Thirty-four first-year students at Duke University's Fuqua Business School were caught cheating on a take-home final exam in the largest cheating scandal to hit American business schools since 2005, according to the New York Times. Four of the accused students were exonerated while the remaining students were expelled or received failing grades. Many students were found collaborating on the open-book exam while another disclosed essay questions to a student who had not yet accessed the exam online. The professor became suspicious when several exams had similar answers.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, an activist association focused on protecting the First Amendment rights of students, announced that it will write a weekly opinion column every Monday in the New York Post. "Campus Alert" will headline students' rights debates and expose possible rights transgressions occurring at universities. The first column, printed April 24, called for the student senate at the University of Rhode Island to dismiss a move to de-recognize the College Republicans because of its invitation of scholarship applicants for a "First Annual White Heterosexual Male Scholarship." Two days after the column was published, the student senate abandoned the motion.
Dartmouth refuses to apply for a special permit from the Hanover Zoning Board for its new dining hall to be built on Maynard Street, generating controversy among town officials, the Valley News reported. Dartmouth attorney Ellen Arnold claims that the College is exempt from the permit requirement, arguing that the requirement only applies to cafeterias and that Dartmouth is building a dining hall. The Zoning Board claims a 250-seat eatery should require a permit because of its potential effects on residential neighbors. Dartmouth is currently appealing its case with the Hanover Zoning Board, but regardless of the board's ruling, the project will be reviewed by the Hanover Planning Board, at which time residents will have an opportunity to lodge complaints.
Binge drinking on college campuses has risen since 2001, according to a study conducted at Columbia University. In the United States, 3.8 million full-time students binge drink, which is defined by the study as having consumed five or more drinks at one time in the past two weeks. The culture of alcohol abuse on college campuses has intensified despite a better understanding of alcohol's detrimental effects, Susan Foster of the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse told The Daily Illini. The study blames the predatory marketing tactics of the alcohol industry as well as college leniency for the rise in alcohol abuse. Colleges, according to Foster, bear the burden in preventing campus abuse of alcohol by maintaining strict enforcement of alcohol regulations.
