Around the Ivies

By Fiona Ewing | 1/23/14 9:00am

BROWN UNIVERSITY: The body of a Brown junior, Dana Dourdeville, was found on the shore of Falmouth, Mass., ending a two-week search for the missing engineering student, the Brown Daily Herald reported. Dourdeville had been missing since New Year's Eve, when he left home on a duck hunting trip, alone in a kayak.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Professors Jeffrey Sachs and Vincent Racaniello will teach massive open online courses this semester using Coursera, a hub for free courses open to the public, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator. Sach’s course, which focuses on sustainable development, and Racaniello’s, which explores how viruses cause diseases, join eight other online classes offered by the University. Columbia launched its first online course offerings in fall 2012.

CORNELL UNIVERSITY: This year, employees received a paid holiday on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, for the first time, the Cornell Sun reported. Faculty and staff were given the day off to join in on the University’s programming, which included films, concerts, workshops and meals.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY: The Hasty Pudding Theatricals named British actress Helen Mirren as its woman of the year, according to the Harvard Crimson. Following a roast and parade through Cambridge, Mass., the Theatricals will present Mirren with a ceremonial “Pudding Pot” on Jan. 30. Mirren said her selection was “very saucy.”

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Former dean of admissions Fred Hargadon passed away at the age of 80. Known for the signature "YES!" topping letters sent to admitted students, Hargadon began his work at Princeton in 1988, according to the Daily Princetonian. He retired in 2003, after admissions staff members used prospective students’ birth dates and social security numbers to check their admissions statuses to Yale University, breaching a secure Yale site.

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: Police confirmed the suicide of freshman student Madison Holleran, age 19, who fell from a parking garage on Friday night, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported. A member of Penn’s varsity track and field team, Holleran was from Allendale, N.J.

YALE UNIVERSITY: Police documents revealed that Yale researchers Kathleen Koenig and Robert King had developed and prescribed treatment for Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza in 2006, according to the Yale Daily News. Lanza’s mother brought him to Yale's Child Study Center for a psychiatric evaluation, but discontinued treatment after objecting to the use of medication.


Fiona Ewing