After millennia of a male-dominated world, women have finally risen to the top. But some college admissions officers suggest that they've risen too high.
Women now outnumber men applying to and graduating from college. They comprise 57% of college populations, and they may face discrimination for being too eager for a college education.
The College of William and Mary accepted relatively equal numbers of men and women for the most recent freshman class. However, 7,652 women and 4,457 men applied. Crunch those numbers, and you'll find that the college accepted 45% of male applicants and only 27% of female applicants.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights recently caught wind of this inequality, and they're seeing if universities are deliberately discriminating against women to maintain an equal gender ratio.
The phenomenon of female-dominated universities has yet to strike Penn State. Men represent 54% of the student body, while females represent only 46%. Penn State may be an exception due to its respected College of Engineering, one institute that oozes testosterone.
In any case, discrimination against college-bound women is intolerable. Rather than slackening standards for male applicants, colleges should alter certain structures to increase male enrollment. (Adderral dispensers in the library? Free ESPN Insider accounts for all students?)
But seriously, alternatives to blatant discrimination surely exist. (Although, as a man, a high female-to-male ratio is fine by me.)
By now, I'm sure everyone has heard about Apple's new release - the giant iPhone the iPad. A few days ago, I came across an Associated Press article discussing how the new iPad will be perfect for college students. This is definitely an idea I thought about when I first heard of the release, but I have mixed feelings about how well the iPad will be for class-goers.
I'll preface my discussion by letting you know that I'm an avid Mac user and have been all of my college life. I worked in an Apple retail store in the summer of 2008 and have been following Apple Inc. since 2006. Let's see how biased I am....
Read on for some points made by the AP article and my thoughts along with them.
Brace yourself. Time to raise your fists high and ‘beat up the beat.’ The Student Government, Campus Activities Board, and Student Activity Fee of Penn State Altoona (say that three times fast) have confirmed that they are trying to bring in Jersey Shore’s Pauly D to campus to spin at a party by the end of the month.
Yes, your favorite Guido and mine, Pauly D could potentially be fist-pumping his ‘fresh outfit, fresh haircut, fresh tan’ on over to Penn State Altoona February 27th. Further details will be posted as they come in. For now, stock up on your Joico Ice Hair Spiker, practice your blow-out, and throw up a fist pump!
Penn State recently announced that it will be using an automated system to handle all financial interest disclosures in its research. Penn State's research budget last year totaled $765 million, so any change involving any aspect of its allocation is something to take under consideration.
Click Commerce's eResearch software will be implemented, and through the software researchers can create and maintain their financial information. This information will then be linked into the university's institutional review board, where they can review potential conflicts of interest. Think Facebook meets Big Brother (1984, not the show). But more confidential. Hopefully. The University claims that:
Given the sensitive nature of the data we're gathering, our researchers can be confident of confidentiality as we'll be using Click's Web services to ensure secure data transfer between our systems and the Click platform
I think it's a great thing that the University is trying to streamline some cumbersome processes, but I'm not sure how I feel about this. Entrusting this information to a private company's servers? Penn State has already had enough problems (i.e. hacked social security numbers) keeping its own information secure, without sending it out to a private company. Will this "sensitive" data really be as secure as Penn State claims?
Well the time has finally come for good ol' G-Span to head out there and show his alma mater all that he has learned from us here at PSU. The Des Moines Register had an interview with President Graham Spanier, which is actually a good look into his life as a president. In the interview he talks about the time he spends in the dorms (at the beginning of the year in East), the changes university life has seen since his time as a student, and how he spends his free time. The title of the speech he will be giving is "What I Can Learn Sleeping in the Residence Halls."
One of the better questions in the article related to the speech's title:
So what's with sleeping in the dorms?
I've been doing that at the beginning of the fall semester for years. It helps me put a finger on the pulse of students. The speech has a catchy title but it's about keeping up with what is happening with students.
I can say that I have personally seen G-Span spend some time in the dorms over here at East and he does get to know the incoming class. In fact, he actually goes around and talks to every student and tries to get feedback from them straight off the bat. He also advertises various important events that first-years should attend so they may become attuned to the Penn State culture. Also, he performs magic (he still can't make the CATA buses appear on time, though)!
Read on for some more good stuff from the interview.
