Campus Informer - March 13, 2006

Lesbian homecoming kings, divestments aplenty and more news from schools across the country.

By Annika Carlson, Hope College
March 13th, 2006

Tech Geniuses Create Financial Aid Solution
MIT

Responding to extreme cuts in federal funding for financial aid, MIT announced a program to match Federal Pell Grants, essentially doubling the funds available for incoming students in need. MIT hopes that the new matching program “will limit, or in some cases, eliminate student loan debt for Pell Grant recipients.”

“Students who have the intellectual ability and the drive to achieve at a place like M.I.T., we want them to be able to feel that they can do this without further burdening their families,” said MIT President Susan Hockfield. Now, if only the government felt the same way and stopped slashing student aid budgets…

College Dems Weak on Email Security, Republicans Weak on Spelling
Florida Gulf Coast University

FGCU College Democrats president Chris Thompson is in hot water over an inflammatory email sent out from his account. The email, sent by an as-yet-unknown perp, was sent from his official FGCU Gmail account with the subject line “FUCK College Democrats,” reading “I resign my post as President of the FGCU College Democrats effecitve [sic] IMMEDIATELY. If you wish to speak with me, I will be serving as President of the FGCU College Republicans. GO BUSH!!!!”

Thompson is working on damage control, hoping that “Most people who know me well know I’m not this type of person.” There are no leads on the case and no apparent signs of hacking in the email system. “We are looking into it, but we don’t have any answers yet,” says a University spokesperson.

Brown Goes Anti-Genocide
Brown University

Brown University recently voted to divest from companies doing business in Sudan, withdrawing investment from companies “whose business activities can be shown to be supporting and facilitating the Sudanese government in its continuing sponsorship of genocidal actions and human rights violations in Darfur,” according to an email sent by the University President Ruth Simmons.

Brown’s decision was prompted by Brown’s student-run Darfur Action Network (DAN) and Brown’s chapter of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND). Fifty students rallied in 28 degree weather in support of divestment as University leaders voted on the proposal. Scott Warren, leader of Brown’s STAND chapter and member of DAN, led the rally, saying that the University’s decision “should not be complicated,” and that “universities should be lining up” to divest. In moving towards divestment, Brown joins the ranks of Harvard, Stanford and Yale—all schools where student movements were crucial to divestment decisions.

UT Student Government Goes Anti-Chemical Waste
University of Texas at Austin

The student government at UT passed measures supporting divestment from Dow Chemical Company. Dow, a chemical and plastics manufacturing giant, currently owns a Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) plant in Bhopal, India that leaked over 35 tons of toxic gas in 1984, killing over 15,000 people in the next 20 years. According to Amnesty International, when Dow purchased UCC in 2001, “both companies used the new ownership structure in an attempt to avoid any responsibility for the Bhopal disaster.”

As a result of Dow’s refusal to work to correct the Bhopal situation by revealing toxicological information about the plant or participating in medical efforts to help remaining survivors, divestment was advocated by student group Students for Bhopal, part of a national organized movement “working in solidarity with the survivors of the Bhopal disaster in their struggle for justice.” After months of activism and heated editorials, Students for Bhopal won a major victory when the student government voted to support University divestment.

The Other Cartoon Controversy
Radford University

We’ve all heard of the Mohammad cartoon scandal—but how about the Jesus cartoon scandal? “Christ on Campus,” drawn by RU student and cartoonist Christian Keesee, appeared multiple times on Whim, an online student magazine, and portrayed Jesus encountering a variety of campus-related dilemmas of varying degrees of seriousness—from condom use to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Students upset about the cartoon often point to the Christmas edition, in which Jesus wins an intense physical fight against Santa Claus—a strip of which Keesee is particularly proud because of its “commercialism vs. religion” theme.

Inside Higher Ed notes that “Generally, the comments [on the cartoon’s webpage] indicate that this and other cartoons sparked discussion at the university.” Although school officials say they won’t censor the cartoon, they have requested meetings with Keesee to discuss journalistic sensitivity issues and with individuals and student groups that were disturbed by Keesee’s humorous exercise of free speech.

Keesee stands by his cartoon despite the controversy: “Jesus was a regular guy and by drawing him like that, I think people can relate [to him],” said Keesee.

Her Majesty, Homecoming King!
Hood College

Some students and administrators are upset after Jennifer Jones, an openly gay senior, was elected as this year’s homecoming king for Hood College. Although Jones didn’t actively campaign for the position, and didn’t even know she was nominated until she saw her name on the ballot, the school is looking into changing the election process to prevent a similar situation in the future. “She is not a man…It is a gender issue, and she is a woman,” said one of the candidates for queen. One of the men who lost to Jones complained that “Jones’ selection made the event seem like a joke.” Apparently, no one told him that being homecoming king doesn’t make you an actual monarch, and that the position is largely for fun.

Jones, a beacon of common sense throughout the whole affair, seems to be handling her newfound fame well, saying that “it is cool that Hood allows people to be themselves…If people didn’t want me to be king, they wouldn’t have nominated me and voted for me.” Score one each for democracy and free elections.