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.” . . .
Going to college could be a life-threatening experience or about the best thing that ever happened. Basically you decide. To steer through the obstacle course without crashing, check out your college newspaper online before you parachute in as a freshman. Don't jump to any fatal conclusions. The paper ergo the campus could be dull and stupid, urbane, sensible, stuffed with monkeys in suits, friendly, goofy or off the wall. Or all of the above. Resist the temptation, that you've blown it already: I'm in the wrong school! Wait, you'll find out later. Doesn't matter anyway, but looking around the paper and then the campus maze will give you some idea of what you can expect and the operating do's and don'ts you might have heard elsewhere like from your parents or your big brother.
Be prepared for confusion and stress, but don't take it seriously. Everybody's going through it. Under all the conflicting emotions, the good and bad decisions, is the classic 3-way student dilemma. In the struggle between social life, grades and growing-up, who's going to win? If you're a Young Republican or a Nerd, you've already made your choices. But you might get a second chance. Socializing and sex is the over-riding factor on any campus. Beer is also big. It's a juggling act where you're bound to break a few plates.
If you want it all, you've got to work hard and play hard. Being young and hopefully in good physical shape with a working brain, you could pull it off, unlike mom and dad who've burned that bridge already. If you take their advice at face value you could wind up safe and sorry. If you don't you could flunk out or worse. If you can't resist temptation or you faked it in high school or just scraped through, then load up on Mickey Mouse courses your first year. And good luck.
Here's your crib sheet on surviving college from one of the best student newspapers anywhere, the Rochester Institute of Technology's Reporter. Thanks you guys.
Click on article title links to continue reading each Reporter story in full. Artwork and photos courtesy RIT Reporter. Mouse-over for credits. Thanks to Andy Rees, Editor-in-Chief; Artists Robert Modzelewski, Jamie Douglas; Photographers Mathew Woyak, Megan Rossman.
There’s no escape. Whether they’re busting your parties, nagging you not to ride your bike down the Quarter Mile, and/or plastering your only-semi-illegally parked car with hundreds of dollars worth in tickets, you’re going to run up against our campus law enforcers at some point in time. But it’s not all bad — in fact, there are a lot of really helpful things that Public Safety will do for you! . . .
Alan Gillis adds: Lock yourself out? Lost something? In trouble? Adopt a Public Safety Officer. It depends on your campus, but overall there are more security issues in city colleges than at a campus in the country. If you have any concerns, talk to campus security. If there are hot spots, places and times to avoid, they'll tell you. At some colleges you could get into trouble just by walking alone or leaving your frat house door open. Take the same precautions you would anyplace you don't know well. Some campuses have student services where volunteers will pick you up and drive you home or walk with you. You're alone, it's late, it's cold, you're stoned. Get help. If that doesn't work call campus security. Put them and your other emergency numbers on your speed dial.
Stay away from anything illegal: drugs, guns, robbery, and so on.
In the words of RIT’s student conduct rules, “Students neither relinquish civil rights nor acquire additional rights by virtue of being within an academic community; they do, however, take on additional responsibilities.”
In the 2007-08 school year, the three most common Public Safety referrals to the SCO [Student Conduct Office] centered around alcohol, drugs, and theft.
Every incident has a different outcome but, unfortunately, freshmen are most likely to be the ones getting in trouble this year. The 2007-08 year had 1,297 incidences and 39 percent of them were committed by first year students. So have fun, but be smart. . .
Alan Gillis adds: If some misconduct like alcohol and drug use leads to a medical emergency, you have to seek medical help for yourself or anyone who is with you. Since there is some fear seeking help because of legal and other consequences, many institutions have a policy that forgives such misconduct. Check the rules at your own school. Find out what emergency medical facilities there are on your campus. At RIT if it's only alcohol-related, there's room for leniency.
For many incoming freshmen, the most exciting and daunting experience in college is living in the dorms. On the one hand, you get more freedom than ever before: No more curfews or questions about where you’re going and when you’ll be back. On the other hand, you are now living with a stranger. This is the real world and, with it, come rewards and drawbacks.
