Religion, smoking and drinking: Yup, looks like a roundup.

I know I haven’t shown College Ave much love this week. I’ve been in Atlanta, home of GTech, Georgia State, U Georgia, Spellman College … greek life mayhem … the list continues.

Starting next week I’ll have a roundup every Sunday, but here are a few items to get us back on track.

Academic Freedom? Anyone?: The University of Southern California recently removed text from Islamic scripture from its Muslim Student Association’s Web site. The school’s newspaper, the Daily Trojan, reported the text contained excerpts called hadiths, sayings from the Prophet Muhammad not included in the Quran. The school’s provost, C.L. Max Nikias, said the passage advocated violence against Jews, and the DT indicated it called on Muslims to “kill jews.”

The DT reported Nikias took down the site without consulting the group first.

Here’s where it gets good: Nikias learned about the passage when a Jewish human rights group approached him about the language. And David Horowitz, a conservative activist, (whose exact connection to this whole scenario besides being an activist is unclear) said this was his first “concrete victory” against student associations he said are tied to radical Islamist thought.

What action, if any, the MSA will take isn’t clear either. But this raises a few interesting questions.

I don’t have the answers to any of those questions — but maybe by the week’s end the Provost, or the students, will.

Hookahs are the new Camels: Hey there, hookah friends. Looks like you may be in trouble. A study by the University of Pennsylvania showed about 40 percent of college students had smoked tobacco from a hookah.

More than 200 hookah cafes have opened in the U.S. during the past decade.

The interesting side note: One third of the students who smoked using water pipes hadn’t smoked a cigarette.

You can vote, go to war and get married. Now, you might be able to drink, too, thanks to the Amethyst Initiative . The initiative is a pact signed by the presidents of about 130 colleges and universities who are asking lawmakers to

“To support an informed and dispassionate public debate over the effects of the 21 year-old drinking age.

To consider whether the 10% highway fund “incentive” encourages or inhibits that debate.

To invite new ideas about the best ways to prepare young adults to make responsible decisions about alcohol.

We pledge ourselves and our institutions to playing a vigorous, constructive role as these critical discussions unfold.”

The last time the U.S. drinking age got this much attention was 1984, when Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. It didn’t set the drinking age per se, but essentially imposed a penalty of “10% of a state’s federal highway appropriation on any state setting its drinking age lower than 21.” The presidents who have signed this initative believe the age has encouraged binge drinking, and hope to start a conversation about the issue — not necessarily change it.

The outcome of this initiative and legislation that follows could dramatically alter the experience of college students nationwide. Stay tuned throughout the year to see how this unfolds.

Odds & Ends: cult edition!

Join our club cult: Student members of a Korean sect of Christianity that worship a man named Ahnsahnghong as the embodiment of Christ have started using aggressive recruiting techniques at the University of Pennsylvania, even going so far as to follow some students to their classes. Religion prof at the school insists they are a cult. Creepy, regardless.

CornellCornell playing catch-up: The “hottest “Ivy has just followed the lead of other elite, wealthy schools like Harvard and Yale in announcing vast changes to their financial aid programs intended to help middle class families afford college. After two years, “the program will take full effect by eliminating need-based loans for students from families with incomes up to $75,000, and capping annual loans at $3,000 for students from families with incomes between $75,000 and $120,000,” according to The Ithaca Journal. If only some of these aid packages were retroactive, and applied to Ithaca College. Damnit.

BarackDemocracy Now Later! Students at Washington University in St. Louis are pissed after their school recently prohibited presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama from speaking. The administration’s reasoning? A visit by a candidate would disrupt academics and open the door for other candidates to visit the campus. How is this democracy thing disruptive? The campus paper ironically notes that although the school feared losing its tax-exempt status if it only allowed one candidate to speak, “Brown University, Wellesley College and Boston University have hosted presidential candidates and have not lost their tax-exempt status.” Owned.

Kevin BaconKevin Bacon plays “Six Degrees” of beer pong: After giving a talk at Dartmouth College and receiving the Dartmouth Film Award, actor Kevin Bacon got down with his college self and played some pong with students in a dimly lit basement. Follow the link for pictures of the celebrity beer pong goodness.

Getting naked … for the environment? Students in an environmental group at Northern Michigan University graphically protested a nickel and copper mine near their school by printing a black-and-white calendar of nude group members posing at the site of the proposed mine. The calendar will be sold to “raise funds” for the group. Sure.

Studying abroad as a freshman gains popularity

globeThe Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about the increasing number of students who choose to study abroad even before they start attending classes at their own college.

Although only 4 percent of study-abroaders are freshmen, the Journal justifies its trend story by noting that this paltry figure has doubled since 1995. However, most students who study abroad are still, unsurprisingly, juniors in college.

