Warren Buffett, Business '51, returns to Columbia to chat with students and Bill Gates
By Gabriela Hempfling
Published: November 13, 2009
On Thursday, the world’s two richest men visited Columbia.
Bill Gates, who founded Microsoft Corp., and Warren Buffett, investor-at-large, told students that the worst of the recession had passed. Speaking in Roone Arledge Auditorium, they shared their optimism with students in the Columbia Business School and Earth Institute. Buffett graduated from the Business School in 1951.
At the town-hall-style event, CNBC’s Becky Quick moderated a dialogue between the two billionaires and roughly 700 students. Before the discussion began, Quick noted the context of the event. “I do know that these are unsettling times in the economy and the markets and there is a lot of uncertainty in where we stand,” she said. The event was to be broadcast on CNBC as a segment titled “Warren Buffett and Bill Gates: Keeping America Great” on Thursday night. [CNBC Video below and alternate link here]
Neither Buffett nor Gates acknowledged any of this uncertainty. “The economy is sputtering, but we are still at the beginning,” Buffett said. With his recent purchase of the Burlington Railroad, the single largest acquisition in history, Buffett put firm support behind that idea. “The railroads are cost-effective and environmentally friendly; each one supplants 280 trucks,” he reasoned. “If America has a core future, railroads have a core future, and I am willing to bet a lot of money on it—about $34 billion.” . . .
Mixed reactions from the crowd, shoes and toast welcome former president
By Katy Anderson Published: March 19, 2009
Perhaps the most powerful man in the world for the last eight years, former president of the United States George W. Bush, gave his first speech since leaving office in Calgary on Tuesday.
The setting outside the Telus Convention Centre was intense as approximately 200 shoe-baring protestors rallied outside-- four of whom were arrested-- and at least two snipers were visible on the rooftop of a neighboring building.
The Calgary Police Service separated the activists from the 1,500 guests who had paid $400 to hear the Texan speak. Guests included members of Calgary's economic elite-- one protestor suggested to a friend that these were the real capitalists, "all they were missing was a monocle"-- to two of Calgary's aldermen, John Mar and Ric McIvor, and former-Alberta premier Ralph Klein.
The lunch not only garnered front pages in the city, but across the continent. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann featured the event on his Countdown program, bringing Canadian Gail Davidson of Lawyers Against the War onto his program.
Davidson led the fight in calling for Stephen Harper, who declined to comment on Bush's visit, to bar the former American president from Canada.
Davidson told Olbermann (alternate link to YouTube clip) and his viewers that Canada has a legal obligation under the Convention Against Torture to either prosecute him or extradite him to a country that is willing and able to do so.
"The fact of the matter is, if we're going to look at stamping out torture, the torture created and administered by the Bush administration has to be remedied and one of the principal remedies is criminal prosecutions of those people that are responsible," she said. . . . --NewsHammer 3/27/2009
Associated Press / Boston Herald Published: March 30, 2009
. . . The case against the American officials — including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith — was brought by human rights lawyers before Spain’s investigative judge Baltasar Garzon, who has sent it on to prosecutors to see if the charges merit a full investigation.
It alleges the men gave legal cover to the torture of terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by claiming that the U.S. president could ignore the Geneva Conventions . . .
I came across an article this week entitled “Obama Stands Nuremberg on Its Head,” by Mike Farrell, a contributor for the progressive web magazine Truthdig. His opening paragraph:
“President Obama’s decision to spare CIA torturers from prosecution stands the Nuremberg principles on their head. ‘Good Germans who were only following orders’ are not exempt from the bar of justice. Individuals must be held responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Last week, United States President Barak Obama released four memos outlining the interrogation techniques authorised by the Bush Administration. Techniques included waterboarding, sleep deprivation, stress positions, slapping, and covering a prisoner’s body in insects, Fear Factor style.
Just for some background information, waterboarding was among the torture methods used by the Japanese against American prisoners of war in World War II. I know people whose grandfathers were awoken in the night from nightmares of when they were prisoners of Japan.
Although President Obama has put a stop to the practices outlined in these memos, he said that he would not be prosecuting CIA agents who did the torturing. At Nuremberg, making sure that the Holocaust trains ran on time was found to be a crime. How flimsy the rule of law seems these days. . . .
I received an email update this morning from my Representative, Congressman Robert Wexler from Floirda’s 19th congressional district. The subject line: Wexler Calls for Special Prosecutor on Torture
I wanted to share it with you to prove that some people on the Hill are trying to bring these offenses to light and attempt to begin repairing the many criminal and heinous acts form what history will remember as one of the darkest times in America’s history. Or perhaps I just want to prove it to myself.
I hope this catches on like a house on fire. If this initiative is blocked, it will happen at the Executive level, in which case I’ll have all faith in “change.” Still, this is a step in the right direction. The email begins below.
Dear Friends,
Yesterday, I signed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to investigate the Bush Administration and Justice Department’s role in authorizing torture. With the release of the so-called “Torture Memos” last week, and the instrumental role that Bush Administration Justice Department and Executive Branch officials had in orchestrating and approving these techniques, it is evident to me that we need an independent investigation into this troubling series of events that have damaged our national security and diminished our nation before the eyes of the world.
