College Shorts

Author: Raam Wong



AOL Interprets Admissions E-mails as "Spam"

Between 75 and 100 e-mail messages sent by Harvard University to inform early decision applicants whether they had been accepted were interpreted as junk e-mail by America Online (AOL) and never delivered.

Harvard decided to employ e-mail as a means of notifying its almost 6,000 early decision applicants after last fall's anthrax scare. AOL's servers identified dozens of messages as "spam" and redirected them back to the University. Students who never received messages simply called the admissions office to learn if they had been accepted.The institution quickly posted a notice on its Web site asking students to ensure that their Internet service providers did not block Harvard e-mail.



No Overdue Fee for Book Returned 57 Years Late

Donald B. King borrowed Erasmus' "On Copia of Words and Ideas" — a rare 17th century book — in 1944 to translate it into English. Fifty-seven years later, his daughter, Kathryn King, returned the volume to Penn State.

King published his translation of the Dutch theologian's book in 1963 after moving to different teaching positions around the country. He died in 1997, at age 84, without having returned the volume. Despite the lost book fee — a $25 processing fee plus the cost of the book — library spokeswoman Catherine Grigor said they would "let it slide." The 294-page book is now housed in the library's special collection.

Clemson Course on Sept. 11 Draws Public Interest

More than 200 people attended the first meeting of a Clemson University class on the legacy of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. University officials invited the public to attend Jay Hetherington's class for free — more of half of those in attendance were community members.

Hetherington, a 33-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, will bring several high-profile lecturers to help the public better understand what happened.

Since the attacks, many institutions of higher education have expanded their curricula to include classes on terrorism, Middle East politics and Islam. The University of Georgia established a class on television, war and terrorism, while the College of William and Mary introduced a course on Afghan politics. Hetherington's class, however, is the first of this nature to be open and of no charge to the community.



Fire at University of California Destroys Data

A fire at the University of California at Santa Cruz ravaged university laboratories, destroying years of genetic research.

Professor Manuel Ares Jr., who chairs the Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology Department, said he did not know yet how far the damage had set him back. Many of the genetic strains housed in the laboratories had taken 14 years to develop, Ares estimated that they could take that long to replace.

Ares' genetic research was associated with the Human Genome Project, a national venture to map human DNA.The building that contained the laboratory was built in 1987, before sprinkler systems were required. The cause of the fire is still unknown.



Sources: CNN.com and nytimes.com