Living with another person in the same room can be taxing no matter how well you get along with them. The truth of the matter is that living in the dorms gives you little to no privacy. A typical dorm room will resemble something like a closet and sharing it with another person may seem like being asked to never change your underwear again: uncomfortable and even unhealthy. . .
If you’ve ever wished the girl you like would do all the work and ask you out, chances are she won’t. 85% of the girls I polled revealed they had never asked a guy out. Most girls won’t make the first move out of fear of being too forward or depriving her would-be suitor of his ‘manly’ prowess. Although it does happen, it isn’t very often, so it is vital to make that first move. . .
The Approach
If you’re still using generic pickup lines, I have some magical love potions I’d like to sell you. By the way, neither pick up lines nor love potions work! In fact, pickup lines will hurt your chances; according to the spry young ladies, pickup lines are the most irritating tactics a guy can employ. . .
Where to Approach
Watch out for girls in a hurry or busy. Don’t approach a girl when she’s on her way to class or if she’s waitressing at a crowded restaurant. Bars and clubs are well fielded and usually not the best environment to start. Be spontaneous. Approach her in an unexpected place. Go up to her at the library and notice her reading the book you just read or want to read and go from there. . .
Alan Gillis adds: Advice for women on getting guys? Perhaps it's a question that doesn't need any big answer. All any girl needs to do is Ask. Guys are like that. 95% of the time that's enough, but if you want more ideas you'll find thousands in Cosmo. Of course ask the right guy and don't come on to him in a tiny halter showing off your big belly over short shorts and fishnet hose in spikes or boots unless that's your usual style. Don't beg either. It's embarrassing for him too. If it doesn't work the first time, try another approach. Guys are dense. They're not expecting a hook-up on short notice, as it rarely happens anyway. When it does, some aren't sure. Are you a tease making the rounds? Does the guy think he's being setup for a dumb joke? Serious or is she going to change her mind before she takes off her socks? Some girlfriend's girlfriend testing him? So try again if you're serious.
If all else fails whatever your gender, you need to practice more. Too shy, too slow on the uptake? Need a mega ice breaker? After a string of disappointments, or some success with disaster relationships, you might want to try speed dating. You could find that you've been stuck on your wrong type. Here's a chance to try somebody different. Some campuses offer a free version that might work out. See the Reporter's interesting experiment with speed dating at RIT in the article below.
Reporter expanded its brand name into the dating service business by holding our very own invitation-only speed dating event. For this experiment, 18 hopeful singles piled into room 1829 in the Student Alumni Union (SAU) that evening, looking for a match. The night began with the consumption of snacks and refreshments — the Ritz Bits cheese sandwiches were a favorite — as the music of Tiger Idol finalists drifted through the walls of the neighboring Ingle Auditorium, doubling as entertainment for the night. At the same time, participants registered and left contact information with the assigned staff. . .
With speed dating, your options cover a wider range of people. Because of its random nature, you will probably meet at least one person you never would have walked up to at a party. . .
It isn’t just the quantitative data collected that’s interesting. If you take a look at the match sheets themselves, you start to notice a few things. More than half of the women’s sheets had multiple erasures, meaning they are more likely to change their minds more than once. Men, on the other hand, were more likely to avoid the decision all together by leaving boxes on their sheets blank. In addition, guys are more likely to vote “yes” [for a follow-up date] while girls are more likely to vote “no.” Some marks were darker than others, possibly indicating a greater intensity of like or dislike. . .
Alan Gillis adds: Nothing works? Buy a car. Make it available. Drive people around anywhere anytime. Right away you're scoring points big time. No car? Then find your own car guy. Find out how in the article below.
Hello, freshmen! You are currently enjoying the best moments of college. You like all your nveighbors (in three weeks your floor will be severely cliquey and probably on fire), and you are not yet fat. But to continue the fun, you must befriend a certain someone on your floor. We will call him “Car Guy.”
