Watching the Ivies: 10/8
BROWN: Brown University’s Office of Residential Life will remove gender-neutral signs from restrooms in Keeney Quadrangle dorms, returning them to their former gender-specific state, the Brown Daily Herald reported. The gender-neutral signs were put up accidentally during renovations last summer. Some students expressed disappointment that the gender-neutral signs did not actually represent a policy change at Brown, reporting that allowing for co-ed restrooms had facilitated community building in the dorms.
COLUMBIA: Columbia University announced an 11.5 percent return on its endowment this year, a significant increase from last year’s 2.3 percent, the Columbia Spectator reported. The endowment is at $8.2 billion for this year. University President Lee Bollinger released a statement last Thursday attributing Columbia’s financial success to the consistent work of its endowment investment managers.
CORNELL: Cornell University’s Student Assembly is divided over a proposal to establish a University Student Court allowing student organizations to express grievances against the Assembly, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. Students supporting the resolution contend that there is no existing action to contest a Student Assembly action. Those opposing the resolution contest that the courts would wield inappropriate and arbitrary power. If established, the courts would have the power to issue temporary restraining orders and injunctions in disputes, which some students believe to be an excessive amount of authority.
HARVARD: The Crimson is releasing a six-part series detailing the results of an online survey about final clubs at Harvard University. The survey questioned Harvard sophomores, juniors and seniors about topics such as the clubs’ exclusivity and prestige. Results found that a plurality of Harvard students is uninterested in joining a final club. Additionally, a majority of students said that they thought clubs should remain segregated by gender. The series’ final three installments will be released on the Crimson’s website this week.
PRINCETON: Princeton University’s Undergraduate Student Government will soon pilot a program allowing students to rent air mattresses for overnight guests, according to the Daily Princetonian. Though USG members expressed concerns about possible sanitation issues, the group ultimately approved the piloting of the program. The program will be similar to a system already in place at Harvard.
UPENN: Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered an address at Penn Law School last Thursday, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported. The lecture addressed topics including legal ethics and the role of the courts. Kennedy’s talk was part of a three-day visit to Penn, inaugurating the law school’s Visiting Jurist Program.
YALE: The government shutdown forced the Office for Civil Rights to postpone its scheduled visit to Yale University indefinitely, according to Yale Daily News. The OCR, which is a sub-agency of the Department of Education, had intended to send representatives to Yale as a follow-up to a Title IX complaint against the university in 2011. Though the complaint was resolved in June 2012, OCR representatives had planned to address student concerns about Yale’s compliance with the case’s voluntary resolution. The visit has not yet been rescheduled.