You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Campus Life’ category.

The University of Tennessee has granted a football scholarship to a student who participated in the brutal rape of his cousin at the age of 13.

(I’m putting this story behind a cut, as it contains details of the crime.)

Read the rest of this entry »

The Iowa Daily published a front-page article yesterday on the arrest records of the members of the University of Iowa Student Government.

The article, which was based on public records searches, reported that ten UISG members “have criminal charges other than traffic violations,” mostly citations for underage drinking or public intoxication.

The article names four of the ten offenders, providing details of the records of each:

  • The SGUI vice president, who picked up a public intoxication charge last year.
  • A senator who has seven infractions on his record, five of them for public intoxication.
  • A senator with six infractions, including two charges for using false ID to obtain alcohol.
  • A senator with two underage drinking charges and one for theft.

Not all of these charges have resulted in convictions or pleas — the article notes that at least one case is currently pending.

The article suggests that this information raises a “question for UI officials — along with current and former UISG members” as to “how much those tickets affect representatives’ credibility and ability to lead the students.”

The student government at the University of West Georgia is looking to cut funding to the school’s student newspaper in retaliation for an opinion piece that mocked fraternities.

The day after the West Georgian ran a column called “Join a Frat with Buck Futter, Jr.” student body president Alan Webster — a fraternity brother himself — introduced a bill that would freeze the paper’s funds on a “temporary yet immediate” basis while the university explored alternative ways to “allocat[e] institutional funds to extend interesting, informative, accurate, and responsible information in a manner that sheds a positive light on the University.”

The bill was passed by the student government and is being reviewed by university lawyers prior to implementation.

The offending column described frat members as “over-aggressive alcoholics that have no sense of responsibility,” and said that the university repeatedly lets “frats off the hook despite their incessant rule-breaking and idiotic antics.” It claims that frat members keyed the word “FAG” into the finish of a Resident Assistant’s car, and went unpunished “because University Police never actually investigate any crimes against students.”

It also suggests that UWG fraternity members regularly have sex with each other and rape passed-out female students.

palmer9Another student party-turned-riot has been broken up by cops — this one at Ohio University.

Thousands of people attended an off-campus party near OU on Saturday night. Cops moved in when partiers began setting fires in the street, and were greeted by students throwing bottles and full beer cans. Police say five police horses were injured, three of them cut by broken glass.

At one point a group of students tore down a stop sign as another set up speakers in an open window to blast NWA’s “Fuck Tha Police” into the street. Some students claim the cops used excessive force in breaking up the party.

Similar melees took place at the University of Minnesota and Kent State earlier this semester.

(Photo of douche giving thumbs-up sign courtesy of the Ohio University Post.)

A yearlong drug investigation at the University of Illinois culminated in more than two dozen arrests last week.

But all the cops found was six ounces of pot and some Xanax.

The UI campus police launched “Operation Thunder Strike” last fall, and the force decided to make “a little bit of a splash” before the end of the semester, according to Lt. Roy Acree. They obtained search warrants and arrest warrants for seventeen people, and swept in on three fraternity houses and several apartments starting last Tuesday.

They made twenty-five arrests, twenty-one of UI students, but Acree said the total haul was “180 grams of cannabis, numerous pieces of drug paraphernalia, cocaine residue, and some Xanax pills.” Cops also confiscated two vehicles, three television sets, two computers, and about three thousand dollars in cash.

Spring classes end tomorrow at UI, and final exams start this Friday.

 

(The Chronicle of Higher Education swallowed the campus cops’ line on this bust, by the way, but the comment thread on their story is turning into a real doozy.)

About This Blog

n7772graysmall
StudentActivism.net is the work of Angus Johnston, a historian and advocate of American student organizing.

To contact Angus, click here. For more about him, check out AngusJohnston.com.