What at first appears to be a relatively innocuous memo lifted from the pages of George Orwell’s 1984 is in fact an accurate account of the treatment by US forces of two detainees
By Sebastian Henderson Published May 12, 2009
Take a journey down into the depths of the Ministry of Truth’s Records Department and fact check history. Change the names of Julia and Winston to Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and Abu Zubaydah. Replace the names Ministry of Love to Joint Task Force Guantánamo, the Ministry of Peace with the Department of Defense and Emmanual Goldstein with Osama bin Laden. When life begins imitating literature in strange and dangerously coincidental ways, we must put the plagiarists on trial. . . .
Campus groups address one another, York admin via press release
By Ryan Buchanan Published: March 18, 2009
The recent sanctions York imposed on the Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), Hillel at York and Hasbara Fellowships at York were not enough to silence the groups. Less than a week after the conclusion of the controversial Israel Apartheid Week, the opposing organizations issued press releases condemning the other of harassment, intimidation and actions contrary to the sanctions recently imposed against them. On March 13, Hillel at York and Hasbara Fellowships at York issued a press release to ask the York administration why they continued to allow SAIA to operate on campus, despite the sanctions imposed against them.
“It is outrageous for York University to issue a news release announcing disciplinary actions while refusing to take action itself against a suspended group operating contrary to the sanctions against it,” stated Daniel Ferman, president of Hillel at York, in the March 13 press release. York University vice-president students Rob Tiffin said there is a difference between representing a group and sharing the group’s views. “I think what they [Hillel and Hasbara] might be referring to is Vari Hall, where we have a very liberal policy for people who come in to set up,” Tiffin said. “My understanding is that the people coming to set up are not members of SAIA per se, but may certainly be supportive of SAIA’s views.”. . .
Students and admin work to improve York University
By Scott McLean Published March 18, 2009
In an effort to prevent intimidation and harassment on campus, York University president Mamdouh Shoukri announced that he would set up a task force to review concerns about the student environment on campus. He, however, stopped short of potentially setting restrictions on the use of Vari Hall. The York president said he would be surprised if the task force resulted in tightened restrictions on the use of Vari Hall since he was proud of easing the restrictions last year when he saw peaceful demonstrations. He explained that there were only a few incidents where he “thought the dialogue was not at the level that one should expect.”
Shoukri didn’t cite a specific event that sparked the need for a task force but spoke in general terms about the environment on campus in recent weeks. “With all of these events, I feel that it is really important that we look at what we are doing, and we look at our current policies, whether they improve the learning environment or actually are creating hurdles for our students to learn,” he said. Shoukri released the names of seven faculty members of the task force. Among them were Patrick Monahan, the dean of Osgoode Law School and newly appointed vice-president academic, and Rob Tiffin, York vice-president students. The task force will also consist of seven students chosen through an application process.
Adonis El-Jamal, a spokesperson for the Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) – one of the groups recently fined by the university for recent events in Vari Hall – said he didn’t think the task force was independent. “We would be better served if this was an independent task force, absent from individuals such as Rob Tiffin, who just recently arbitrarily suspended and fined groups for participating in a political protest,” he said. . . .
York University began the winter term in a controversial fashion. Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) arrived on York’s Keele Campus, stirring the emotions of an often-divided student body.
By Ryan Buchanan Published: March 11, 2009
IAW is a controversial event; its goal is to raise awareness about the alleged Israeli apartheid system.[Alternate Video Link to Israel awareness at York University, above] “The overall goal of IAW is to raise awareness about the plight of the Palestinians and the state of Israeli apartheid,” said Adonis El-Jamal, SAIA media spokesperson. The protests were tamer this year compared to recent years. This is likely due to the sanctions that the university issued against SAIA and two of York’s Jewish student organizations – Hillel at York and Hasbara Fellowships at York – for disrupting classes in Vari Hall during protests last month.
Hillel at York president Daniel Ferman disagreed with the sanctions but said he wanted to see the university impose them more equally. “I think the university needs to take a closer look at how it’s applying the Student Code of Conduct,” he said. “What we are looking for is for it to be applied fairly to every incident and not just in isolated cases.” Aaron Rosenberg, president of Hasbara Fellowships at York, disagreed with the distribution of the sanctions to an even greater degree. “It’s obvious that these sanctions are not fair because they gave different sanctions to different groups,” he said. “It’s never fair when sanctions are handed out unevenly.” El-Jamal condemned the sanctions as oppressive.
“We condemn the use of the Student Code of Conduct and think it’s an illegitimate code used to repress student activity and political debates on campus,” said El-Jamal. . . .
Pro-Israeli students say university failed to properly defend their rights
By Alexandra Birukova Published: March 4, 2009
Over the past month, York University’s Keele Campus has seen a number of clashes between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian students, leading some groups to accuse the university of not doing enough to protect students from intimidation. The events that took place on Feb. 11, [Alternate Link to Excalibur Video, above] specifically the impromptu protest outside Hillel’s office in the Student Centre, have raised concern from some students. Daniel Ferman, the president of Hillel at York, said that the heated atmosphere on campus has left some students feeling intimidated. “I think the university should take its Code of Conduct and enforce it on a regular basis. [They should] apply it equally to all parties involved and ensure that it’s applied equally and fairly,” Ferman said.
Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) spokesperson Adrianna Boni said none of the events of the past few weeks have been ethnically or religiously directed toward the Jewish community. . . .
Statement: Jewish Canadians Concerned about Suppression of Criticism of Israel
We are Jewish Canadians concerned about all expressions of racism, anti-Semitism, and social injustice. We believe that the Holocaust legacy "Never again" means never again for all peoples. It is a tragic turn of history that the State of Israel, with its ideals of democracy and its dream of being a safe haven for Jewish people, causes immeasurable suffering and injustice to the Palestinian people.
We are appalled by recent attempts of prominent Jewish organizations and leading Canadian politicians to silence protest against the State of Israel. We are alarmed by the escalation of fear tactics. Charges that those organizing Israel Apartheid Week or supporting an academic boycott of Israel are anti-Semites promoting hatred bring the anti-Communist terror of the 1950s vividly to mind. We believe this serves to deflect attention from Israel's flagrant violations of international humanitarian law.
B'nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress have pressured university presidents and administrations to silence debate and discussion specifically regarding Palestine/Israel. In a full-page ad in a national newspaper, B'nai Brith urged donors to withhold funds from universities because "anti-Semitic hate fests" were being allowed on campuses.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff have echoed these arguments. While university administrators have resisted demands to shut down Israel Apartheid week, some Ontario university presidents have bowed to this disinformation campaign by suspending and fining students, confiscating posters, and infringing on free speech. . . . --NewsHammer 3/21/2009
By Surekha Ratnatunga Published: February 20, 2009
Amidst the swelling crowd at Kimmel’s cafeteria Wednesday night, NYU Local’s Charlie Eisenhood began what has now become a legendary lesson in liveblogging with the prophetic words:
Somebody just asked me if I needed a number for legal counsel if I get thrown in jail. Looks like this might be a bit more than a dance party.
Just before 10PM, TBNYU! [Take Back NYU] barricaded the doors to the cafeteria and began reading out a list of demands, which included budget disclosure, making Bobst [library] public and giving aid/scholarships to Gaza. Half an hour later, NYPD had a small presence outside Kimmel. According to Charlie’s coverage, TBNYU! members were open to negotiating with administrators from the start.
Before protesters started taking naps around 3.30AM, the occupation seemed somewhat wholesome. Charlie got some great pictures of people dancing, painting posters and playing cards. One NYU Security guard was quoted as saying, “It’s not a barricade, we could tear that down anytime. Get something heavier.”. . .
Click on sub-heads to continue reading the original articles from NYU Local. If your Feed Reader doesn't support videos, click on [Video] to open them on Youtube.
9:54 PM - Doors barricaded. [3rd floor student center dining room] “This is now an occupied space!” . . .
10:04 PM - This is for real. A Take Back NYU student leader just read the list of demands. . .
11:14 PM - I sat down with Maria Lewis, a TBNYU member and major organizer (although she wouldn’t admit to that since TBNYU is a non-hierarchical group), a moment ago to discuss why the group decided to make such a drastic move. She told me that they’ve been trying to “work with the administration for 2 years,” and their letter writing, press conference holding, and calm discussion failed. They can’t understand why there is “no transparency with our tuition dollars.” She told me that, since being nice didn’t work, “[they] decided to take it up a notch.”
Lewis continued, “We want to be democratic participants in this institution of learning…We decided to physically reclaim the space, to take back the space.” She also stressed that they were doing this in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza strip. . . .
12:31 AM - Fearless prediction: The administration isn’t going to have any of this. . .
5:13AM - Only a hardcore handful remain awake. The lights can’t be turned off so it’s pretty difficult to drift off, even at this hour. I’m wishing I could sleep, but prowling addictinggames.com instead. . . .
10:11 AM - The smokers are going crazy. They haven’t been able to smoke since around 9 last night. One guy just said to me, coffee in hand, “When I get a cigarette in me, I’m gonna pass out from ecstasy.”
10:29AM - Negotiations beginning now.
10:35AM - I have been informed by the girl who dislikes me (”fucked up” comment last night) that I am not allowed to listen to the negotiations because I am here as press and not as an activist. I did catch the first part - no concessions to open the balcony for smokers/press conference. Not a good start…
12:27PM - The delay of the press conference seems to be caused by a desire to wait for more students to gather out front.
12:45PM - Straight up ridick. There is a girl topless outside standing by the barricade. [Feminist Ninjas from NYU, "Show your tits for TBNYU! . . ."] Lots of people. No press conference yet. . . .
2:52PM - BREAKING: Between 20 and 40 guards just entered Kimmel. Fear is setting in.
4:58 PM - Chant begins: “Disclose it/Get off it/Put students over profit”
5:02 PM - Conference underway. [Balcony Rally Video] “We will not stand for these scare tactics!” (referring to threats of expulsion). “We demand the administration negotiate with us now!”
5:09 PM - Protesters just asked for support from crowd all night, particularly at 1 AM at which time they are supposedly illegally here. . . .