The article also bemusedly outlines some of the “challenges” young students studying abroad may face, like a weak dollar (all those tourist trinkets ain’t cheap) and more surprisingly, “easy access to alcohol, [and a] lack of supervision.”

I don’t see how this is any different from the Freshman Experience at any college in the U.S. besides maybe Bob Jones University, and I definitely don’t see how this is a challenge for freshmen. The students probably see it more as a grand opportunity which turns into a complete disappointment when they discover they can’t go on pub crawls back in the U.S. of A.

BREAKING: Stabbing at Moonshadows last night

From the thank-God-we’re-home-for-Thanksgiving -department: Last night a man was stabbed multiple times at Moonshadow Tavern on the Commons. It’s a college bar (popularly called “Moonies”) that’s usually packed with Ithaca College seniors vying for pitcher tokens and having a good time with friends.

But the good times weren’t rolling last night, apparently: the victim, a 28-year-old Groton man, was stabbed in the back while in one of the bathrooms. Although he was able to walk to the stretcher he was carried out on, reports said he was bleeding “profusely.”

Two guys fled the scene before the cops arrived, so it’s anyone’s guess who did it. I think I’m going to stick to Second Floor from now on. Good thing I used up my last free pitcher token before break. Enjoy your Thanksgiving, and please, nobody do anything stupid and get stabbed, alright?

Wait, you’re NOT allowed to drink beer in class?

beer mugIn what’s being called a “pour decision” (Ed: not funny) Boston University has canceled an advertising class as it investigates whether students were allowed to drink beers in the class.

Apparently, one of the class assignments was to create and market an imaginary beer. College kids will be college kids, though, and they went ahead and brought samples of beer into class to drink to show how they would use it in their advertising campaign.

Personally, I’m gonna go ahead and say that this is probably making a Big F****** Deal out of nothing at all. Kids drink in class all the time. (Ed: administrators, he’s totally lying) But hey, maybe it was a slow news day.

And on that note, dear readers, please enjoy your Thanksgiving Break. And for all you kids who don’t get your precious vacation time just yet, drink a beer for me. In class.

(College Ave. thanks Andy at The Big Spoon for the tip)?

Someone to blame

The AP is reporting today that Mercer County (N.J.) D.A. Joseph Bocchini Jr. is under pressure because of his response to a case of student hazing at Rider University.

In March, 18-year-old Gary DeVercelly died the day after an alleged hazing incident at the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity left him in a coma. The freshman had an 0.426 BAC, over five times the legal driving limit. Over four months later, prosecutors indicted Rider Dean of Students Anthony Campbell and Director of Greek Life Ada Badgley; historic in the fact that administrators were indicted.

Before the end of August, the charges were dropped against the two administrators for a failure to “meet our burden of proof.” James Chang, a 2000 alumn of Case Western, has covered this fairly well, including some excellent comments (read all the way down the post). There are still indictments against the three students but two of them are on track for a pre-trial intervention to wipe the charges from their permanent records.

Bocchini is under fire because he now says he was not sure if the indictments against the administrators would actually stick. The easy question is this: Why did he call for the indictments in the first place?

It was irresponsible for the D.A. to go for these indictments ? students, not the administration, have the responsibility to their peers, especially where hazing can be an issue.

Mr. Chang also dropped the hint of a possible civil suit (which he could tack onto his “Frivolous Lawsuits” post), which hopefully won’t materialize.

I have no issue with the students being charged. In fact, it’s necessary that students take responsibility for these actions ? our college made the right decision when it put two of our athletic teams on probation for hazing.

But where do college administrators have a place in this? The D.A.’s line of thinking only puts increased pressure upon college administration to play CYA, and then make reactionary policies to shore things up. But reactionary policy is often a poor policy. Rather than looking for someone to blame and punish, the D.A. should have let college administrators do their job, not drag them through the mud.

Your morning buzz kill

In the true spirit of college, let?s start off this year with a toast ? to tattling on underage drinking?

So talk about a wake up call. The New York Times reported yesterday on the University of Wisconsin?s two-year old policy that requires its deans to call the parents of any students sent to a ?detox center? for excessive drinking. If they?re just ticketed for violating policy, it?s an option threat the dean can use when punishing the student.

While this may sound like rabid paternalism on the part of the university, don?t be fooled.

?We?re not calling home to tattle,? said Tonya Schmidt, an interim assistant dean of students. ?We?re calling to ask parents to be partners with us. We are saying that we?re concerned, and want to work on your child making better choices for the future.?

Suuuure. You?re just out to make sure the Princeton Review never again names UW the top party school in the nation like they did in 2005, Ms. Schmidt.

After two years, how is the policy working, one might ask? According to the Badger Herald, UW?s campus newspaper, not at all.

In an article published last week, the paper spilled some embarrassing numbers all over the tattling policy.

?Last year alone, the UW Police Department cited more than 1,500 students for alcohol-related problems, a 72-percent increase compared to the 881 ticketed just two years ago.?

