College Shorts

Teens turn to bath salts as alternative drugs

Bath salts are no longer just for long, rejuvenating soaks in the Battell Hall bathtubs. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the aromatic concoctions are increasingly being used as legal alternatives to cocaine and heroine.

Users get their bath-salt derived high through injection, smoking or snorting the substance. It can bring side effects such as violent outbursts, hallucinations and suicidal thoughts, though the high itself only lasts a matter of minutes.

Officials at both state and federal levels are pushing for increased regulation of these potential drugs. Louisiana has already banned the active substance in the salts —amethylenedioxypyrovalerone and mephedrone — while Mississippi and Kentucky are looking to do the same. Senator Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has proposed the addition of the substances to the list of federally controlled substances.

-Kentucky Kernel via UWIRE

UT students question affirmative action policy

Students at the University of Texas (UT) are taking their objections to their University’s use of race in admissions decisions to federal court.

The suit — Abigail Fisher, et al v. State of Texas, et al — began in 2008 when two white students were denied admission to UT, despite being in the top 10 percent of their graduating class, which guarantees admission to a state university in Texas. They claim that this violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

The legal precedent set by the Grutter v. Bollinger case in 2003 establishes that race-based admissions polices must advance a compelling government interest, such as racial diversity, to not be in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

- UWIRE

Oregon public universities move to eliminate state governance

Public universities throughout Oregon are pushing for a break from state governance of their institutions. The universities, which were previously state agencies like the Department of Motor Vehicles, would now be part of a more general public university system, which would not have the same direct state involvement.

With this change, notes Oregon State University President Ed Ray, the state would no longer be able to have the authority to take and reallocate University funds, as they had in the past. Furthermore, Ray does not expect tuition to increase should this change occur.

-UWIRE