Maybe you thought that RIT’s quarter-mile long campus (complete with an ice cream parlor and a pretend SportsCenter set) would provide you with all the entertainment you needed for five years. But Car Guy knew better. He knew that someday he might actually want to explore the great city of Rochester, with its museums, restaurants and depressing zoo (did you know polar bears can cry?) So, when he found out that freshman were allowed cars, he proudly parked his white Dodge Spirit in B-Lot, which is just outside of Albany.
If you learn to take advantage of Car Guy effectively, you could enjoy a (literal) free ride through RIT. Just follow these three handy tips (I call it Triple P) . . .
Most things are fine in moderation, but some things don’t lend themselves to “just a little bit.” World of Warcraft is the perfect example. Keep gaming within sane limits. Leave time for schoolwork and interacting with real people. Don’t, however, lock yourself in your room and do nothing but calculus. Leave time for goofing off. After all, you’re in college. You’re never going to have another chance to duct tape a friend’s chair to the ceiling. (Hint: The chairs in the dorms take a roll and a half.) . . .
And Make Friends
Alan Gillis adds: If you click with some people, make more room for them in your life. College probably is your best opportunity to make life-long friends who share your interests and your ideas. Once they're on their career path you'll find that you're all still in the same ballpark. You could wind up helping them or being helped yourself. Especially if you're a risk taker and are going into a tough game like filmmaking where contacts are essential. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg became friends at UCLA where they made a pact to help each other. It worked.
Reporter's Distorter: Brain Humping On Campus
By Alan Gillis
If the Reporter delivers about the best in student journalism, candid, relevant and interesting, other papers often fail. Even their dirty laundry stories look fairly clean, often apologetic too if a few stains remain to sully the old school name. Not at the Reporter. Why the Reporter will invent dirty laundry if it needs to, but that's for the annual April Fools Issue, the Distorter.
It's not for the squeamish. Totally grossed-out humor on sex at its worst, but you get the same insane bits in your daily newspaper in small doses. They're brave at the Reporter, but they were slapped down hard for it. OK, Distorter 09 was trash, and it stunk, but it was also an attempt at satire. Still marginally better than Fellini's Satyricon, which wasn't very funny and made a lot of money. Fellini squeaked through in theaters along with Passolini that other Italian 30 years ago. Why not Distorter 09, an obvious First Amendment issue? Not that the case went anywhere either, not blazing freedom of speech for college kids. Imagine all the lawyers and the pain it would take to drag dirty Distorter 09 into court for a line-by-line dry cleaning. No your Honor, that horse in question was after the fact, from Oklahoma in USA Today.
If there's a lesson here at RIT for Distorter fans or freshmen, its no flashing on campus, not even at the run through halftime at a Tigers' game. No Tigers, no streaking. When RIT's football team went 0-8-1 in 1977, the Tigers were permanently canceled for losing. One lousy year since 1922? Maybe some Distorters are still mad about it.
But there's hope. You can always join the Reporter staff for some laughs or your own college paper. If it stinks, all the more reason. They need you badly.
I can’t help it. I know every major media publication is providing massive coverage for Michael Jackson. I know there are timelines, retrospectives, etc available at every major media and news website. I feel like I have to write about Michael Jackson though. A little something at least.
By Chris Monigle, The Lost Blog Published: June 26, 2009
His music was the music of my childhood. That’s no exaggeration. It was Michael Jackson, The Jackson 5, or the Jacksons. I listened to his music before I ever became aware of rock ‘n roll, before I purchased a Marcy Playground or Matchbox 20 CD in ‘97 or 3EB in the summer of 1998. His music informed what my later tastes would be as well. There’s really no going back once you hear “Off The Wall” or “Thriller.” Those two albums are near perfection. “Thriller” suffers from one weak track. The rest is gold after gold after gold. I opened a piece I wrote on Carolyn Leonhart with a quote from Shakespeare about the charms of music. There really is magic in music. There’s some intangible transcendental quality to music, in music. It exists within the creation. On those early solo albums, he combined disco (but good disco not that ABBA nonsense) with the soul of Motown and R&B. We all know “Thriller,” “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” “Rock With You” and a bunch of other songs that are too many to list. We can throw out adjective after adjective to describe the power of his music but in the end his music is indescribable and that’s what makes it as great, magical, and transcendent as it is. He just had the ability to tap into that part of our brain, something that is inherently within us and open it up (i hope you followed me there and understand what I mean). . . --NewsHammer 13/07/2009
APRIL 6, DETROIT — It started when they decided to come back.