Without other context, it almost looks like the policy is backfiring. Almost. Oh wait, it is.

So could this new ? for lack of a better word ? tattling policy spread to other institutions of higher learning? Why, yes! In fact, the article says that similar policies already exist at St. Lawrence University and Ohio Northern University. Oh God. The University of Minnesota and Penn state are apparently ?studying? the approach, which is to say they?re probably figuring out how to implement it without inciting a riot.

Our very own Ithaca College has its own tattling policy, of sorts: off-campus ?problem? houses that receive excessive tickets for drinking and partying get their very own meeting with the administration and a letter home.

Ithaca College administration, please don?t get any more ideas. Leave those silly freshmen with their 30-packs of Keystone Light in the Towers parking lot alone. Mom and Dad just don?t want to know ? I guarantee it.

In summary: the only thing worse than getting a call from your friends that goes something like ?Do you know what you DID last night?? is getting that same call from YOUR MOM.

But seriously, folks, these developments do bring some interesting issues to the table: are students adults yet, or still children? Is it right for college administrations to go above students and alert their parents to potentially self-harming activity? Let College Ave know - because we report, and you decide.

Drinking for credit

Hooray Beer!This just in: RIT supports underage drinking! And grades them on it! The College of Hospitality and Management Services at the Rochester Institute of Technology offers two classes (Wines of the World and Beers of the World) that allow students to sample (and only sample) various adult beverages while learning about the production process and what goes dish goes best with what type of said beverage. Naturally the beer class fills up first, so some opt for the vino. But you don’t get carded at the door, since it’s perfectly legal in New York.

Apparently the drinking laws allow for alcohol used in education when it’s part of a state-approved curriculum, so if you want to drink some hops in a Dixie cup for class and you’re pushing 19, it’s perfectly legal.

Maybe they should offer the class at Dartmouth; it might keep the freshman from offering their own educational excursions into “water pong” in the dorms. (via IvyGateBlog)

(I may be stepping on the toes of The Big Spoon, but what the heck, it’s Friday.)

An ominous beginning

racism_tarletonThis wasn’t how this was supposed to begin.

I had promised myself ? don’t let your first post be about diversity. Don’t mention racism, and by God, don’t write anything that will label you as a minority. But this is just too much to pass up.

University after university after university have found themselves hosting a different type of celebrating for Martin Luther King, Jr. Each, ahem, alternative observances had its own brand of offensiveness. At Tarleton, the photos (originally uploaded to Facebook, naturally) had women dressed up like Aunt Jemima, wearing shirts that proclaiming “I love chicken” while housing 40s wrapped in brown paper bags. “Bullets and Bubbly” was a less straight-up-racist and more let’s-throw-one-back-for-ghetto-culture-wink-wink, but definitely had it’s winners for the prize of quickest untagging of photos. At Clemson: gold-tipped grills, bandanas wrapped around fake dreads, TuPac t-shirts, butts stuffed with whoknowswhat to Sir Mix-A-Lot proportions and even a good ol’ fashioned blackface. Wait, is it still blackface if you paint your whole body?

Is there really anything to be said for all of this? Offensive as these pictures are ? and don’t get me wrong, they are offensive ? the behaviors exhibited in these get defended in a number of typical ways. They didn’t mean “any racial harm,” no one was excluded, and really, their black friend(s) started the tradition, so they thought they could be in on the joke. You know, like Chappelle?

The cycle at the end of this too predictabe. Racism (or insert any illegal/terrible activity that commonly takes place in college) is celebrated, goes unnoticed by any in attendance. Dolt uploads photos to Facebook, community backlash, stern letter from president of college saying we-don’t-know-if-it’s-racist-but-we’d-better-not-see-it-again, ‘divided’ or ‘tense’ meetings with black student groups and other (minority) allies having to justify their outrage over something so patently offensive I could just spit.

The part that gets the most play is the So What? So What if these kids were having a little fun at the expense of non-party-attending member of a particular race? So What if no one got hurt. Hazing (another dangerous word to toss out on the first blog post) and binge drinkers claim more lives yearly than white-on-black crime, and getting upset about this every time someone gets offended is silly. Racism will always exist.

Right. It will. Just not here. Colleges and universities are privileged communities, and anyone who says they are not must not have ever been denied by one. You choose to wear that orange and purple ? and with those colors, that’s commitment ? you also choose to abide by those rules. We don’t play this game. This is not high school. These are not the streets. You don’t run here. But regardless of how many blind eyes an administration turns, college is a community where all should feel safe. And safe means I don’t have to be concerned that you guys think it’s real funny to snicker about what border I crossed or whether you should be making a phone-call to Homeland Security. And please note: I said safe. I didn’t say welcome. You can invite me over for buckets of KFC and some Old E all you want, but I’ll pass. I prefer Popeye’s.