Vanderbilt University
Playboy is looking for models from the Vanderbilt student body. A recent ad in the university newspaper is offering women the chance to audition for Playboy’s fall 2001 “Women of the Southeastern Conference” pictorial.
Some students say this welcomes negative stereotypes of women and objectifies the female body. Playboy expects 75 to 100 photo submissions from Vanderbilt students. Face-to-face interviews will be held shortly after.
University of Minnesota
In recent weeks, companies such as Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb have lowered the prices of AIDS drugs significantly. Despite this, the price of AIDS drugs developed and licensed by the University of Minnesota has remained the same. Campus activists and humanitarians want the university to pressure GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer of the drug Ziagen, to do more to lower costs. Ziagen, which sells for $4,600 a year in the Unites States, has not yet been offered at a reduced cost. In recent years, Ziagen has brought the university $20 million in profits.
University of Hawaii
A male University of Hawaii student filed a sexual-harassment complaint against a male professor. An investigation into the allegations has been launched but no findings have been released.
Sex-equity specialist Beverly McCreare said that the humiliation faced after reporting a sexual-harassment incident is greater for men than for women. In 1999, there were 40 reports of sexual-harassment at the University of Hawaii.
Kent State University
The U.S. Department of Education is looking into how financial-aid applications were filled out for students taking Microsoft courses at Kent State’s Trumbull campus.
William Hall, a student, said students were told to say they were seeking an exploratory degree so they could qualify for financial aid. However, Hall’s credibility is now in question.
Several people have claimed that Hall has been seeking to discredit the university for his own personal gain for quite some time.
Bowling Green State University
The vegetarian and vegan menus at Bowling Green State University have been greatly improved upon. Both BGVeg and the Undergraduate Student Government had been petitioning for the change and are especially pleased with the vegan choices.
In general, vegan foods (lacking meat, cheese or other animal products) are more difficult to come by than vegetarian foods in campus cafeterias.
