College Shorts FBI Called in to Investigate Attack on Candidate, UPenn Goes to Hollywood

Author: Andrea Gissing

U. Penn Pegged for Pirating Movies

The University of Pennsylvania received many complaints from Universal Studios in the past week regarding the illegal sharing of movie files between students. U. Penn's Office of Information Security apparently received 100 allegations of copyright material misuse.
Normally the university receives an average of five to 10 complaints weekly from media companies. The students who own the computers on which the movies have been shared have been contacted and were referred to the Office of Student Conduct. The students were identified by their computer's IP addresses, which movie and music companies can obtain by searching the online databases that students use to download media. Since IP addresses can also be used to get the e-mail address of the computer's user, companies can identify who is sharing files.
Along with U. Penn, several other schools were contacted by Universal Studios as well. Michigan State University recieved 500 complaints.
The Office of Information Security reported that machines on U. Penn from which files have been shared belong to both students and faculty.

Source: U-Wire and The Daily Pennsylvanian


Standford Pauses to Protest War

At Stanford University at least 26 faculty canceled classes and 64 have pledged support for the March 5 "Books Not Bombs" strike. The strike protested a pre-emptive war in Iraq. According to students, dozens of classes have been canceled or rescheduled and over 20 faculty participated in the strike.
The strike was held in conjunction with a nationwide strike that was supported by over 300 colleges and universities. The organizers of the strike at Stanford, members of the Coalition for Students Against War, lobbied for faculty to either cancel classes or excuse students who were absent.
Professors had a variety of reasons for canceling classes, including doing their part to oppose the war and giving the students the opportunity to become more educated on issues pertaining to Iraq. Many professors who decided to hold their classes, thus allowing students choose whether or not to strike, were supportive of the student's decisions.

Source: U-Wire


U. Connecticut Paper Temporarily Silenced

Almost 9,000 copies of The Daily Campus, the student newspaper for the University of Connecticut, were stolen Feb. 28 from The Daily Campus building and several dozen delivery locations shortly after the papers were brought to campus. Newspapers were also reported missing from other locations including academic and administrative buildings.
Witnesses reported seeing two females taking copies of the paper from the delivery locations. Staff members of The Daily Campus reported the thefts to the U. Conn Police Departments as soon it was known that the papers had been taken. Thousands of copies were later found in front of the Babbidge Library in plastic garbage bags.
The papers were take a day after The Daily Campus ran a controversial column that argued that cultural centers do more to divide students on campus than they do to unite them. The Daily Campus had had to double the size of its Commentary section on Friday to accommodate the letters to the editor in response to the column.
U. Conn Police Maj. Ronald Blicher said The Daily Campus could file larceny charges against the individuals once identified.

Souce: U-Wire


FBI Joins Investigation at U-Virginia

Campus police at the University of Virginia announced that the FBI has joined the investigation into the assault that occurred Wednesday against Daisy Lunday during her campaign for student government president.
Lundy, a sophomore of African American and Korean descent, told police that she was assaulted by an unidentified male around 2 a.m. Wednesday. She said that her assailant slammed her head into her car's steering wheel and used a racial epithet to refer to her candidacy.
As of now, no arrests have been made in the incident that led to the postponement of the elections. The assault has led supporters of Lundy and other students to plan marches, candlelight vigils and organize other events to focus attention on what they consider to be a lingering racial problem on campus.
Campus police Captain Michael Coleman said that seeking FBI assistance in the investigation of alleged hate crimes is a common occurrence as they are prosecuted under federal statute.

Source: The Washington Post