COLLEGE SHORTS

Author: Daniel l. j. Phillips

Undercover police to patrol at Colby

According to the deputy police chief of Waterville, Maine, undercover police officers will be dispatched to patrol the Colby College campus to curb underage drinking after another weekend of heavy drinking.

Last weekend, five female Colby students - three of whom were members of the lacrosse team - were arrested for hosting an off-campus party, while several other students were issued summonses of arrest. All five students arrested were charged with providing a place for minors to consume alcohol. Waterville police officers were initially called to the house in response to a noise complaint.

The police chief reported that the number of hospital visits, arrests and summonses for illegal possession of alcohol by minors forced the municipal presence on campus.

Police officers in plainclothes will patrol the Mayflower Hill grounds and will sit in parked, unmarked cars to keep an eye on student behavior. The police chief also said the undercover officers will try to blend in at Colby students' house parties off campus.

A spokesman for the College said that Colby administrators do not mind the added police presence on campus - or the enforcement of plain-clothes officers.

Last weekend comes on the heels of 10 other student summonses for alcohol violations in the last two weeks. Thirty-five other Colby students have been arrested or received summonses since the beginning of the academic year, totaling 60 reported alcohol violations so far.



Senior elected vice chairman of ME Republican Party

Bowdoin College senior Daniel Schuberth was recently elected vice chairman of the Maine Republican Party, making him the youngest vice chairman of a state chapter in the country.

Schuberth will be responsible for fundraising and mobilization efforts for the party, and he plans to bolster the State economy by supporting local businesses and efforts to lower taxes. Schuberth has been involved in the Republican Party since high school, when he served as an intern in New Jersey for Doug Forrester, then a candidate for the U.S. Senate.Schuberth - elected on Nov. 19 - plans to continue his involvement with the Republican Party and in Maine politics after his term as vice chairman ends on Dec. 20.



KU hosts class on intelligent design

A class to be taught next semester on intelligent design at the University of Kansas is already churning up controversy that will most like last until the legislature returns to session Jan. 9.

Kansas' department of religious studies officially approved the class on Monday. Originally listed as "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies," the course has since been renamed by removing the words "and other Mythologies."

State legislators said they would discuss the class when they return to session, and some said they would consider taking action against the University. Many opponents of the class argue that intelligent design is a legitimate scientific theory and belongs in a science class rather than in a religion class.