College Shorts

Author: Zamir Ahmed, Scott Greene, and Derek Schlickeisen

BU GOP questions race-based awards

A new student-sponsored scholarship offered to students at Boston University (BU) is being used to protest financial aid programs that are awarded based on ethnic background. The $250 Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship is open only to students who are at least one-quarter Caucasian.

The BU College Republicans are using the scholarship to draw attention to what it calls "the worst form of bigotry confronting America today." The group believes that granting scholarships based on race is "ridiculous," as it argues that there are financially-needy white students as well who should not be denied access to awards.

Applicants for the scholarship must have at least a 3.2 grade point average and be a full-time student at BU. Applicants must also submit two essays, one describing their ethnic ancestry and one describing "what it means to you to be a Caucasian-American today."

In 2003, the College Republicans at Roger Williams University created a similar scholarship for Caucasians only. The group received complaints with the award's creation and attracted national media attention. Fifteen students applied for the scholarship, which was discontinued after the Republican Party severed ties with the student organization.

-ABCNews.com and The Daily Free Press


Use of Taser shocks UCLA students

The UCLA community is in an uproar after police repeatedly Tasered a student who failed to produce his student identification card in the library after hours. During the altercation, caught on video by a fellow student using his cell phone, police stunned Mostafa Tabatabainejad at least four times before handcuffing him and taking him into custody.

The six-minute video shows police applying the Taser gun after Tabatabainejad went limp in protest to the police questioning, forcing officers to begin dragging him from the building. Officers can be heard telling the student to "stand up" or he will be "Tased again." According to bystanders, police threatened to use Tasers on other students who demanded to see their badges and shocked Tabatabainejad after he had been handcuffed.

Tabatabainejad has hired an attorney and is planning to sue the University's police department for false arrest and "brutal excessive force." The officer who shocked Tabatabainejad, Terrence Duren, had one previous complaint of excessive force on his record prior to the incident.

-The UCLA Daily Bruin


UPenn releases more info on crime victims

The University of Pennsylvania will again release crime victims' specific affiliations with the University when publicly reporting crime statistics, its Divison of Public Safety announced on Nov. 22. The inclusion of victims' affiliations with the University will make it possible to track the number of crimes targeted specifically at students.

The division amended its policy earlier this year, choosing only to indicate whether victims were affiliated with the University. No distinction was made between students, faculty and staff when reporting crimes.

UPenn's history with crime reporting includes an accusation by the government of underreporting crime in the mid-1990s, and the University was found to have violated a crime-reporting law in 1998. Officials say that they now go so far as to over-report crimes to the government and the public.

Still, some officials at UPenn have expressed concern that making such information public could threaten a victims' privacy.

- The Daily Pennsylvanian