College Shorts

Author: Lindsey Whitton

"Short" Man Exposes Himself to Custodian

Two students identified an alleged harasser based on a police sketch on the University of Arkansas campus. The suspect allegedly harassed a university custodian twice, grabbing her, exposing himself and fleeing before she had time to use her pepper spray. Around 1 a.m. Friday night the suspect was seen entering a building as two students exited through a back door after working late on a project. "He looked really nervous, like he had been waiting for someone to open the door," said Brittni Aldridge, a senior broadcast journalism major. "As soon as [her friend] stepped out, he darted in past me and ran to the elevators."
The police quickly arrived, and after searching the building they found the man hiding in an upstairs classroom. The 42-year-old local resident was taken in for questioning, but since the police did not witness the crime, they are awaiting a warrant before making an official arrest.
"He had a story that he was there to meet a friend but all of that is most likely not true," said Lt. Gary Crain, the University of Arkansas Police Department public information officer. "He may be using that for an alibi but what he did was a violation of the law and he will be arrested."
Both Crain and Aldridge were remarkably impressed with the sketch that had been prepared by the Springdale Police Department and the victim. "The man was short, around 5'4" and wore a blue toboggan, glasses and a black trench coat. He looked almost exactly like the sketch in the paper. I couldn't believe the resemblance," Aldridge said.

Source: The Arkansas Traveler

Rent-a-Gent Bachelor Auction Includes Gays

The organizers of Brandeis University's annual Rent-A-Gent Bachelor Auction were successful in their effort to promote same-sex bidding this year. The auction, which featured 63 bachelors and raised about $6,000 for the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, was, as in years past, dominated by female bidders but also included a relatively substantial group of male bidders as well.
Emcee Morty Rosenbaum '03 made the first male bid when he challenged event organizer Mariel Meringolo's bid on graduate student Matt Preece, who was sporting vinyl pants and a cowboy hat. "You want to get the crowd excited, and once Mariel started bidding, it worked, so I put in a bid too -- it upped the bid, and it let everyone know that anyone could bid on anyone," Rosenbaum said.
In the past, the auction had been geared exclusively toward a heterosexual lifestyle. After identifying the exclusivity of the event, this year's organizers contacted many gay men who are at ease with their sexuality and invited them to be one of the featured bachelors or to attend the auction and bid. The audience was very receptive to the same-sex bidding, clapping and cheering enthusiastically.
Meringolo said that no questions or problems surfaced in response to the same-sex bidding. Rosenbaum said. "Hopefully, in the future, there will be gay men bidding at the auction, not only as a deliberate and necessary way of asserting their presence, but because they will know it is a legitimate place to find a date."

Source: The Brandeis Justice

Black Students Racist Against Other Black Students

Three University of Mississippi students have been charged with making racially-based attacks. The University Judicial Board will convene before the end of the month to decide their punishment. There was widespread shock that the students who allegedly wrote racial slurs on the dormitory doors of black students were also black.
"It's kind of a surprise. The issue came out, and we thought it was racism, but it was someone of our own race. That's a disappointment," said senior Renee Mosley from Greenville, Miss.
On Nov. 6, two black freshman had discovered "F----- N-----," "F----- Hoe N-----," and a tree and a noose drawn on their residence hall doors. Three other student's doors, the elevator and a wall were marked with obscene language and rough images and references to genitalia.
There have been five charges made against the students including flagrant disrespect of a member of the university community, harassment and disorderly conduct, vandalism, disregard for university authority and abuse of the university judicial system. The accused claim the entire incident was a prank against acquaintances.
The University will not bring the case to criminal courts, citing that most on-campus crimes have been dealt with internally. Chancellor Robert Khayat said, "This is a community issue. This is not, at this point, an issue for the courts."
There have been complaints that the accused students are being treated lightly because of their race. Khayat responded that the University would have had the exact same reaction if the students had been white. "I'm confident it would also have gone through the student judiciary," Khayat said.

Source: The Daily Mississippian