10 University’s in Kansas have gone dry and moved away from the traditional drunken antics made popular through movies like Animal House.

Kansas State Collegian:

According to a Jan. 9, 2005, New York Times article, “Ban of Brothers,” at least 30 colleges nationwide have banned alcohol in fraternity houses.

These national changes are being brought about by a continuum of issues. Alcohol-related deaths and injuries have plagued fraternities in recent years - a disaster K-State’s fraternities have avoided. Other factors include rising insurance costs, social responsibility and an increasing outreach to the non-drinking college crowd.

But  not everybody is adopting the dry policy.

Article continued:

Despite the potential benefits of being a dry house, not everyone is lining up to adopt dry policies, and much of the counter-argument stems from the rights of older members to drink if they so choose.

Although many think a nation of dry fraternities is only a few years away, Pete Smithhisler, vice president for media and community relations for the North-American Interfraternity Conference, said the future is not certain.

Click here for the full article.

Plagiarism in academia is largely attributed to the students.  But at Southern Illinois University, it is the faculty right now that is being scrutinized.

Daily Egyptian reports:

Former linguistics professor Joan Friedenberg on Friday handed committee member Mike Lawrence a stack of documents from across campus with wording that is nearly verbatim from other universities.

The director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute invited Friedenberg to discuss the accusations against Southern at 150, the university’s plan to become a top-75 public research institution by its 150th anniversary in 2019.

Friedenberg said she took the opportunity to bring the other documents to Lawrence’s attention.

She said some of the possibly plagiarized material came from teaching philosophies, departmental mission statements and a Morris Library Web site segment on effective teaching.

For the full article, click here.

Apparently the college dorm rooms are increasing their posh factor.  No longer are students living in the 10 x 12 shoe box.  Oh no.  Students today just won’t settle for anything less than the best. 

CNN with the story: 

On a number of campuses, students are able to hire personal maids to clean and do their laundry. They pay moving crews to pack and transport their stuff — plasma TVs and other high-end electronics included. And they’re living large in housing that looks like anything but a dorm.

“You know it’s good when your parents walk in the room and say ‘Can I live here?”‘ says Niki Pochopien, a 21-year-old senior who just moved into swanky new living quarters for students at DePaul University in Chicago.

Known as Loft-Right, the mod-looking structure has all the amenities: expansive city views, granite countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms, modern designer furniture and satellite TV hookups. The lobby lounge — like something out of a hip hotel — has a pool table and fireplace, and soon will have a Starbucks and tanning and hair salons next door.

But what are they losing by living in the high rise dorms and is it worth the cost?

Article continued:

…the focus on living the good life is driving up the already burdensome cost of college — and causing some students to ask for more grants and rack up more debt than they normally would.

“Students and school employees are living in increasing luxury while taxpayers are getting soaked,” says Neal McCluskey, a policy analyst for the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

Still others think there’s something to be said for basic communal living, especially for underclassmen.

“The traditional college dormitory with two students to a room and a bathroom and common room down the hall is a pretty good way of getting students out of their rooms and away from their computers,” says Tom Kepple, president of Juniata College, a liberal arts school in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. “In this environment, it’s pretty hard to avoid getting to know your fellow students and how to live in a community.”

Is this the path that college life is taking?

Apparently a new sport called squirrel fishing is taking hold at the Harvard and University of California campuses.

According to Wikipedia:

There has been some debate over where squirrel fishing originated. The practice was popularized either by Nikolas Gloy and Yasuhiro Endo, at the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, or by the Berkeley Squirrel Fisher’s Club (BSF), an official student group at the University of California at Berkeley. BSF has been featured in several local periodicals.

Though nuts may seem at first to be the perfect bait for the rough and tough squirreling angler, apparently there have been deviations from the original practice of nut baiting.

Article continued:

… some squirrel fishers now choose to use prunes or apple slices as bait, by running fishing line or string through the fruit. This creates a tougher challenge for the squirrel, as it must chew its way through the fruit to free it from the line.

Bear fishing soon to be implemented on campuses near you.