Day Two Night, February 19, 2009 NYU Kimmel Occupation / Street Rally
8:19 PM - This is the most negative I’ve seen the group tonight. I’m overhearing talks of failure and fear. People are worried about being arrested and/or expelled. A little tense in here.
8:23 PM - @Kristen: As long as they need to, they say. However, people keep leaving - that could end up causing trouble. Which leads me to @Avery: my current count is 33. It’s definitely dwindled.
8:37 PM - @Kate Turtle: I think you’re right. The people remaining here are brave; they are aware of the fact that this probably won’t end well. I’ve been thinking about what the endgame might look like. I don’t foresee negotiations - there hasn’t been even an inkling of a serious offer on the part of the administration to talk to the protesters. I think it could get rough. Discuss. . . .
9:05 PM - Lots of people just got in. Takes a little time to post to YouTube but i’ll have it shortly. Not surprisingly, people are hyped again.
9:15 PM - Well over 50 people got in. Guards are pissed, Bob is red-faced angry. Guard broke (correct to: hurt) his arm too. Yikes. . . .
11:41 PM - . . . Fearless Prediction: This is all over by 2 AM. The more little snippets of conversation I hear, the more I think NYU’s just gonna bring in the NYPD at 1. Every “negotiation” put on the table by NYU seems to have a “You’re outta here by 1 AM tonight” provision.
11:46 PM - Overheard: “Let’s not get scared, guys.” ==> Get scared, guys. . . .
11:54PM - “Negotiations about the negotiations” have begun. The administration offered, as a “favor,” a “safe haven” program which allowed students to leave and get only NYU probation. TBNYU rejected the offer. . . .
Day Two Late Night, February 19, 2009, NYU Kimmel Occupation / Street Rally / Police Scuffle / Take Back NYU Retreat
12:24AM - More confirmation of lots of cops on east side of Kimmel. Anastasia called me out in the comments as a fool — remains to be seen.
Also, fellow NYU Local staffers aren’t being allowed into the building, although WSN staffers are. Let the heat of 1,000 suns pour down upon the scuzball who decided on that policy. . . .
12:47AM - I’m sitting in my chair hearing the cries of hundreds of TBNYU supporters in front of Kimmel chanting, “Take! Back! NYU!” and catching vague clips of the TBNYU meeting I’m not welcomed into. All this while guards lurk to my right and cops are an eerie presence. The room is bristling with anticipation. 1 AM approaches. . . .
1:01 AM - The calm before the storm?
1:04 AM- We’ve been offered a chance to leave now. I can’t leave. I’ve been following this story for over 28 hours straight. I know you all are waiting to hear what happens. I got you. I’m in it for the long haul.
1:17 AM - Definitely follow the twitter feed but it’s now 1:16, there’s ACTUAL rioting in the street i have video of everything it’ll go up as soon as i can put it up. Negotiations seem ongoing here in the room with Bob.
NYU students face arrest and expulsion I’m hearing.
1:21 AM - Documents were just handed out to everyone. They are “safe harbor” agreements that suspend any disciplinary charges for the remainder of student’s tenure at NYU. Photo coming.
1:27 AM - TBNYU is having another secret meeting. More in a second.
"NYU Occupation Riot and TBNYU Scurry Away" [Video] 2:08AM - Correction: They will be allowed to stay the night but there will be NO amnesty and NO negotiations. They have no safety net. They can be fully prosecuted by NYPD and NYU. (at least for now)
As for me, this must end my time as a liveblogger here at Kimmel. I absolutely need sleep. But we’ll be back tomorrow with the final story of what happens to TBNYU.
12:13 PM - Hey, all. Charlie here. I just spoke to Emily Stainkamp and she informed me that administrators and security guards raided the 3rd floor and rounded up the remaining protestors. They are all being suspended.
The team of five negotiators (before this raid) went to negotiate and were apparently detained and suspended as well. It’s currently unclear if any negotiations actually took place.
Three days have now passed since the end of my long stay inside the barricaded Kimmel dining hall and I’ve finally had a chance to sit down and collect my thoughts about the experience. I have some information to share that I couldn’t publish during the occupation (for various reasons) and ideas about why the response from the NYU and outside community has been resoundingly negative. . . .
The third floor of Kimmel has been cleared and no arrests made. None of the 13 demands of TBNYU! have been met and there were never any extensive meetings with the administration about meeting them. . . .
Alexander Deschamps, Steinhardt ‘09, was the only NYU student arrested during the occupation of Kimmel last week. He was charged with unlawful assembly, inciting a riot, resisting arrest and obstruction of governmental administration after climbing a ‘No Parking’ sign outside of Kimmel late night Thursday, according to NY Daily News. . . .
After emerging breathlessly from her 3rd day spent holed up in Kimmel, TBNYU!’s Farah Khimji had much to say concerning her epic ordeal. Alongside New York City Councilman Barron, Khimji made claims of security guard brutality, including “3-4 big men throwing [her] to the ground.” She explained that all TBNYU students that remained until Friday (an estimated 10 students) were to be suspended and kicked out of NYU housing.
