New Hampshire Attorney General Mike Delaney and Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell met on Monday at the Ledyard Bridge to reaffirm the legality of the Connecticut River as the dividing line between the two states, according to Vermont Public Radio. Since the United States Supreme Court ended a long-standing dispute between the states in 1935 about where the true border was, state law requires that the attorney generals from both states meet every seven years and "perambulate" the line, visually confirming that it is well maintained and agreeable to both parties. What was once a matter of vehement disagreement between two states has since become a largely ceremonial photo opportunity, according to VPR, with Delaney and Sorrell jokingly arguing over who got the better deal out of the Supreme Court's division. The boundary marker was successfully located, and the geographic divide between New Hampshire and Vermont will stand for the next seven years.
On Friday, Federal Judge Orinda Evans rejected 94 of 99 claims in a lawsuit filed by Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press and Sage Publications against Georgia State University, which allegedly violated copyright laws by offering electronic copies of textbooks and other educational materials, according to Inside Higher Ed. Evans said that the incidents cited in the lawsuit as copyright violations were covered by the doctrine of fair use, but the ruling limited the proportion of a book covered by fair use to 10 percent in the future, which some say is too inflexible to cover the demand from Georgia State and other universities. The 340-page decision also suggested that in the future, publishers who established systems to offer reasonably priced access to book excerpts online would have greater leverage in claims against universities whose professors assign essays or portions of books to their students, Inside Higher Ed reported.
Columbia University janitor Gac Filipaj graduated with honors from Columbia on Sunday with a bachelor's degree in classics after nearly 12 years of study, according to the Associated Press. Filipaj attended classes parttime in the morning and worked a 2:30 p.m to 11 p.m. shift as a "heavy cleaner." Before exam dates and essay deadlines, Filipaj studied all night, took the test in the morning and returned to work in the afternoon, the Associated Press reported. The 52-year-old janitor did not have to pay tuition for the classes he took because he was an employee of the university. Filipaj migrated from war-torn Yugoslavia in 1992 and enrolled in classes at Columbia after learning English. He still sends part of his $22 hourly pay to family in Montenegro.
