College Shorts Smith women vs. GQ

Author: Tom Brant and Zamir Ahmed

Gentleman's Quarterly calls Smith women ugly

An feature in the April issue of Gentleman's Quarterly entitled "Where to find her 2007" lists all-female Smith College as one of 17 places not to look for hot women. The article has provoked the ire of several Smith students, including freshman Dylan Barnett, who created a facebook.com group called, "F*** you, GQ: Smithies are Beautiful."

As a response to the magazine, Barnett encourages every Smith student to send GQ a photograph of herself in an attractive pose along with a letter expressing discontent about the article.

"Every single woman in this college is smart and beautiful and GQ has no right to say otherwise," said Barnett.

Besides Smith, the list includes Hooters, the WNBA finals, www.fillipinobride.com, Gap Kids, Margaritaville, high school, The Supreme Court, Jesus camp, and Rufus Wainwright's Judy Garland tribute.



Yale students under fire for flag burning prank

Three Yale students were charged with crimes related to a fire they allegedly set to an American flag flying from a Chapel St. home in Fair Haven, Ct. in the early morning hours of April 3. The students were arraigned on Tuesday before being released on bail on Wednesday morning, according to the Yale Daily News.

Hyder Akbar '07 and first-years Nikolaos Angelopoulos and Farhad Anklesaria allegedly had asked police for directions back to campus from Chapel Street before being found a few blocks from the fire later that night. According to the police report, the three students admitted to starting the fire, but denied that they set it for political reasons. Akbar, the son of former governor of an Afghan province, has since said through his attorney that he was responsible for the fire and that the other two students were not involved.

The case could affect the immigration status of Angelopoulos, who is a Greek citizen, and Anklesaria, who has British citizenship. Akbar, who was born in Pakistan, is a U.S. citizen and worked as an informal translator for U.S. troops during the invasion of Afghanistan. He published the memoir, "Come Back to Afghanistan," based on the experience.

-Yale Daily News



California faculty negotiate, avoid strike

The California State University (CSU), the largest public university system, averted rolling faculty strikes after the CSU and the California Faculty Association (CFA) reached an agreement on April 3 that could end a two-year fight over a new contract. The CFA, which represents 23,000 faculty members, had said that it would stage a series of two-day strikes this week if a deal was not reached.

The new contract, which the CFA will vote on in the coming weeks, would settle disagreements over faculty salaries. The deal calls for a 21 percent pay increase over four years, with some professors eligible for a 31 percent raise. Under the deal, the average base salary for tenure-tracked professors would increase from $74,000 to $90,749. Full-time tenured faculty would see their average salary jump from $86,000 to $105,465 by the end of the agreement.

In addition to the salary increases, the deal would also give $28 million to the establishment of two merit-based programs for faculty. One program would be used to increase junior faculty wages while the other would give raises to senior faculty who have reached the top of the pay scale.

-CNN.com and The State Hornet