According to both Khimji and James Devitt of the NYU Public Affairs Office, the protesters will be escorted by security to collect their belongings, but they are not allowed back into any NYU buildings, including their dorms. The administration will be offering those without a place to go “alternative housing” for a period of time, but Devitt would not go into specifics with me. Some students accepted this proposal, while others declined. However, all students involved who were suspended have lost their housing. . . .
Pro-Palestine euphoria and accusations of anti-Semitism echoed across campus last Wednesday after students voted to support the Gaza Crisis victims at an Emergency General Meeting last week
By Girish Gupta Published: February 16, 2009 Attracting over 1,000 students, the meeting maintained quorum even after a last-minute mass walkout in protest against the “Gaza Crisis” motion. Following the successful vote, there were renewed attempts by those in favour of the motion to occupy the University’s John Owens Building, but they were thwarted by Campus Security’s quick decision to lock all gates. Some protesters did, however, climb over the fences, chanting in support of Palestine and calling for the resignation of Vice-Chancellor Alan Gilbert.
A week of occupations, rallies and speeches around the University of Manchester had brought student enthusiasm to fever pitch, seeing them queue throughout the Union building to get into the meeting. Academy 2 was filled with 500 people, while a similar number spilling over into Biko’s Café next door. . . .
Hate mail, abusive e-mails and spitting are just some of the acts of anti-Semitism experienced by Jewish students on campus since the start of the new semester.
Tensions have been particularly wrought between pro-Palestinian students and their Jewish counterparts since the recent conflict in Gaza. . . .
The emergency General Meeting last Wednesday missed reaching quorum by just a handful of students, causing frustrated activists to take to the streets in protest.
Supporters of the motion claimed that the doors had been locked during the quorum count to verify the presence of at least 500 students, preventing seats from filling up. Members of the Jewish Society were accused of blocking entry to prevent the vote on the motion in support of Gaza from going ahead. . . .
More than 150 students staged a sit-in protest outside the University Vice-Chancellor’s office last week to demand a stronger and more proactive position from the University on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. . . .
A pro-Palestine demonstration culminating in the 27 hour occupation of a university building has sparked controversy because it was held during the busy exam period.
Action Palestine protesters teamed up with Socialist Worker Party students to highlight the plight of Palestinians, while condemning Israel for their attacks on Gaza. University administration was also criticised by the protesters for its continued support of firms known to be involved in arms trade with Israel despite official policies to the contrary. . . . --NewsHammer 2/19/2009
Program termination one of three short-term suggestions outlined in panel assessment report
By Jane Switzer Published: February11, 2009
The University has moved to immediately terminate the Intergroup Dialogue Program following a recommendation from a report assessing its usefulness in residences.
The program, created by Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Arig Girgrah, consisted of six trained student intergroup facilitators who lived in residence and whose mandate was to engage students living in residence in discussions and activities related to diversity.
The report was written and submitted to Vice-Principal (Academic) Patrick Deane [photo] by a panel made up of Rector Leora Jackson, professor emeritus John Meisel and law alumnus, former MPP for Kingston and the Islands, former Ontario cabinet minister and former Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, Keith Norton. . .
The report acknowledges the program was the subject of widespread criticism by national media outlets such as the Globe and Mail, who wrote about the program in a Nov. 20 editorial, saying “The nanny state has hired the KGB” and calling the intergroup facilitators “spies.” Deane said it’s obvious that a program that attained so much negativity would find it difficult to achieve its goals. . . .
By Jeff Fraser The Journal / Opinions Published: February 11, 2009
With so much sensational reporting, it’s the responsibility of the press to ensure news is accurate.
I’m not sure which was harder to watch last semester: the Globe and Mail vilifying six average undergraduates for nothing worse than trying to teach first years about diversity, or the number of students who bought the hyperbole. It’s still a mystery to me why we’re so willing to accept an image of our Alma Mater as a democracy-hating master of puppets, but I did learn one thing from the experience: even the national media is looking for a flashy front page. Gone are the days when good reporting was the mark of a good newspaper. Sensationalism is now the only way the corporate media can keep readers’ attention away from the Internet. . . .
Beware the campus thought police National Post Published: November 20, 2008
Just who is Queen's University trying to kid? The school may call its new political-correctness cops "facilitators." It may insist they will not be eavesdropping on private conservations, "preaching" to students they overhear using "offending terms," serving as "disciplinarians" or being judgmental. But administrators are simply deluding themselves with euphemisms if they swallow their own tripe. . . .
By Margaret Soltan University Diaries Published: February 12, 2009
Happens all the time. This one happened in Canada. As long as decent people exist, these programs will die on the vine. But eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
Calling it “incompatible with the atmosphere required for free speech,” Queen’s University in Kingston yesterday scrapped its controversial “dialogue facilitator” program.
It caused a scandal last year when it was revealed the six student “facilitators” were mandated to intervene in private conversations to encourage discussion of social justice issues and discourage offensive language. . . . --NewsHammer 2/15/2009
Surfing the Web may soon disappear entirely from Georgetown classrooms, as a growing number of professors enact policies either banning or discouraging laptop use during lectures and discussion sections
By Kevin Suyo Published: February 9, 2009
For David Goldfrank, a professor in the department of history, the turning point came at the beginning of a World History II discussion section in 2007.
