College News Roundup
Compiled by DCist Contributors Josh Kramer and Sarah Stonesifer
The Eagle - American:
>> AU is fine-tuning their free HIV testing program to accommodate students' schedules. They've also switched from an anonymous testing program to a confidential one. The changes aim to bring the school in line with the District government's HIV testing initiative.
>> The American University bus drivers were approved by the Undergraduate Senate to have their own union, a debate that had been going on since the middle of summer.
>> Administrators at AU's Bender Library announced new plans for the facilities and programs at the library. Maybe it will be enough to get AU off the Princeton Review's "This is a Library?" list, where it currently sits in 13th place.
The Hoya/The Voice - Georgetown:
>> The MPD has decided to crack down on local noise complaints in the neighborhoods surrounding Georgetown. Andrew Solberg, commander of the second district, has warned that he is not opposed to arresting entire houses of students living off-campus.
>> GU's Law Center recently reversed their policy prohibiting funding for students doing internships at organizations that promote abortion rights.
>> Sophomore Philip Cooney was arrested for simple assault that could be part of a possible hate crime. On September 9th, a male was attacked on 36th street by a group who yelled derogatory homophobic phrases. Cooney was identified through Facebook as being part of the incident.
The Hilltop - Howard:
>> Out of the 10,500 students enrolled at Howard, 65 percent of them are female. The 2:1 ratio of women to men is blamed on deeper problem of the high incarceration rate and low high school graduation rate of young black males -- leaving the women of Howard asking, where are the men?
Photo by slack13
The Diamondback - Maryland:
>> The College Park Wawa convenience store is closing this Sunday. Wawa, Inc. is opening a larger store with a gas station, or Super Wawa, in nearby Beltsville.
>> More than a thousands students signed up for the University Police's text messaging alert system in the wake of last week's brazen carjacking.
>> A peeping tom was caught in one of the residence halls after three incidences in the same day led to his arrest. He was looking at female students through a hole in the shower curtain as well as sneaking into the toilet stalls. The police also arrested a man who was found masturbating in his car. These crimes are not connected in any way to the sexual assaults that have occurred around College Park in the past few weeks.
The Hatchet - George Washington:
>> Smithsonian Scientists last week identified a mysterious mid-nineteenth century corpse found in Columbia Heights as the body of William Taylor White, a student at The Columbian College, which would later move to Foggy Bottom and become part of GW.
>> Department of Homeland Security Institute senior fellow Alexis Debat has been asked to leave his post at the university after it came out that he may have falsified his doctoral degree and interviews he published in a French magazine with Sen. Barack Obama, former president Bill Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi among others.
The Tower - Catholic University:
>> Senator and former presidential hopeful John Kerry will not be speaking on the campus this fall semester. After a much advertised and debated announcement, the Campus Democrats were informed that Kerry’s schedule was much too busy to fit in a visit. His pro-choice and strong Catholic faith led to many pro-life groups to contact the school to protest his moral choices. At least there won’t be a taser-incident at Catholic in the near future.