College Shorts

Author: Joshua Carson and Megan O'Keefe

Penn State Pays for Student Music Downloads



Pennsylvaina State University has reached a deal with Napster online service to provide graduate and undergraduate students access to unlimited MP3s.

The University will cover the cost of the service, $9.95 for the general public, from the $160 information technology fee that students pay each year. While the University promises that all 83,000 Penn State students across the state will be able to download the music legally, there are some limitations to the revamped Napster file-sharing service.

Each song is programmed using copy-protection software to play on only three computers and if students want to keep the songs after they graduate or to burn a CD, the student must first pay the standard 99 cent fee.

The new relationship between Napster and Penn State comes in the wake of several law suites pressed by the music industry alleging that college students are trading music illegally over the internet. Students are quick to point out, however, that they do not view their actions as stealing and predict the copy-protection will be circumvented.

"There's been a lot of attention paid to students as criminals," said Ian Rosenberger, president of the undergraduate student government. But "people who download don't see themselves that way."



Source: The New York Times



Arabic Leads Rise in Foreign Language Study



Enrollment in Arabic courses rose 92.5 percent at U.S. universities and colleges from 1998 to 2002, a study from the New York-based Modern Language Association found.

The number of U.S. university students learning Arabic rose sharply after the September 11, 2001 attacks, reflecting a greater interest in Arab countries. The association's executive director, Rosemary Feal, said, "There is no doubt increases in Arabic have been significant since 9/11, but they have been significant in other languages too. Arabic stands out more but it stands out among many peaks.

Those results include a 59 percent rise in Biblical Hebrew since 1998. "Professors tell us students are not only interested in the recent past but in the distant past," Feal said. "Scholars of religion are turning to Biblical Hebrew just as scholars of some other religions should know Latin."

The number of students enrolled in foreign language courses increased by 17.9 percent to 1,407,440 in 2002 from 1,193,830 in 1998. The total was the highest recorded since the group's first survey in 1958.

Since 1970, Spanish has been the most widely taught language in the United States. In 2002, Spanish accounted for 53 percent of total foreign language enrollments. French and German were the next most popular.



Source: Reuters