“I started with a directed question, and the student replied, ‘Wait a minute, please. I need to turn on my computer where I have my notes,’” Goldfrank said. “[ … As a professor,] I don’t want to know what is in your computer; I want to know what is in your head.”
From then on, Goldfrank said, he has banned laptops from all of his classes.
With these sorts of policies, Georgetown follows an increasingly popular trend that has been documented at colleges nationwide, including Yale University and The George Washington University.
Georgetown Law Professor David Cole conducted a test in one of his courses that resulted in 80 percent of students stating that they are more engaged without their computers in class, 70 percent of students liking his no-laptop policy, and 95 percent of students confessing that they had used their laptop for purposes not relating to the course material, he said in a recent Op-Ed in The Washington Post. . . . --NewsHammer 2/15/2009
Engineers caught by Police, five students arrested at Ironworkers Memorial Bridge
By Samantha Jung Published: February 2nd, 2009
February 2, 2009—9:12pm: Five UBC Civil Engineering students were arrested early Monday morning when their faculty’s annual prank failed.
Vancouver police officers responded to a call at 4:15am from concerned citizens, who spotted the students attempting to hang the shell of a Volkswagon Beetle off the side of the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing. The students were caught red handed and arrested. Later that morning, the cables the engineers were attempting to use snapped, and the shell fell into the Burrard Inlet.
This the first time engineering students have been caught performing their annual prank, says Chris McCann, president of the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS). Engineering pranks are annual traditions, performed to commemorate Engineering Week, which runs February 1 to 7 this year.
The first prank, or “STUdeNt projecT,” involving a Volkswagen beetle was in 1980, when students placed it on top of the Ladner Clock Tower. Past pranks include the theft of the 9 O’Clock Gun at Stanley Park in 1969 and of the Rose Bowl trophy from the University of Washington in 1992. Previous pranks involving the Volkswagen beetle hung from a bridge include the Lion’s Gate Bridge last year, and more famously, from the Golden Gate Bridge in 2001. --NewsHammer 2/04/2009
A proposed talk by Colonel Geva Rapp, head of ground operations for the Israeli military in Gaza at the Union of Jewish Student’s London Student Centre yesterday was met by a large protest including student activists from University of London colleges
By Joe Rennison Published: January 30th, 2009
An e-mail, circulated by the organisers, described Rapp as: “deputy commander of ground forces in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza this month. Geva is the Founder and Director of Panim el Panim - an organisation committed to unity in Israel and the teaching of Jewish values amongst young Israelis in preparation for their army service.”. . .
But a source told London Student: “No, he didn’t speak. As far as I know he wasn’t going to be able to make it from quite early in the evening and that this was not to do with the protests.”. . .
With the number of protesters increasing, police called for the south side of Euston Road to be blocked off. . . .
Jen Jones, Goldsmiths College SU Campaigns and Communications officer, said: “A group of Goldsmiths students tried to get inside the building and when this happened the police began not simply stopping them or standing in their way but attacking the group trying to enter and also the entire crowd behind. The police were incredibly violent, I had my hair pulled, my ribs bruised and another student next to me was kneed in the face.” --NewsHammer 2/02/2009
By Joseph Tandy (Jan 23) The London School of Economics (LSE) campus has been the scene of a number of anti-semitic incidents, students have alleged, as tensions surrounding protests at the conflict in Gaza ran high. Continue reading
King's occupation now in progress
By Kat Lay (Jan 20) King’s students have occupied a lecture theatre in the Strand campus, calling for the university to revoke the honorary doctorate awarded to Shimon Peres last term. Continue reading
Gaza seen through Israel's eyes
By Rebecca Benhamou (Jan 20) In 2006, over a thousand people died in Lebanon - mostly civilians. The Gaza strip being the sixth most densely populated region on the planet, Israel was aware that there were going to be mass casualties if it invaded. Continue reading
More on Gaza from London Student (print edition) Volume 29 Issue 7 Jan 19, 2009
London's students divided over Israel-Palestine conflict Students around UL demonstrate on both sides of the political divide
By Joe Rennison, News Editor Protests against the ongoing conflict in Gaza have spread throughout University of London colleges over the past few weeks. Continue reading
LSE students occupy Old Theatre
By William Wilkes A group of about forty LSE students are occupying the university's Old Lecture Theatre, demanding action from the school over the conflict in Gaza. Continue reading
Who's at fault in the Gaza conflict? Israel is acting in self-defence against Hamas
By Aaron Kienwald There is no shadow of doubt that the one thing emerging from the conflict in Gaza is the terrible loss of innocent civilians on both sides. Continue reading
Palestine is the victim in a long series of wrongs
By Hilary Aked Last weekend, hordes of students joined up to 100,000 people marching in London to demand an end to Israel's barbaric onslought in Gaza, the latest in a long line of wrongs inflicted on Palestinians. Continue reading
Nearly 2,000 march at state capitol to protest proposed university budget cuts
By Adam Sneed Published: January 29, 2009
Nearly 2,000 community members and students from Arizona’s universities packed Wesley Bolin Memorial Park outside the state capitol building Wednesday to protest proposed budget cuts that could strip the universities’ budgets by up to 40 percent next year.
