COLLEGE SHORTS

Author: Andrea Gissing

RA's Unionize at UMass-Amherst

Resident Advisors (RAs) at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) at Amherst voted in March to become the nation's first group of unionized undergraduate employees. They voted to affiliate with United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2322 after the University, which opposed unionization, lost a ruling before the Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission.

Students at UMass are not the only ones who have sought unionization. Undergraduate teaching assistants at Columbia University voted on union affiliation as well. Either Columbia or the UAW will appeal the results, which will not be known for months, to the National Labor Relations Board. If a national board rules in favor of the union, the impact would be even broader than the state ruling in the UMass case as the struggle to unionize could potentially spread nationwide.

Not all of the RAs at UMass supported the move. Of 360 students, only 138 voted in favor of unionization and almost as many did not vote. Many fear the affiliation could have negative consequences as present RA benefits, like large single rooms and free Internet access, will probably be at risk when the new union makes its expected demand for pay increases. Union supporters argued that those threats existed before the vote.

UMass officials are considering an appeal to the state even as they threaten job cutbacks and increased dorm fees for all students.



Source: Time Magazine

Terror Threat Prompts Dartmouth Students' Return

Five students from Dartmouth College returned from the Art History Department's Foreign Study Program last weekend after the U.S. State Department released warnings that Florence, the site of the program, was a potential terrorist target on Easter Sunday. Milan, Venice and Verona were also mentioned in the warning, which referred to "unspecified extremist groups [who] do not distinguish between official and civilian targets."

The five students, after consulting with their families, decided to return to Dartmouth for the remainder of the spring. The Foreign Study Program was not cancelled, although Faculty Advisor and Professor Adrian Randolph arranged to take the remaining students out of Florence for that weekend.

According to an article in last Thurday's New York Times, the information in the warning came from Italian investigators. Italian government officials argued that the State Department's warning did not constitute a serious threat. Neither the Italian nor the U.S. government specified whether the threat was connected to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.



Source: UwireToday.com

College Tradition Made Famous by Florida State U.

On the first day of classes in 1973 at Florida State University (FSU), an entire girl's dorm streaked naked across campus. In the 1970s, FSU popularized the trend of streaking, which later turned into a nationwide craze.

Reportedly, entire dorms would get together and plan their time to streak. Police, fed up with the students streaking, opened up Landis Green, a field on campus making it legal for a 24-hour period to be naked as long as people stayed in the perimeters of the field. Thousands took part in the event.

The practice of streaking caught widespread attention in the '70s, resulting in the creation of national streaking polls. FSU was number one in the nation for four months straight.

The act of streaking, while potentially entertaining to streaker and onlookers alike, can result in a misdemeanor charge.



Source: UwireToday.com

Spike Lee Assumes Position at NYU

Film director Spike Lee, mastermind of 1992's "Malcolm X" and 1999's "Summer of Sam," will assume the position of artistic director of New York University's (NYU) Kanbar Institute of Film and Television.

Lee, who was a graduate student at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, started his film career with his thesis project, "Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads." He will advise graduate students on their thesis projects and assist them in making contacts in the entertainment industry.

This is not Lee's first job at his alma mater, as he has taught for several years at NYU and also at Harvard.

Lee plans to offer some of his students internships on his next film, "The 25th Hour," starring Edward Norton. The film is currently in pre-production.

Source: NewYorkTimes.com