of many others. Several recommendations made by the task force to combat alcohol abuse have been implemented by the university, such as forbidding keg parties, said university spokesman George Cathcart.
Professor Writes Award-Winning Children’s Book
By Heather Danforth
The Daily Universe
(U-WIRE) PROVO, Utah – While researching a book he never finished, Brigham Young University professor Michael Tunnell stumbled onto the story of a 5-year-old girl mailed to her grandmother and turned it into an award-winning children’s book.
The few paragraphs that Tunnell, a BYU professor of teacher education, found eventually became “Mailing May,” an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book. The book detailed the adventures of a 48-pound girl mailed parcel post in 1914 under the designation of “baby chick.”
The National Postal Museum, part of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., celebrated his work last month with a “Mailing May Day” for parents and children. The museum called him in February to invite him to attend.
“Of course I didn’t have to think even a second to agree to that,” Tunnel said. “When the Smithsonian calls, you come.”
He autographed books and spoke to more than 100 people at the museum, and children participated in activities about his book and the U.S. Postal Service.
“Mailing May” was published in 1997 as Tunnell’s fourth illustrated picture book. To date, he has published eight books for a variety of genres.
When he is not writing, Tunnell teaches children’s literature to future schoolteachers at BYU and consults with students in an office that looks like the children’s section of a public library.
He enjoys teaching students the value of good children’s literature in reading education, he said. Although he once considered changing careers and attending law school, he realized that the work he was doing was too valuable to give up.
“I realized how much I loved what I was doing with literature,” he said. “I can teach future teachers how important it is to infuse children with a love of reading.”
Alexander also sees a connection between Tunnell’s teaching and his writing.
“He is a fine writer, and he’s a fine teacher, and he’s a fine teacher of literature, because he’s a good writer,” he said.
Students Compete in Quarter-Bouncing Tournament
By Gayoung Hazel Lyu
Daily Illini
(U-WIRE) CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – University of Illinois seniors in LAS Jim Drousias and Keith Murphy surpassed the performance of the Illinois men’s basketball team to make it to the Elite Eight – in quarter bouncing.
The duo competed in Bud Light’s national quarter bouncers tournament March 31 at the ESPN Zone in Atlanta. Like the NCAA Tournament, the quarter bouncing competition began with 64 teams. As in the Big Dance, teams won their way to the finals by way of regional tournament wins. Drousias and Murphy lost to the eventual champions.
“It was a lot of fun,” Murphy said, as he flipped quarters into an empty beer glass Monday afternoon at urphy’s Pub. “We were flown there, and we each received $100 spending money, free lodging at the Embassy Suite, and free food and beer all day Saturday and Sunday.”
“We first started quarter bouncing with the guys from the rugby team at the bars,” Drousias said. “We’ve been doing this since freshman year.”
The rugby team hangs out at RR Sportsgrill every Thursday night. Drousias said they saw someone hanging an ad for the tournament and thought “Hey, why not?” They won RR’s preliminary, and the regionals at the Fat City Saloon in Champaign.
The competition in Atlanta was more intense.
“We were the youngest out of the 128 people there,” Drousias said. “The majority of the contestants were over 25, and the two champions were actually in their late 30s.”
Drousias said the winners absolutely dominated the competition, because they flipped quarters from a closed fist.
Contestants threw the quarters from the three-point line into a basketball net on a mini-table shaped like a basketball court. Each were given 25 quarters and timed to see how many they could put in during four 45-second periods.
“We put in 16 quarters in one period,” Drousias said with a confident smile.
Roses, Cakes Don’t Impress Admissions Officers
By Robert M. Annis
Harvard Crimson
(U-WIRE) CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Faced with the daunting task of standing out in a crowd of nearly 20,000 Harvard University applicants, some students each year resort to gimmicks – a dozen roses sent along with their application, for example – to win over admissions officials.
Over the years the admissions office has collected “a colorful set of items” from applicants, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons said – including various desserts, a size 17 athletic shoe and a photo of one applicant’s bedroom wall, painted crimson to show school spirit.
This year’s round of admissions, which concluded last week and saw a record 19,605 applicants, brought in equally memorable items, some verging on the ridiculous.
“Maybe people think we don’t read the folders,” Fitzsimmons said.
One Harvard applicant sent dozens of gift pencils, each with a picture of the applicant and an inscription that read, “Admit [applicant’s name].”
Several candidates have printed their own versions of Time, selecting themselves as Man or Woman of the Year and including articles detailing their achievements and contributions.
