Yale University announced that this fall, it will begin taping seven undergraduate lecture classes and posting them online, available to the general public. Yale's decision is part of a larger trend of top institutions offering free courses and course materials online. The number of people accessing these sites ranges from thousands to millions each month. Many universities said that they hoped that posting lectures online would help make education available to people who would not otherwise have access to it, as well as raise interest among potential applicants and garner alumni donations. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was the first school to begin posting class materials online free of charge with its "OpenCourseWare" program.
Democratic presidential hopeful Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico visited New Hampshire on Friday and Saturday. "We've got to compete in every state, but New Hampshire will be the top priority for me," Richardson said. On Friday, Richardson hosted a "meet-and-greet" at Creative Colors and Cuts Hair Salon in Concord, followed by two house parties at the homes of Senator Kathy Sgambati and Commissioner Martha Richards in Tilton and Holderness. On Saturday, Richardson spoke before the New Hampshire Young Democrats in Manchester, and a Concord City Democrats event in Concord. He followed up these events with another "meet and greet" at RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth, and a final house party at the home of Gary and Lenore Patton in Hampton. Several students from the Dartmouth College Democrats attended a Friday evening house party with Richardson.
Seventy colleges have signed onto the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, an agreement to lower their carbon dioxide emissions to zero. The schools have two years to observe the amount of carbon dioxide that they release into the atmosphere, to design a plan to achieve their goal and begin to decrease their carbon dioxide emissions by using energy efficient equipment. Under the plan, each institution will create its own deadline and strategy for counteracting carbon dioxide emissions with alternative sources of energy. The plan is modeled on the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, signed in 2005 by 402 mayors. Directors of the plan aim to have 200 institutions on board by June and 1,000 by 2009.