Wearing black clothes and carrying signs saying “40% = death” and“Don’t abandon us,” students rallied for several hours to oppose budget cuts that could be approved by legislative committees on Thursday.Mark Appleton, ASU Undergraduate Student Government president, said he was pleased with the number of students who showed up for the demonstration, which was organized in just one week by the Arizona Students’ Association.
“I think this turnout is phenomenal,” he said.
About 1,800 students attended the rally. Several buses picked students up from each university and drove them to the capitol.
Appleton said the protest was necessary for students to make the Legislature hear their concerns on the budget issue.
“I think it’s a catch-22,” he said. “If you don’t bring them here, [legislators] will say, ‘Oh we never heard from anybody, so it wasn’t a problem.’ [But] when you bring them here, it’s ‘whining.’” --NewsHammer 2/01/2009
If a student is ever curious about who is good in bed, which guys they should not have sex with or what the best sororities on campus are, JuicyCampus.com has it all.
Juicy Campus is a college gossip Web site where students can post threads about anything or anyone. The posts can be completely anonymous, and no registration is required in order to comment.
Creators of Juicy Campus think this concept enables anonymous free speech on college campuses, according to the Web site's press release.
While some posts on Chico State's section are positive and friendly, the majority are more critical of fellow students and their personal lives.
"You read some of those posts and can't help but feel bad for the people," said Matt Ivester, president and CEO of Juicy Campus. "The personal attacks and mean-spirited posts is not why Juicy Campus was created." --NewsHammer 1/28/2009
The distribution of Coca-Cola products has been banned on campus since December 2005, and the debate over the soda company’s place at NYU continued at a forum yesterday.
By Arielle Milkman Published: January 27, 2009
The University Senate brought together Coca-Cola connoisseurs, activists and community members to discuss the possible repeal of the ban.
The ban on Coca-Cola products calls for an independent investigation into the company’s human rights practices in Colombian bottling factories in the 1990s. It has been suspected that Coca-Cola may have been compliciin the murders of union leaders.
Camilo Romero, a member of the Colombian trade union SINALTRAINAL, spoke with WSN.
“Each of us [members of the union] have received less threats on our lives since the NYU Coke ban has been in effect,” Romero said. --NewsHammer 1/27/2009
The first step of a successful invasion is controlling public opinion.
Israel has done this by banning international journalists from Gaza during their bombing campaign. Word of the violence’s extent got out due to the efforts of local journalists like Sameh Akram Habeeb, who posted this photograph online. During the war, Habeeb spent his days trying to find a way to charge his computer so that he can post photographs and blog entries to bring us the horrifying images of Gaza. SAMEH HABEEB
By Naushad Ali Husein, Hilary Barlow Published: January 20, 2009
After 22 days of savage destruction that spared neither schools, homes, hospitals nor places of prayer, Israel has announced an end to its bombing campaign. Here are stories from the ground.
The first bomb lands while you’re writing your exam. You pause for a second, startled. But the occasional bomb has become commonplace these days, and you’ve studied too hard for this final, so you get back to work. Then there’s another explosion, and another. Your teacher tells you to finish the exam in the hallway, but the explosions don’t stop and you’re dismissed.
This is what happened to Sabah, a 19-year-old medical student at Gaza University. She rushed home, frantically trying to contact her family, all of whom survived. Nonetheless, the experience was an awakening for Sabah. “It was then that I realized that it was a big thing; it was not the ordinary bombing like on other days,” she said. “I am so afraid that I will lose my brothers or parents. I keep thinking about what would happen if they bombed the house.”
Freelance journalist and filmmaker Fida Qishta is also worried. She’s seen violence in her community for years, her family’s house was destroyed in 2004, but she says attacks from the Israeli army have gotten worse. According to Qishta, soldiers used to allow her and others to evacuate building before raids, but that is no longer the case. “You can’t even say anything to them. If you want to say something, you’re going to die.” She claims to have witnessed numerous acts of violence. “It’s really more violent,” she said. “Israel doesn’t [spare] anybody, not children, not civilians, not women.” She sees a double standard where the Israeli government cites self-defence while the Palestinian civilians hardly have a chance for the same. --NewsHammer 1/25/2009
College Sucks? Unigo WebGuide To Party All The Time
Cult Of Less
U Florida For Gamers: 21st Century Skills In Starcraft
Watch Live NCAA Football / College Sports
For 2010 the easiest thing is to catch NCAA college games on network or cable/sat TV, on ABC, CBS, ESPN, and the dedicated college sports cable network ESPNU.
Your best bet on the Internet is the NCAA TV website with live streaming of many college games including CBS Feeds. If you qualify you can watch some live college games on the ESPN360 website. The BigTenNetwork covering the Big Ten Conference (11 Midwest colleges) has some free live streaming and broadcasts on cable and satellite.
In the US only, you can watch a few live college games and pro sports free on ESPN360 if you qualify. College kids qualify but other viewers need broadband service from major cable providers. Other ESPN links below have some video highlights only.
