On Campus

What students are talking about today (Sept. 24 edition)

Texas tuition freeze, a stabbing & mandatory women’s studies

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

1. Two people were stabbed during a fight at a house party near McMaster University early on Sunday. This isn’t the first stabbing at a house party near McMaster. Many of the people in attendance were from out of town, police say.

2. Rick Perry, the conservative Texas governor who ran for the Republican presidential nomination,  has endorsed a four-year tuition freeze at state colleges and universities. Anti-tuition advocates usually have more success with left-wing parties, but this statement won’t surprise anyone who has heard of Perry’s push to create a $10,000 degree in the Lonestar State.

3. The York Federation of Students is pushing for “a mandatory equity or women’s studies course to help students gain awareness of the root causes behind sexual assaults and violence.” A professor in York’s the School of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies says it may not be the best idea and that there is no guarantee such a course would actually reduce sexual assaults.

4. Billie Joe Armstrong, front man of Green Day, stormed offstage after accusing concert organizers of disrespecting him. “I’m not f**king Justin Bieber,” he said. Armstrong is now “seeking treatment.”

5. Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente has long been accused of sloppy columns and potential plagiarism. A University of Ottawa visual arts professor named Carol Wainio has documented this for years. This weekend, the Globe’s public editor (who is ostensibly on the side of the public), responded to the alleged plagiarism. Maclean’s Colby Cosh wasn’t impressed.

6. Hundreds lined up at the University of Waterloo on Friday to try to glimpse physics star Stephen Hawking who was there to open the much-anticipated Quantum Nano Centre. Typical Waterloo.

7. University of New Brunswick students who own cars are being encouraged to buy parking passes to get out of tickets after more than 1,000 parking violations were handed out. Very sneaky, UNB.

8. Apple sold 5 million units of iPhone 5 in the first three days it was available. Four million iPhone 4s were sold on its opening weekend. The iPhone 3 and 3G sold a million each at their debuts.

9. Our Internet addictions are using an enormous amount of electricity. Digital warehouses that store our data on servers around the world for companies like Microsoft and Facebook use about 30 billion watts of electricity annually, which is equivalent to the output of 30 nuclear power plants, estimates the New York Times. Sometimes they use dirty diesel to keep the servers cool. (Not cool.)

10. Trending on Twitter today is the hashtag #WeLiveInAGenerationWhere. Most of the statements have to do with sex, technology or both. In a sign of the times one Tweeter wrote, “#WeLiveInAGenerationWhere losing your phone is more dramatic than losing your virginity.”

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