Four players declining the riches of the NBA, motivated to make one more run at history. One more run at a national title.
And everything that happened this season — the expectations, the No. 1 rankings, the blowout wins — pointed toward this one moment.
Suddenly, that moment became reality.
Senior Mike Copeland wildly flung the ball into the air. Playersjumped up and down amid a blizzard of confetti. Tyler Hansbrough hugged coach Roy Williams as explosions rang throughout Ford Field.
In a truly dominant display, the North Carolina Tar Heels asserted themselves atop the college basketball world as national champions by defeating Big Ten regular season champion Michigan State, 89-72.
The win gives UNC its fifth NCAA title and second in five seasons.
“The first one was unbelievably sweet in 2005, and in some ways this is even sweeter,” Williams said after the game. “I’m so proud of this team.…
“My hat’s off to … the guys in the locker room, because they took Roy Williams on one fantastic ride, and it’s something that I’ll never forget.”
Right out of the gate, the Tar Heels (34-4) let MSU know that the Spartans wouldn’t dictate the game’s tempo as it did in past wins against Louisville and UConn. . . .
Fires, arson reports following MSU loss Monday night: In a span of about two hours, 11 fire-related incidents were reported in East Lansing, which resulted in four arrests as of 3 a.m. Tuesday. . . .
By The State News Staff Published: April 7, 2009
Spartans celebrated somberly following the MSU men’s basketball team’s loss to North Carolina in the NCAA national championship game on Monday night.
A police-estimated crowd of about 1,700 people gathered in Cedar Village around midnight, shouting and celebrating in cold, damp weather.
By the end of the night, 21 people were arrested citywide on various charges, East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said.
The Cedar Village-area crowd shrank significantly by 1:40 a.m., and the police asked all remaining people in the street to go home. The crowd dispersed within minutes.
Medical technology junior Ashley Allemon said the atmosphere was quieter than Saturday’s after the Final Four victory, and it’s a good thing people behaved.
“It gives our school a bad reputation with people throwing beer bottles and stuff,” she said. “I hope it’s more peaceful because we get looked down upon.”
The weather helped put a damper on what could have been a rowdy night, Wibert said. . . .
The MSU men’s basketball team will take the floor with North Carolina for the third time in a calendar year and for the second consecutive year in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
The two teams will meet in Chapel Hill, N.C. on Dec. 1 in the 11th rendition of the weeklong event that pits teams from each conference against one another. . . .
Free condoms, sex education games and raffles for free sex toys are just a few of the aspects of the Rutgers University Programming Association’s Latex Luau Tuesday evening
By Ariel Nagi Published: March 11, 2009
The RUPA Latex Luau Spring Break: Sun, Sand and STDs was designed to promote safe sex and drug abuse awareness in a fun way through a Hawaiian-style luau with food, music, games and prizes, said Mayank Patel, vice president of RUPA’s Arts and Issues Committee.
“It’s especially important before people go on spring break to know about safe-sex facts,” said Bayruns, a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore.
The event held in the Rutgers Student Center on the College Avenue campus featured a raffle to win prizes such as playing cards and whistles in the shape of a penis, lubricants, various sex toys, fishnet stockings and spring break beach gear like flip-flops, a beach umbrella, towels, sunscreen and candy.
“It’s usually always really popular,” said Castillo, a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore.
About 40 people attended the event, where even the food table had a glass sculpture of a woman’s breast and torso and bowls filled with free condoms.
Games included “Pin the Macho on the Man” and “Pin the Boobs on the Babe,” where a person was blindfolded, spun around to get dizzy and then asked to pin the breasts and penis on photos of a man and woman with bull’s-eye targets.
