Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:35:39 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Eliana Johnson :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Eliana+Johnson istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/national/buckley-says-yale-speech-was-his-last/42856/ Fri, 3 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST The godfather of the conservative movement, William F. Buckley Jr., caused a stir at Yale University on Wednesday evening by announcing that he was delivering his final political speech. The founder of the conservative magazine National Review, a novelist, and a former co-host of the Public Broadcast Association's longest-running television series "Firing Line," Mr. Buckley delivered his speech to the Yale Political Union, a debating society of which he was a member as an undergraduate. But Mr... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/national/dartmouth-alumni-reject-contentious-new/42882/ Fri, 3 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST The results of the vote on the Dartmouth alumni constitution are in. The constitution was rejected by Dartmouth alumni, who turned out in record numbers to vote on the measure, which would have changed, among other facets of alumni governance, the way the school's trustees are elected. The proposed constitution required a two-thirds majority vote to go into effect but received only 49% of the 24,834 ballots cast; 38% of eligible voters weighed in on the matter. Although Dartmouth professed its... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/education/college-students-in-the-nude/42840/ Fri, 3 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Now that sex columnists are old hat on Ivy League campuses, some students are taking things a step further. Students at Columbia University this month unveiled a sex magazine that includes nude photographs taken by and featuring Columbia students. Although Outlet is not yet funded by Columbia because their Web site was not functional when the staff applied for funding last spring, editor in chief Kimberly Traube said she hopes to secure school backing in the coming months now that the magazine... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/harvard-university-newspaper-fires-a-cartoonist/42545/ Tue, 31 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Harvard University's student newspaper, the Crimson, is firing a cartoonist for copying a cartoon by a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, Walt Handelsman. The Crimson's move comes just four days after the paper discontinued a columnist who failed to attribute an example drawn from a Web log. Sophomore Kathleen Breeden's cartoon depicts President Bush next to the Democratic Party's symbol, a donkey, which holds a sign that reads "NOT" and has an arrow pointing to the president. The cartoon's... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/professor-writes-the-book-on-getting-books/42518/ Mon, 30 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Professor Samuel Freedman may be soft-spoken, but he inspires awe in his Columbia Journalism School students. Some of those students are hand-picked by Mr. Freedman to participate in his book-writing class, which, although only 16 students earn seats in the class each year, has produced 37 books since 1991. The topics run the gamut from Gal Beckerman's forthcoming history of the Cold War efforts to free Soviet Jews to Brian McDonald's "My Father's Gun," which covers 100 years of NYPD history... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/brooklyn-college-professors-web-log-defends-duke/42409/ Fri, 27 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Before April, Brooklyn College's K.C. Johnson didn't have any ties to Duke University or Durham, N.C. Then, three members of the Duke lacrosse team were indicted for raping a black stripper who performed at a party. Ever since, the professor of American history has used his Web log, called Durham in Wonderland, to chronicle the developments in the case, castigate university administrators, and cast aspersion on the motivations and actions of Durham's district attorney, Mike Nifong. Mr. Johnson... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/nyu-mens-golf-coach-resigns-after-taking-players/42345/ Thu, 26 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST New York University's athletic department is saying the resignation of its golf coach, who in March escorted his team to a Florida strip club, was appropriate. "It's a clear expectation of the athletic department that every coach act in a fashion consistent with his or her responsibilities," a spokesman for NYU's athletic department, Jeffrey Bernstein, said. He would not confirm whether the coach, who was with the team for a year, was asked to resign. Mr. Donovan, 43, told NYU's student... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/business/mits-investment-returns-outpace-even-yales/42213/ Wed, 25 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST It's official: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology lays claim to the highest return on its investments of any college in America. Proud men and women wearing pocket protectors and bragging to their friends at Dungeons & Dragons games about their alma mater's finances could be a not-too-uncommon sight. MIT reported a 23% rate of return on its investments under the stewardship of Seth Alexander, who left Yale University's envied investment office after 10 years last spring. Yale's chief... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/minutemen-pressuring-columbia-to-investigate/42117/ Tue, 24 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST The Minuteman Project, a volunteer border-patrol group, says it is pressing Columbia for an investigation into the melee that occurred on October 4, when three Minutemen were assaulted on campus as they tried to deliver speeches. One Minuteman, Marvin Stewart, filed a complaint on October 10 for stolen property with the Lake Forest Police Department in Orange County, Calif., according to an office technician at the police department, Mary Ann Zimmerman. Mr. Stewart filed another complaint with... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/national/dartmouth-changes-threaten-independent-trustees/41915/ Fri, 20 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Dartmouth College alumni are being targeted in a public relations blitz that seeks to persuade them to vote to change the way the school's trustees are elected. Groups lobbying for the new constitution, such as Dartmouth Alumni for Common Sense, have hired public relations firms that are connecting through phone calls and mass mailings with as many of the college's 65,000 alumni as possible before voting on the proposed constitution ends October 31. The new constitution would curtail the... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/national/slavery-funds-helped-found-brown-university/41844/ Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Proceeds from the slave trade were used to found Brown University and slaves helped build the campus, according to a report released yesterday. The 106-page report, which documents the university's ties to the New England slave trade and makes recommendations on how to right historical wrongs, was produced by Brown's Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. When the university's president, Ruth Simmons, convened the committee in 2004, she said she wanted it to explore Brown's links to slavery... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/national/study-shows-biased-policies-at-university/41746/ Wed, 18 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Discrimination against white and Asian applicants to the University of Michigan's undergraduate, law, and medical schools is more severe than ever, a study released yesterday by the Center for Equal Opportunity says. The study, based on admissions data released by the university in response to a 2005 Freedom of Information request filed by CEO, shows that the grades and standardized test scores of black and Hispanic undergraduates in 2004 and 2005 were far lower than those of their white and... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/university-policy-draws-fire-from-free-speech/41368/ Thu, 12 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Columbia University's Teachers College is being criticized by free-speech advocates, who are charging that the school's "Conceptual Framework," the document that shapes curricula and guides instruction and student assessment, amounts to an ideological litmus test. The Conceptual Framework lists a number of "dispositions" essential for future teachers such as a "respect for diversity and commitment to social justice," according to the school's Web site. Students' dispositions are evaluated by... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/columbia-professor-phelps-wins-nobel-prize/41240/ Tue, 10 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Columbia University's Edmund Phelps, 73, won the Nobel Prize in Economics yesterday for debunking the notion that inflation and unemployment are inversely related. Mr. Phelps was commended by the prize committee for work he undertook in the 1960s, a time in which the majority of economists subscribed to a theory embodied by the Phillips curve, which describes a tradeoff between inflation and unemployment. Before Mr. Phelps's theories took hold, policy makers, guided by the Phillips curve... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/columbia-protesters-cry-foul-at-threat/41214/ Tue, 10 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST The protesters who rushed the stage at Columbia University Wednesday night when the founder of a volunteer border-patrol group tried to speak are crying foul, asserting that they were the victims of the violence and that they should not be disciplined by the university. After the students climbed onstage, overturning tables and chairs and causing mayhem, President Lee Bollinger called the students' disruption of the event "one of the most serious breaches of academic faith that can occur at a... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/yale-students-resume-video-raises-wall-street/41125/ Mon, 9 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Thousands of Ivy Leaguers circulate their resumes each year to New York's investment banks, but few garner as much attention as Aleksey Vayner, who last week submitted an 11-page resume and video to UBS's human resources department. By the week's end, the Yale University senior's video had raised scores of eyebrows and sparked much laughter in nearly every firm on Wall Street. Mr. Vayner identifies himself on his resume as a multi-sport professional athlete, the CEO of two companies, and an... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/columbia-faces-new-challenges-by-gop-group/41079/ Fri, 6 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST The Columbia College Republicans are at it again. On the heels of an event they hosted Wednesday, during which the founder of a group that patrols America's borders was attacked and forced offstage by angry protesters, the group is slated to host an even larger event next week, this one featuring two ex-terrorists and a former Nazi. On Wednesday evening, the gathering came to an untimely demise when, a minute into the remarks by the founder of the Minuteman Project, Jim Gilchrist, students... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/at-columbia-students-attack-minuteman-founder/41020/ Thu, 5 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Students stormed the stage at Columbia University's Roone auditorium yesterday, knocking over chairs and tables and attacking Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minutemen, a group that patrols the border between America and Mexico. Mr. Gilchrist and Marvin Stewart, another member of his group, were in the process of giving a speech at the invitation of the Columbia College Republicans. They were escorted off the stage unharmed and exited the auditorium by a back door. Having wreaked havoc... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/competing-web-logs-aim-to-take-the-ivy-league/40806/ Tue, 3 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST "You just spent 40 grand. Treat yourself." So runs the motto of the IvyGate Weblog, which, along with competitor IvyLeak, delivers news and gossip from the Ivy League. The forces behind the edgy blogs, four former journalists from two Ivy League schools, are able to file their reports without the restraints present at campus publications. "This isn't your administration-approved publicity brochure or a spineless campus rag," IvyLeak boasts. The bloggers say there's an audience hungry for what... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/questions-surround-the-decision-by-a-dean/40619/ Fri, 29 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST The big question at Columbia University this week is whether the tensions between President Lee Bollinger and the dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, Lisa Anderson, led Ms. Anderson to step down. The press office at the university confirmed yesterday that the dean, who has come under criticism for siding with anti-Israel factions on campus and for taking a junket to Saudi Arabia paid for by the regime in Riyadh, is leaving the post she has held for 10 years. Professors at... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/columbia-withdraws-an-invitation-to-ahmadinejad/40142/ Fri, 22 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST Overruling a prominent dean, the president of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, yesterday withdrew an invitation to the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The dean of Columbia's school of international and public affairs, Lisa Anderson, had independently invited Mr. Ahmadinejad to speak at the World Leader's Forum, a year-long program that aims to unite "renowned intellectuals and cultural icons from many nations to examine global challenges and explore cultural perspectives." In a... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/security-tightened-at-churches-after-violent/39878/ Tue, 19 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST In the wake of the pope's recent comments about the Prophet Mohammed — and his subsequent apology for them — the city's police department is heightening security around Catholic churches in all five boroughs. The pope said Friday that the prophet's teachings are evil, referring in particular to "his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." His comments sparked a wave of violence around the world, including the murder of an Italian nun in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Saturday and riots... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/baruch-requires-students-read-book-some-are/37616/ Wed, 9 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST Baruch College students and a CUNY trustee are charging that the college's required reading for incoming freshmen this year, "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning," is racist and anti-Semitic and therefore violates CUNY's bylaws. In the 2002 book, the author, Chris Hedges, a former New York Times reporter, recounts his experiences as a foreign correspondent covering war-torn areas around the world and relays lessons he gained. In one passage, Mr. Hedges describes the actions of Israeli soldiers... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/foreign/reuters-pulls-920-pictures-by-discredited/37474/ Tue, 8 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST Reuters yesterday withdrew all 920 photographs taken by one of its freelance photographers after acknowledging that he had doctored images of the war in Lebanon. On Sunday, Reuters said Adnan Hajj manipulated a photograph of damage to Beirut after an Israeli attack, but the agency discovered yesterday that Mr. Hajj also doctored a photograph of an Israeli F-16 fighter, prompting the removal of all 920 photos from the Reuters database. In a statement issued yesterday, Reuters's global pictures... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/foreign/reuters-yanks-doctored-photograph/37387/ Mon, 7 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST Reuters withdrew a photograph of Beirut after an Israeli air attack on the city yesterday, saying it was digitally altered by one of its freelance photographers. Buildings were cloned, and smoke was distorted in order to create the appearance of darker smoke than was actually present. The caption on the manipulated photo read, "Smoke billows from burning buildings destroyed during an overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut's suburbs." The existence of the doctored image was first reported by the... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/new-york/in-ny-address-treasury-secretary-targets/37176/ Wed, 2 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST President Bush's new Treasury secretary told a group of business students at Columbia University that the government needs to reform entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security because they will weaken the economy in coming years if action is not taken soon. Henry Paulson, the former chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, used the speech, his first since being sworn in last month, to praise Mr. Bush's monetary policies. He said the policies have helped to restore confidence in all... ELIANA JOHNSON http://www.nysun.com/opinion/yales-wisdom/34507/ Thu, 15 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST Although the academic year has just come to end, the argument over Yale's decision not to hire University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole is just beginning. And it is moving rapidly beyond the question of Mr. Cole himself to the question of academic freedom and how Yale itself is navigating the political seas. In the fall, when Yale undertook a search for a professor of modern Middle East studies, Mr. Cole, a former president of the Middle East Studies Association, quickly made the search... ELIANA JOHNSON and MITCH WEBBER http://www.nysun.com/opinion/yales-next-tenured-radical/31185/ Tue, 18 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST Yale University is on the verge of offering a faculty appointment to the University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole. That is the word around the campus here in New Haven. If Yale proceeds with the appointment, it will bring in one of the few professors in the United States, perhaps the only one, who has publicly endorsed the recent paper warning against American support of Israel by John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of Harvard. A professor of modern Middle East and...