On Campus

What students are talking about today (November 8th edition)

Alcohol Studies, the Sandy Five, & a riot over Obama

1. A protest by disgruntled Republican students at the University of Mississippi following President Barack Obama’s reelection on Tuesday wasn’t a riot, according to the school’s chancellor. But it sure looked like one. There were racist epithets and Obama signs lit on fire as hundreds gathered on campus, reports ClarionLedger.com.

2. I regret to inform you that the University of Calgary is not offering a course called Alcohol Studies with samplings in class, as The Gauntlet student newspaper had reported in a humour piece, and which I pointed to in an earlier post as fact. (Mea culpa.) Too bad. It sounded fun.

3. The more than 110 deaths in the United States and the tens of billions in property damage weren’t the only consequences of Superstorm Sandy. New Yorkers say that after a week of eating processed foods while the power was out, they have trouble buttoning their jeans. The New York Times is calling the five pounds of weight gain the “Sandy Five.” Our thoughts are with them.

4. A bit of pop culture: Ariel Winter, the 14-year-old who plays Alex Dunphy on the hit show Modern Family, has accused her mother of ongoing physical and emotional abuse, reports People.

5. The troubled University of Regina Students’ Union has conducted an audit after its former president, Haanim Nur, resigned and later admitted to taking money from CFS Saskatchewan. While URSU’s books are clean, the audit showed the student union ended the 2012 fiscal year with an eye-popping $202,484 financial hole. The Owl pub accounted for $157,890 of the red ink.

6. A University of Waterloo vice-president told the Waterloo Record that its branch in Dubai was an experiment that didn’t work. The three-year-old campus in the United Arab Emirates will close.

7. Molson Coors says the NHL lockout has hurt beer sales so badly that it plans to seek compensation. The brewer’s NHL sponsorship deal is worth an estimated $375-million.

8. A former University of Saskatchewan math instructor who refused to stop posting racist messages online will go to jail for at least 30 days, a court ruled Wednesday. See CBC News for more.

9. There has been yet another deadly collapse at a rock concert. One person died and 19 were injured in an incident outside a Linkin Park concert in Cape Town, South Africa, reports BBC.

10. Yes, most 20-something Canadians live with their parents, and yes, it not cool, writes The Grid’s Lara Zarum. But the upside is often overlooked, she says, referring to “The piles of money you can save by sucking it up and staying there for a few more years.” So, be nice to mom and dad.

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