News In Brief

The scandal could cost some students their degrees and could lead to criminal charges. Both undergraduate and graduate students at the US’s largest historically black university were implicated, and some paid to have as many as 20 grades changed. Jackson said the scandal dates to 1995, and that the altered records were traced to a single assistant registrar who received money from students in exchange. A number of students said they were upset that fellow students had bought grades. But some students said the practice was widely known. ‘Sophomore year, it cost like $75 a grade,’ said Eddie Green, a senior. Jackson said the year-long investigation into the scandal began in 2003, when a student enrolled in a graduate program presented credentials showing she%d earned a bachelor’s degree from that department. The department had no record that the woman had ever graduated and alerted university auditors.
Hot potatoes

A University of Toronto (Canada) student, Iris Halbert, launched a program to provide the homeless with both food and a mobile heat source. Since the beginning of January, volunteers have been driving around downtown Toronto, distributing hot baked potatoes. In Toronto, approximately 15 homeless people die every year from exposure to frigid temperatures. Hot baked potatoes remain warm for three to five hours then provide fiber, potassium, vitamin C and other nutrients when they are eaten. Halbert described the potato distribution as %a creative solution to a localized problem”. She was inspired by a novel from her childhood, which described East European peasants in the Middle Ages heating potatoes over hot coals. They would place the warmed vegetables in their coat pockets to provide a mobile heat source during the winter. Halbert recognized this method was “simple, easily executed, not too costly and consistently viable.” Relief Committee volunteers place the potatoes inside warm socks, which conserve heat, before distributing them to the homeless.
Historic moment

A majority of the Dutch Parliament backs Minister of Education Annette Nijs% plan to introduce variations in the cost of university tuition fees. Parliament also supports a plan for universities to test students before admitting them to certain degree courses. Nijs received support from a remarkable %coalition% that included the center-left PvdA and right-wing LPF. This broad coalition of support had one parliamentarian speaking of a %historic moment”. The coalition did stipulate that a new higher education tuition structure must guarantee accessibility to higher education. Nijs said that there would be special entrance exams for approximately 50 degree programs, a move aimed at ensuring students pursue programs that are best suited to them. By sharpening the entrance requirements, Nijs believes the academic level of the students will be raised.
Lonely

A recent survey conducted by student organizations found that many foreign students feel lonely in their apartments: 60 percent would prefer to share their accommodation with other students. These students also said they were dissatisfied with their social lives. Student organizations are now thinking of ways to help foreign students participate more fully in student life. Out of the 130 foreign students surveyed, three out of four are dissatisfied with their student housing, while 70 percent considered the rent to be too high. The students are positive about their study programs, however.
Prefab

Tree-huggers 1 – Student Housing Advocates 0! When the last block of space-box housing units arrives this month, there will be nine fewer space-boxes than originally planned. The reason: the local municipality refused to grant permission for two trees to be cut down. Building around those trees was the only solution. Frans van der Zon, head of strategy and policy at Duwo, doesn’t expect the housing shortage to be solved any time soon. The 223 temporary homes behind the Electro building are not considered a solution to the problem.

Cash-for-grades

A worker in Louisiana’s (US) Southern University registrar’s office took money to change grades for 541 current and former students, Chancellor Edward Jackson said. The scandal could cost some students their degrees and could lead to criminal charges. Both undergraduate and graduate students at the US’s largest historically black university were implicated, and some paid to have as many as 20 grades changed. Jackson said the scandal dates to 1995, and that the altered records were traced to a single assistant registrar who received money from students in exchange. A number of students said they were upset that fellow students had bought grades. But some students said the practice was widely known. ‘Sophomore year, it cost like $75 a grade,’ said Eddie Green, a senior. Jackson said the year-long investigation into the scandal began in 2003, when a student enrolled in a graduate program presented credentials showing she%d earned a bachelor’s degree from that department. The department had no record that the woman had ever graduated and alerted university auditors.
Hot potatoes

A University of Toronto (Canada) student, Iris Halbert, launched a program to provide the homeless with both food and a mobile heat source. Since the beginning of January, volunteers have been driving around downtown Toronto, distributing hot baked potatoes. In Toronto, approximately 15 homeless people die every year from exposure to frigid temperatures. Hot baked potatoes remain warm for three to five hours then provide fiber, potassium, vitamin C and other nutrients when they are eaten. Halbert described the potato distribution as %a creative solution to a localized problem”. She was inspired by a novel from her childhood, which described East European peasants in the Middle Ages heating potatoes over hot coals. They would place the warmed vegetables in their coat pockets to provide a mobile heat source during the winter. Halbert recognized this method was “simple, easily executed, not too costly and consistently viable.” Relief Committee volunteers place the potatoes inside warm socks, which conserve heat, before distributing them to the homeless.
Historic moment

A majority of the Dutch Parliament backs Minister of Education Annette Nijs% plan to introduce variations in the cost of university tuition fees. Parliament also supports a plan for universities to test students before admitting them to certain degree courses. Nijs received support from a remarkable %coalition% that included the center-left PvdA and right-wing LPF. This broad coalition of support had one parliamentarian speaking of a %historic moment”. The coalition did stipulate that a new higher education tuition structure must guarantee accessibility to higher education. Nijs said that there would be special entrance exams for approximately 50 degree programs, a move aimed at ensuring students pursue programs that are best suited to them. By sharpening the entrance requirements, Nijs believes the academic level of the students will be raised.
Lonely

A recent survey conducted by student organizations found that many foreign students feel lonely in their apartments: 60 percent would prefer to share their accommodation with other students. These students also said they were dissatisfied with their social lives. Student organizations are now thinking of ways to help foreign students participate more fully in student life. Out of the 130 foreign students surveyed, three out of four are dissatisfied with their student housing, while 70 percent considered the rent to be too high. The students are positive about their study programs, however.
Prefab

Tree-huggers 1 – Student Housing Advocates 0! When the last block of space-box housing units arrives this month, there will be nine fewer space-boxes than originally planned. The reason: the local municipality refused to grant permission for two trees to be cut down. Building around those trees was the only solution. Frans van der Zon, head of strategy and policy at Duwo, doesn’t expect the housing shortage to be solved any time soon. The 223 temporary homes behind the Electro building are not considered a solution to the problem.