The Rolling Stones/ Exile On Main St/ Unreleased / Following The River
The Doors New Film: When You're Strange
New Hendrix 1969 Valleys Of Neptune
Remembering Michael Jackson A Year Later
LaToya 2009 Tribute to June 25, 2010
Still the best video to remember Michael Jackson. Don't miss the other XPLAY.FR Jackson uploads on Vimeo that follow this one.
Michael Jackson: Dead Like Elvis
A year later not much has changed. The Media has moved on to other disasters, without stopping for a reality check. Remember the endless roll of patchy, inconsistent and conflicting reports on the death of Michael Jackson, from the same TV and print people that were better at knocking him down while destroying his reputation in a similar frenzy not so long ago? Enough tabloid confusion left to spin out his tragic death for million$ more. Sorry Michael.
Though it sounds good and should look great in a thoughtful vacuous way, I'm not sure we want the Cirque du Soleil MegaMichael Project either. The Tour starts in 2011 and the Vegas Installation in 2012. What? No $100 Million hyperbolic oxygen theater?
A recent Newsweek retrospective is a better momento mori, an album of images and text that covers "What's Left Behind" though we're still nowhere near the truth.
For a serious look back at his death and the legend that lives on see the original feature story in NewsHammerOnCampus with new updates and more video: Michael Jackson: Dead Like Elvis.
If you missed a lecture or you have a lousy prof, you could find replacement content on the Internet. The University of California at Berkeley was the first to launch its own podcasts and webcasts of lectures back in 1995 on webcast.berkeley.edu/ The Massachusetts Institute of Technology followed in 2002 with full and free access for anyone to theirMITOpenCourseWare. From course materials like required reading handouts, to the articles and books themselves you can read online, to video lectures you can watch from a vast Berkeley and MIT archive that goes way beyond science and tech. It's turned into a revolution in education with other major American universities joining like Yale, Stanford and a few other biggies. Now it's international with universities in 24 countries offering their courses online for free, about 8,000 courses you can take and some in foreign languages. The best guide to finding what's available and where, is through the OpenCourseWareConsortium.
Another 200 plus universities and colleges are making some of their material available on iTunes U and YouTube EDU. Besides taped lectures, you can find Campus Tours and other info as podcasts and webcasts. You can search through thousands of them, sexier and easier on iTunes U with clearly defined subject areas. YouTube EDU just started its own channel by collecting years of videos from all over YouTube. Searching by keywords as usual on YouTube is hit and miss. A key directory of contributing institutions is found on both, but that's all YouTube sorts for you.
Nearly all iTunes U and YouTube EDU materials are in English and from the U.S. Some UK, Canada, and Down Under sources, plus a few French universities so far. Check out the links above. Since it's all free, try it out. But remember you won't get course credits or a degree.
If you want course credit, you might be able to arrange it if your own university doesn't offer a particular course you want to take. See your faculty advisor who can find out if a prof at your university is willing to supervise and grade you, but then you will still have to pay your university a course fee. It's worth it if the online course is really important to you and you're willing to make a big effort to learn on your own. Putting your university through all this hassle and then trying to fake it, isn't going to work. You'll flunk ingloriously.
Of course if you want to get a degree entirely online you can do it, but it's not cheap or easy. As with bricks and mortar universities, be careful where you go. Some Internet Universities have set up shop to cash in on gullible students. Some are credible For-Profits, but are generally more expensive and their diplomas may be of little worth. Stick to conventional universities with an online degree program if you are obliged to study at home.
The Internet is a great place to skim for information. Finding something to read isn't easy. The Dear Diary explosion, basically the start of blogging, has produced some outstanding writing. One of the stars illuminating this overcrowded Twilight Zone since 2002 is DiamondGeezer. A bit of London slang for a decent bloke. A simple idea, to write a short story every day about living in London. To make it interesting, even fascinating, without resorting to fiction is really hard work. The result is a social document that archaeologists of the 21st Century will pore over like they would the Library of Alexandria had it survived. The hyperbole of our inflationary culture though is missing from DiamondGeezer's Social History. A spade is still a spade and the minutiae and boring nitpicking details of modern life are not dusted or deleted. What we have is honesty and candor from a friend in London who shares his ordinary life with us.
Laptop Travel
This is social networking for travellers, travel writers, and photographers on a grand scale. If you want to check out anyplace worldwide before you go, start here. Your travel buddies have been there and can show you around. No commercial hype and no bull. Go anyway you can, from backpacking to jetsetting, weekends to a summer long adventure, and plan to make it happen. A lot of students post their own blogs among thousands of others, so like in Harvard's Let's Go travel guides, you can find the perfect place and what not to miss, but in way more depth with lots of big pictures. You could spend a week happily reading up on just one country. A lot of the photos are simply great. Join and you can post your own trips and tips on your own blog at GLOBOsapiens.net
Laptop Book Reviews and Literati News
Not the racy Jane Austin Book Club. That too, pulp fiction and the classics. The focus is on serious contemporary writing in this dense and friendly book lovers' website. If you're a famed bookaholic or a backstabbing book critic on a mission to impress your friends, or a Sunday afternoon dilettante of heady books and literary magazines couching yourself to death, spend some webby time withBookslut.com/ Don't miss the companionBookslut Blog on its scramble through the literary news.
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