Another game highlighted the consequences of being intoxicated while having sex. Participants had to put on vision-impairment goggles and try to put a condom on a rubber penis to show how difficult it is to practice safe sex while intoxicated.
But it was not all fun and games.
Tables around the Multipurpose Room such as the “Guess the Disease” game table featured real-life pictures of symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases such as herpes, genital warts, gonorrhea and chlamydia. . . . --NewsHammer 3/24/2009
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. . . .
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
The first step toward breaking racial barriers was taken when Barack Obama was elected president, Benjamin Chavis, Jr. told students at Boston University’s Howard Thurman Center Tuesday
By Lauren Metter Published: February 11, 2009
Chavis, a former head of the NAACP and co-founder of the National Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, spoke as part of BU’s African-American studies program’s lecture series for Black History Month. . .
In 1995, Chavis organized the Million Man March in Washington D.C. with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. The march was aimed at encouraging black men to vote. After gaining the support of famous hip-hop artists, the march received massive global publicity. Six years later, Chavis and Simmons created the first National Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, the largest national coalition of hip-hop artists, youth activists and hip-hop leaders, Chavis said.
Chavis said he sees a “direct continuity” between what inspired young people in the civil rights movement and what moves them to action today in the hip-hop community. Hip-hop is a “global cultural phenomenon,” he said. . . . --NewsHammer 2/11/2009
The Delta Gypsies. Number Two. Mix and the Dudes. The Backsliders. Moose Knuckle. Patchwork Dove. Repeat Offenders.
By: Eric Rosenbaum Published: February 6, 2009
If you have never heard of these bands, don’t worry—just a few weeks ago, they had never heard of themselves.
On Jan. 8, a group of 35 strangers was divided by lottery into seven completely new bands. On the night of Jan. 31, less than one month later, each group performed three original songs at the sixth annual Chippewa Chapel Band Scramble.
The Band Scramble is a spin-off event of the Chippewa Chapel Traveling Guitar Circle, Medicine Show, Musicians’ Networking and Open Mic Night (yes, that’s the title of one event), a feature of Frederick’s Music Lounge. Originally called the Noiseday Hootenanny, the Chippewa Chapel show earned the religious nickname because Frederick’s did not have a Sunday liquor license.
After six years of mixing it up musically, the Band Scramble presented its most highly-attended show to date this past weekend. --NewsHammer 2/10/2009
Students assigned hundreds of pages to read a week are finding ways to lessen the workload. But are resources like SparkNotes preventing students from actually learning the material?
By Madeline Anderson Published: February 1, 2009
This past summer UW-Madison sophomore Clint received a letter in the mail detailing his removal from the university.
Originally enrolled in the nursing program, Clint had failed one class and barely passed his other three the second semester of his freshman year.
“I had tunnel vision at the time,” he said. “I thought other things were more important than school.” Instead, Clint put hanging out with friends, video games and his girlfriend at the top of his priority list.
But when Clint received his grades for the spring semester, he knew he had to change his approach to college life.
“There’s that balance that every college student faces,” Clint said. “I had to learn that the hard way.”
UW-Madison senior Kevin Clutson said SparkNotes helped him get through all the reading material in his English classes.
“With two jobs and an internship, I just don’t have time to read the books thoroughly,” he said.
SparkNotes is a series of books and a website that provides free study guides for works of literature.
Though an easy alternative to reading countless pages, this timesaving tool could be hurting students’ writing and reading abilities in the long run.
The harm in using SparkNotes
Associate English professor Sherry Reames has noticed an alarming trend throughout her thirty years of teaching that may be attributed in part to websites like SparkNotes.
“Students’ vocabularies are much smaller in general than they used to be,” Reames said, “and their ability to make sense of long, complicated sentences has also declined.” --NewsHammer 2/10/2009
The idea that the stimulus package is akin to the New Deal is bad logic and bad history
By Tim Murphy Published: February 6, 2009
If Sunday was any indication, the United States will be completely out of money—and cufflinks—sometime in the next six months. Employment agencies broke open their piggy banks to buy prime Super Bowl air time, where they spoke directly to America’s fastest growing demographic: the unemployed. Meanwhile, a previously unknown company called “Cash 4 Gold” (which in addition to being a great name for a rap album, hired MC Hammer to pitch its wares), invited viewers to send in their favorite family heirlooms for a quick cash payout.
