CU proposes rush ban after student death
BOULDER, Colo. (U-WIRE) - There may be no such thing as freshman fall rush in the future at the University of Colorado-Boulder - at least, that's what the CU administration is proposing.
In his annual state of the campus address on Tuesday, CU-Boulder Chancellor Richard Byyny announced CU is looking into a series of new initiatives to reform alcohol abuse on campus, specifically deferring freshmen rush until at least spring semester, focusing on alcohol abuse within the Greek system, and revoking the charter of CU's Chi Psi fraternity chapter.
CU freshman pledge Lynn "Gordie" Bailey was found dead in the Chi Psi fraternity house on the Hill on Sept. 17 after a night of initiation that reportedly included the consumption of mass quantities of alcohol.
He was the second Colorado college student found dead in a fraternity this month.
Investigative reporting program inaugurated
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WALTHAM, Mass. (U-WIRE) - Brandeis University will launch the new International Investigative Journalism Program with an opening ceremony featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Thomas Friedman on Oct. 18.
Florence Graves, the investigative reporter who exposed the sexual misconduct of Bob Packwood, a former U.S. senator from Oregon, will head the program. She is also a resident scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center.
According to Graves, the program is expected to serve as an institute where selected students work closely on research with investigative journalists.
The program will be based in the new Abraham Shapiro Academic Center. Graves said efforts to recruit working journalists as instructors are underway.
Graves said the program was made possible by a $1 million donation by Jerry and Elaine Schuster of Chestnut Hill.
LSU student accused of downloading child porn
BATON ROUGE, La. (U-WIRE) - Louisiana State University police and the FBI arrested Louisiana State University student Elizaveta Nikonova late Saturday night at Baton Rouge General-Bluebonnet for downloading child pornography on her laptop computer.
According to LSUPD Maj. Ricky Adams, Nikonova, a political science junior, was downloading child pornography at her part-time job as a contracted electrocardiogram technician for Southern Medical at Baton Rouge General Hospital.
In a Tuesday night interview with the Reveille, Nikonova said she downloaded the files for a sociology class. Nikonova said her professor did not assign a project on child pornography, but the subject piqued her curiosity.
She said she started downloading the files at her home. The program she was using, Kazaa, continued to download the files when she connected her laptop to the network at Baton Rouge General-Mid City. Hospital officials notified the Baton Rouge Police Department that someone was using their network to download child pornography.
Fund-raiser rewards those with fastest bed
ARLINGTON, Texas (U-WIRE) - Ryan Hoopes is building a bed, complete with a new mattress, frame and wheels.
Hoopes, the vice president of the University of Texas-Arlington Beta Theta Pi fraternity, along with other members of the group, is constructing a bed for the 24th Annual Bed Races, where team members push another on a bed down the street.
It will start at noon on Friday in the Activities Building parking lot. There must be five people per team, and anyone can participate.
Student assistant Megan Ridley said money raised from the event will go to student scholarships.
She said about 30 groups participated in the 2003 Bed Races.
John Sawyer, Delta Upsilon president, said it is a university tradition.
'Buffy' takes cult status from TV to classroom
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (U-WIRE) - David Lavery, an English professor at Middle Tennessee State University, exposed students to the phenomenon of the academic study of cult television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" at Monday's pop culture honors lecture.
In his lecture, "'I wrote my thesis on you!: 'Buffy' Studies as an Academic Cult," Lavery explored the emergence of a branch of television studies called Buffyology, or "Buffy" studies, as mentioned in the title.
Lavery himself is a "Buffy" scholar, and he and his colleague Rhonda Wilcox are two of the leaders in the study of all things in the so-called "Buffyverse."
"The Buffyverse refers to everything related to the world of 'Buffy'," Lavery explained.
The same kind of cult following "Buffy" draws from average TV viewers can also be found among those who study the show academically. A kind of "academic cult" has developed, according to Lavery.
