In the absence of affirmative action, public universities in California have implemented programs geared toward supporting students of color and lower-income students to increase diversity, The New York Times reported. Since California voters abolished official affirmative action in 1996, institutions including the University of California, Irvine have been pushing to recruit more low-income candidates for admission by providing them with college advising services, which reach out to applicants beginning in middle school. Though the number of students of color at public universities in California initially decreased in the late 1990s, the numbers eventually rebounded. As the Supreme Court begins to hear a case on affirmative action at the University of Texas at Austin, the California public school admission system may be a model for the future.
A male student at Princeton University was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis on Tuesday morning, the third report on campus in less than two months, The Daily Princetonian reported. The student reported symptoms of the disease Monday evening and received test results confirming the diagnosis the following morning. There is no evidence that suggests that the incidents are linked or that the university is experiencing an outbreak, Daniel Emmer, communications manager for the New Jersey Department of Health, said in an interview with The Princetonian. In addition to issuing a health advisory, the university has contacted 19 people who may have had direct contact with the infected student. Princeton did not issue any health warnings for the previous two cases because those afflicted did not report symptoms of meningitis on campus. In accordance with state law, Princeton students are required to be vaccinated for meningitis prior to enrollment.
New York City police charged a Columbia University football player with a hate crime after he allegedly used racial slurs against and shoved a male Asian student, the Columbia Daily Spectator reported. Chad Washington, a sophomore at Columbia, reportedly heckled two female friends of the 19-year-old victim as they were leaving a dormitory early Sunday. The suspect allegedly followed the group, called the victim racial slurs and shoved him against a wall. Though a Columbia security patrol officer witnessed the incident, he reported to police that it looked like a group "horsing around" instead of a hostile interaction. Washington will face a felony charge of aggravated assault as a hate crime and is due back in court on July 8.
