Members of the Dartmouth community gathered on the Green on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate College President James Wright and his wife Susan Wright as they prepare to leave the College. Wright will step down from his position on July 1. The event included several speeches about the Wrights, who both also spoke at the event, as well as performances by the Aires, the Rockapellas and the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble, and was emceed by former Student Body President Molly Bode '09. "I think of [the Wrights] as the heart and soul of Dartmouth," Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt said in her speech at the event. "I am glad that President Wright can look out and see so many people here supporting him and celebrating his presidency," Katherine Lindsay '11, who attended the event, said.
A bill banning text messaging while driving was passed by the New Hampshire Senate on Wednesday, according to the New Hampshire General Court web site. The bill will now be sent to Gov. John Lynch, D-N.H., who has not yet announced whether he will sign it into law, according to the Associated Press. The bill also proposes a ban on typing on laptop computers and other electronic devices while driving, with a $100 fine for each violation. Current state laws regarding distracted driving do not address text messaging or typing, and violating distracted driving laws is currently a secondary offense for which a driver cannot be stopped by police, according to the Associated Press. The proposed ban would make text messaging or typing while driving a primary offense, allowing police to stop drivers for those actions alone, the Associated Press reported. The law makes an exemption for entering a number or name into a cellular phone to make a call.
Sixty to 80 percent of Division I-A colleges' athletic revenue comes from commercial activities, according to "Tax Preferences for Collegiate Sports," a report released on Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office. "That proportion is seven to eight times that for the rest of the schools' activities and programs, suggesting that their sports programs may have crossed the line from educational to commercial endeavors," the report states. The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan research branch that provides economic and budgetary analysis to Congress, questions in the report whether big athletic programs should lose their tax-exempt status due to such activities. The report concludes that removing these programs' tax preferences would be "unlikely to significantly alter" athletic programs or to "garner much tax revenue."