Some applicants try to sweeten the deal with desserts – fruit cake, carrot cake and chocolate chip cookies – some of which are consumed gratefully by the admissions staff while reviewing applications.
The admissions office also has received Harvard insignia clothing as well as various edible Harvard Veritas shields.
But sometimes, over-eager applicants divulge too much in their quests to please.
One applicant sent in all of his corrected papers – since kindergarten. Another applicant sent in a personal diary. A third applicant sent a huge pile of recommendation letters.
“We stopped counting at 80,” Fitzsimmons said. “Although we were happy to hear from the applicant’s orthodontist that the teeth had straightened out, we didn’t think it [was relevant].”
This veritable onslaught of extraneous information can sometimes detract from the substance of the applicant’s folder, according to Fitzsimmons.
Even smaller, creative gimmicks sometimes can flop. One applicant wrote his entire essay with his foot, as demonstrated by photos taken by his girlfriend. His essay concluded with a line about his aspirations of leaving his footprints at Harvard.
But this attempt at being funny more often than not fails to impress.
“Humor is difficult to carry off,” Fitzsimmons said. “The danger is that it could actually obscure the substance.”
Cornell the Latest Ivy To Discover Grade Inflation
By Ellen Miller
Cornell Daily Sun (Cornell U.)
(U-WIRE) ITHACA, N.Y. – First it was Harvard University. Then it was Dartmouth College and Princeton University. Now, recently released figures reveal Cornell University also can assume the guilt of the grade inflation phenomenon that is being uncovered at universities across the country. Grading pattern statistics spanning the past 35 years indicate Cornell now joins many other prestigious American universities in its practice of grade inflation.
Grade inflation, as defined by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) report titled “Evaluation and the Academy: Are We Doing the Right Thing?” defined grade inflation as “an upward shift in the grade point average (GPA) of students over an extended period of time without a corresponding increase in student achievement.”
Data cataloguing grade distribution between 1965 and 2000 reveals the number of A’s awarded to Cornell students has more than doubled in percentage while the percentage of grades in the B, C, D and F ranges consequently has dropped.
In 1965, 17.5 percent of grades distributed to students were A’s, while in 2000, A’s constituted more than 40 percent of the grades received by Cornell undergraduates. This dramatic data strongly suggest the university is experiencing the phenomenon of grade inflation.
While no one can dismiss the unlikelihood that student capability has increased in the past 35 years definitively, “[the statistics] are very hard to argue [with],” said Isaac Kramnick, vice provost for undergraduate education. “Most faculty would be hard pressed to argue that today’s Cornell students are demonstrably better than Cornell students in the past.”
Assuming current student bodies are no more academically capable than student bodies in the past, members of the academic community have tried to pinpoint causes of grade inflation. The AAAS offered a number of explanations for grade inflation.
Many cite the beginning of grade inflation with the Vietnam War, when professors were encouraged to give their students higher grades, rendering them ineligible for the draft.
The AAAS also argued diversification efforts may have contributed to lenient grading procedures. To retain an ethnically and racially diversified student body and to encourage minority enrollment, universities have lowered their grading standards, according to the AAAS.
New grading policies also can be seen as contributors to grade inflation. Recently, distribution requirements have become more lenient, and students consequently are limiting their curricula to academic areas in which they perform strongly.
Spree of Vandalism Leads to Activism at Washington St. U.
By Matt Wakefield
The Daily Evergreen (Washington State U.)(U-WIRE) PULLMAN, Wash. – Tuesday’s vandalism on Glenn Terrell Mall sent a message.
On Wednesday Washington State University students responded to that message with fliers.
A group of concerned students posted fliers on the mall Wednesday in response to the words “WSU = Fag Lovers” spraypainted on the mall early Tuesday morning.
Individual students created and displayed the posters, said elynda Huskey, director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Allies Program. Posters were displayed on garbage cans, benches, walls and buildings.
“Students created one or several fliers each,” Huskey said. “Each flier represents a wide diversity of emotions, from anger to sadness. Some were just informative.”
One poster stated: “Those clothes you’re wearing are made by a gay designer.” Another declared, “Fags bash back.”
Some people misinterpreted the meanings of the fliers Wednesday. Some students thought the fliers were homophobic, said Felicia Gaskins, associate vice provost of Human Relations and Diversity.
One poster had a poem called “A Farewell to Fag-Bashing,” Huskey said. “We heard that students were interpreting that as homophobic.”
