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Author: Bryant Cobb

GW student caught with swastikas in dorm room

George Washington University first-year Sarah Marshak faces expulsion after being caught writing swastikas on her dorm door. University officials claim that Marshak was "dishonest" in statements she made to the University Police regarding the incident.

Marshak's acts were captured on tape by a camera that had been placed near her dorm room by University police. Officials claim that the tape shows Marshak drawing five swastikas on her door. However, Marshak remains adamant that she only drew three.

Marshak said that she drew the swastikas in order to highlight the University's slow response in dealing with a prior incident in which other students drew a swastika on her door.

"This was a definite cry for help on [Marshak's] part," said Robert Fishman, director of the University's Hillel society. "I can't imagine why anyone would do anything like this."
-The GW Hatchet


Professor considers run for Czech presidency

In February, University of Michigan Professor Jan Svejnar could take a leave of absence to assume the presidency of the Czech Republic. Svejnar is the Everett E. Berg Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the university.

Svejnar, who remains a Czech citizen and has continued to advise Czech politicians on economic issues, was asked to run by the centrist Green Party, which holds 2.5 percent of the seats in parliament. Svejnar is also supported by the leftist Social Democratic Party which controls 30 percent of the seats in parliament. In the Czech Republic, the president is elected by the parliament and not by direct election. But incumbent president Vaclav Klaus already has support from 40 senators, only one away from the margin needed for election.

"As president of the Czech republic, [Svejnar's] main goal would be to enlist a team of people and to mobilize a consensus on returning the Czech Republic to being a leader of liberal democracy and economic power in Central Europe," said Middlebury College Frederick C. Dirks Professor of Political Science Michael Kraus.
-The Michigan Daily


Beer distributors cry foul over keg recycling

A Louisiana State University fraternity's efforts to help the environment by recycling beer kegs has come under fire. Beer distributers claim that the fraternity violated stolen property laws by selling the kegs to a scrap yard instead of giving the kegs back to wholesalers.

Chuck Carr, vice president of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, explained the beer distributors' claims to the university's student newspaper.

"The keg remains the property of the brewer throughout," said Carr to The Daily Reville. According to Cody Brightwell, a member of the fraternity's recycling committee, the fraternity had made over $500 by selling the kegs to scrap yards. The fraternity initially found out about the beer distributor's objections to their practice when they went to the scrap yard and were told by the yard's owner that the beer distributor had told him not to purchase any used kegs from the fraternity.

The fraternity believes that its actions caused more good than harm. However, the beer distribution industry loses an estimated $50 million a year due to the illegal selling and buying of kegs.
-The Daily Reveille