But as the economy continues its steady decline toward bartering and petty theft, the last few months have brought about a bull market in the oddest of fields: historical revisionism.
First, in Virginia, curators at Mount Vernon have put a new painting of a younger, less frumpy Martha Washington on display, after forensic analysis revealed that, in her earlier years at least, Martha was actually kind of smoking. While there’s of course nothing wrong with a First Lady who bears a striking resemblance to the Michelin man—as the old portraits depicted her—the new image suggests that General Washington didn’t just marry her for her needlework. --NewsHammer 2/06/2009
It all started with one bad question (that really wasn’t that bad at all) asked by one ESPN sideline reporter during a game in which UK shouldn’t have been struggling like they were.
By Kenny Colston Published: February 4, 2009
Then it moved into boos, another loss and a cry for toughness.
And now, the UK men’s basketball team stands just seconds away from total implosion with a coach the fan base is leery of, a team that struggles to maintain any consistency and a wicked cocktail of everything that can destroy a team.
This is way past 2002’s Team Turmoil.
After a honeymoon season in which UK head coach Billy Gillispie managed to sneak into the NCAA tournament, the expectations skyrocketed for the Cats this season. It was win, and win now. Star recruits like DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller would partner with Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson to perch the Cats at the top of the Southeastern Conference.
It even looked that way for a while, with the Tennessee trashing and a five-game winning streak. That was three losses ago.
Now, you have popular CatsPause.com quoting Patterson that the UK locker room erupted with a verbal no-holds-barred brawl after losing to Mississippi State on Tuesday. UK spokesman John Hayden denied the claim, but whether the story is true or false isn’t the real issue. --2/06/2009 NewsHammer
Is it possible to earn a degree from MIT in a single afternoon?
By Robert McQueen Published: February 3, 2009
On Friday, close to 100 students, faculty, and alumni did just that during the 16th annual Charm School, held at the Stratton Student Center. And unlike MIT’s School of Engineering, Charm School boasted an admissions acceptance rate of 100 percent.
Charm School’s 20 classes covered topics ranging from “Flirting 101” to “How to Engineer Your Workout” and “Ballroom Dancing.”
The school marked its class-changing times the old fashioned way: Assistant Dean of Student Activities Jed Wartman rang a rusty bell atop the second floor stairwell.
Jeffrey Quinlan, friend of Stever Robbins ’86, taught a class called “How to Throw a Party” in the Coffeehouse Lounge. There, students learned how to be successful hosts, make conversation, and organize parties. Quinlan also offered tips on how to stay socially engaged at a party: “In order to keep any conversation going,” he advised, “just repeat the last two words someone says to you in the form of a question.” When making small-talk, Quinlan outlined allowed and forbidden conversation topics: while current events, the weather, and hobbies are all allowed, potentially controversial topics like religion are forbidden. --2/04/2009 NewsHammer
The U.S. Treasury has decided to go all “1984” in its latest attempt to rescue the financial system
By Kunal Khann Published: January 30, 2009
In what can only be described as an episode of Orwellian modus operandi, the “Bad Bank” plan will save, not exterminate, flailing banks.
The financial chicanery works like so: The Treasury will form a holding company that will purchase troubled assets from banks. These include a variety of securities, from those linked simply to residential mortgages, to complex derivatives conjured by the minds of financial Frankensteins.
Banks will supposedly benefit from all this by having their balance sheets purged of nasty and unwanted assets. With their balance sheets freed up, banks can go back to making loans to consumers and facilitating the flow of money in the economy. Birds will sing, rainbows will spontaneously appear in the sky and Ben Bernanke will shave his beard. Or so the story goes… --NewsHammer 2/02/2009
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
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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