The response to the graffiti by the university and the students has been swift and decisive, she said.
“We have shown a real strength in our response,” Huskey said.
The administration’s response includes a statement released by WSU President V. Lane Rawlins via e-mail. The statement stresses the damage done to all WSU students when a group is attacked.
“We all suffer when violence and prejudice are turned against members of our community, when people are marginalized or wounded by hateful words and actions,” Rawlins said in the statement.
The office of the president also bought an advertisement in The Daily Evergreen Thursday, Gaskins said.
The Residence Life department has responded by putting on facilitated discussions, Huskey said.
“By the end of next week every hall will have had a facilitated discussion about policies and responding to these events,” she said.
Residence Life also is doing check-ins on students who might be at risk of being targeted, Gaskins said. It is important to remember laws were broken when the mall was vandalized, she added.
“However, defacing public property does not address all the issues created with the graffiti. We respond best when we all work together,” she said.
Residency Definitions Challenged in California System
By Crystal Betz
The Daily Bruin (U. California-Los Angeles)
(U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES – Definitions of in-state residency could change at the University of California and California State University systems if a state court of appeals rules in favor of a lawsuit claiming current university standards are unconstitutional.
The lawsuit, filed by UC-Hasting’s Law School student Joshua Markowitz, says the UC and CSU unconstitutionally create classes of citizens by establishing random residency requirements for tuition purposes.
Under current California Education Codes, to be considered a California resident, a student must have lived in the state with their parents for three years or be financially independent of their out-of-state parents for the same amount of time.
Currently, some students have California identification cards and even vote in the state but still are required to pay out-of-state fees.
Though the lawsuit directly targets UC-Hastings, it has potential implications for the entire university system, since all UC students follow the same guidelines when applying for in-state residency.
The monetary difference between in-state and out-of-state student fees is vast: At UC-Los Angeles, out-of-state undergraduate students pay $15,310.27, while in-state students pay only $4,236.27.
Filed by Eppsteiner & Associates LLP on behalf of Markowitz, the lawsuit names three entities – the Board of Directors of Hastings College of Law, the UC Regents and the Trustees of the CSU.
UC spokesman Trey Davis said the UC doesn’t comment on ongoing litigations. A CSU spokeswoman, meanwhile, said the school system hadn’t heard of the lawsuit and would look into it. A spokeswoman at Hastings did not comment.
Stuart Eppsteiner, lead attorney representing Markowitz in the case, said there is no rational basis for distinguishing between citizens.
“The state shouldn’t discriminate against people coming here when they are tax-paying citizens,” Eppsteiner said.
Markowitz first presented his case to the San Francisco Superior Court in 2001. When presented with the case, UC-Hastings requested “motions for judgment on the pleadings” and argued arkowitz’s complaint held no legal merit, said John Baum, an attorney hired by Hastings.
On Aug. 16 San Francisco Superior Court Judge David Garcia granted the motion in favor of UC-Hastings and dismissed the lawsuit.
Markowitz is taking his case to the State Court of Appeals, alleging UC-Hastings residency requirements are unconstitutional and violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which reads in part: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.”
Study Finds Students Often Eat on Run
By Renee Rowe
The Cavalier Daily (U. Virginia)
(U-WIRE) CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Bombarded with classes, exams and extracurriculars, busy college students rarely find the time to eat a healthy meal.
Instead, they often turn to fast food alternatives to fill their stomachs at the end of the day or between classes.
But as fast food has become an integral part of the American lifestyle, so has excess weight and high blood pressure.
“Fast food is a reflection of the pace in this country,” said Rita Smith, a registered dietician at Martha Jefferson Hospital. “People don’t take time to eat and everything is frantic.”
Eating fast food has risen from occasional to routine, while ideally it should be a rare event, Smith added.
In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion annually on fast food – by 2000, the number skyrocketed to $110 billion.
“I go to McDonald’s on a daily basis because it is fast and convenient,” first-year Engineering student Nicole Rossi said. “All I have to say is medium number three with a diet coke and it is there within a few moments.”
The 2001 Quick Service Restaurant report ranked McDonald’s No. 1 in fast food net sales. Burger King came in second, and KFC, Pizza Hut, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Hardee’s and Domino’s Pizza were among the top 10.
“We love convenience. We are not a society that likes cooking and sitting down to eat a healthy meal,” Student Health Clinical Nutritionist Susan Del Gobbo said.