December 20, 2007Tech grad tapped for MTV election coverageSabina Thaler, a 2007 Virginia Tech graduate, will represent Virginia on MTV's Choose or Loose Street Team. Thaler is one of 51 young people who will follow the presidential campaigns and deliver short, multimedia-focused pieces on the races. MTV is hoping the team will help connect with their peers and explore the local issues important to viewers, and listeners online. Thaler graduated this summer with political science and sociology degrees, is from Roanoke. Gun control seems to be the top issue for Thaler. In a commentary this summer, she wrote, "Nevertheless, guns make taking lives too easy." But, she says that guns should not be the nation's "whipping boy." Missing cheerleaders, dull gameI was at the men's basektball game at Cassell Coliseum last night, and couldn't help but notice a couple things missing: Cheerleaders and the band. Where were they and what happened to team loyalty? I recognize that students need to have a break and a chance to see their families, but aren't you obligated when you sign up to be part of a team/group? Having cheers from actual Tech students, and not local high-school replacements, really would have pepped the game some. And, while we did get blasted with a few musical selections, it just wasn't the same as it is live. Maybe I'm off base, but it just doesn't make sense. I guarantee these people won't be missing from the Orange Bowl. Does anyone else think this is strange? December 18, 2007Monkeys have college kids' skillsA Duke University study shows that college students and monkeys have about the same math skills. Hmmm. Maybe that's the reason for the low grades you've been posting. Basically, the researchers put two monkey against a couple dozen Duke students to see who outperformed each other. The task was to mentally add two sets of dots that were briefly flashed on a computer screen. The teams were asked to pick the correct answer from two choices on a different screen, news wire Reuters wrote. In an interview with the wire service, researcher Jessica Cantlon said, ""It shows when you take language away from a human, they end up looking just like monkeys in terms of their performance." December 17, 2007Victim costumes posted, removed from EbayThe fallout over what is possibly the world's most tacky Halloween costume may never cease. This weekend, two Virginia Tech shooting victim costumes were posted on Ebay. "Do to my recent financial situation Jess and I have decided to sell our costumes on eBay to raise some funds," Jones wrote in an e-mail. But, this morning, it appears coordinators of the site may have removed the items. It's likely the costumes violated their policies. We're still waiting on word from the company, but what do you think? December 14, 2007Halloween prankster firedNathan Jones, one of the Penn State students who dressed as a Virginia Tech shooting victim, said the controversy has cost him his job. In an e-mail today, Jones said he was asked to resign yesterday from his post at Bank of America or be fired. "They were worried that my name may be attached to the Bank of America brand, and that this controversy would lead to a scandal," he said. Photos of Jones and another Penn State student were plastered on Facebook and caused a national outcry. In interviews with several media outlets, including an on-camera piece on CNN this week, Jones refused to apologize. Apparently, he's sticking with that plan. "Things are going to be hard now, especially since I have no outside support ... However, even though I will be starving over the holidays and my credit cards will all default, I still will not apologize," he wrote. Some miss LSU notification on killingsOther schools are having troubles with text-message alert system put in place after the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech. After two graduate students were killed at Louisiana State University yesterday, some students said they didn't get their text alerts. The school said they don't know what the problem was. The two international students killed lived on campus, and police said they were victims of a home invasion. December 12, 2007Students choose easier classesWhile finals are in full swing, and everyone is studying hard, I thought I'd throw this piece of not-quite-shocking research out there: Students like easy classes. According to a recent study when students at Cornell University were given the median grades for courses, they tended to choose the seemingly easier ones. Who would have thought that? Every semester, Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences publishes the median grades of similar clases. It's been going on for about 10 years with the rationale being that students would get a better idea of their performance if they knew just how difficult the class was. While that might be the case, students are cherry picking the courses with higher median grades and professors that give higher grades are the more popular. That might backfire soon if the school actually puts those median grades on the student's transcript, showing employers just how difficult the course was. Yale courses archivedYale has officially launched an online archive of some of its course material open to anyone interested. Seven courses, from introductory poetry to beginning astronomy, are availabe at the portal and include a full set of videoed class lectures. Students or teachers interested can also search an indexed version of class notes and read syallabi. The downloadable vidoes are the latest lectures to come from colleges. The University of California, Berkeley, has done the same. And, some Virginia Tech work is available at the Open Education Resources archive. Interested people can view the course material, but they will not get credit from Yale. However, teachers can use the material in their own courses. December 6, 2007Virginia Tech No. 1 in architectureArchitect Magazine's November issue lists Virginia Tech as the top undergraduate architecture school in the country, according to rankings from The Design Futures Council and DesignIntelligence. Tech moved up from a fourth-place ranking last year. It's the first time the school's been ranked No. 1. Tech also tied for fifth in the graduate school rankings. December 5, 2007Students rob bank for tuitionStressed before finals? Looking for creative ways to scrape together cash for next semster's tuition? You might want to think twice before following the lead of two Ohio students. Andrew Butler and Christopher Avery are both facing to prison for 20 years after pleading guilty this week to aggravated roberry charges. Butler told a judge in Hamilton County (Ohio) courtrrom that he was "stressed" and needed quick cash to pay for school when he decided to rob a bank in mid July. Butler and Avery are scheduled to be sentenced two days after Christmas. West Virginia student leader steps downThe president of West Virginia University's Student Government Association resigned from his position after being arrested this weekend for drunken driving. David Kirkpatrick, known for speaking out against driving under the influence, delivered a hand-written note to the school's student newspaper saying he didn't want his court proceedings to interfere with student government affairs. Kirkpatrick, from Fort. Myers, Fla., also was a student representative on the school's governing board. Greek life coordinator leavingThe man who runs Radford University’s Greek Life programs will leave the school next month. Rosenberg has worked at Radford for the past two years, and was at the helm when one of the school's fraternities was put on probation after hazing allegations. KDR has 76 chapters, including a provisional one at Virginia Tech. Rosenberg starts his position on Jan. 9. |
About this blog
Rhode Island native and Virginia Tech reporter Greg Esposito posts on everyday college life, trends and issues affecting the 35,000-plus students in the New River Valley and beyond.
Tim Thornton, who is old enough to have children attending college, is still taking classes and is still fascinated by colleges, the students who populate them and the bureaucrats who operate them. His reporting beat is Radford University.
West Virginia native Anna Mallory blogs on student life topics at Virginia Tech, Radford University, New River Valley Community College -- and beyond.
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