College Clips

By Jordan Sargent

Published Jan. 30, 2007

Flask + keychain = controversy

University of Southern California students and faculty are calling attention to the university bookstore's decision to sell a keychain that has a miniature flask attached to it.

The stainless steel flask can hold a maximum of one fluid ounce of liquid, or what the flask's box calls "your favorite beverage."

Though flasks are widely associated with the consumption of alcohol, Donald Felix, who purchased the flasks for the bookstore, didn't see the correlation.

"I thought it was a good idea for a key chain," Felix said. "(Putting alcohol in the flask) was never the intention."

Beyond the obvious concern of a university sanctioning the consumption of alcohol, some see the pairing of the flask and the keychain as especially treacherous.

"The keychain part was the part that kind of stuck me," sophomore Lily Aung said. "It kind of suggests drinking and driving. It's a flask. It's going to be used for a shot. You're not going to be pouring Coke in there."

— Daily Trojan (University of Southern California)

Princeton students don't get the joke

In last week's annual "joke issue," Princeton University's student paper, The Daily Princetonian, published an opinion editorial mocking first-year Yale University student Jian Li. Li filed a civil rights complaint after being rejected from Princeton and alleged the school discriminates against Asians.

The article was titled "Princeton University is racist against me, I mean, non-whites" and was cited as being written by "Lian Ji." The article's opening line begins, "I so good (sic) at math and science. Perfect 2400 SAT score. Remember me?"

The most controversial passage in the "article" states, "Yellow people make the world go round. We cook greasy food, wash your clothes and let you copy our homework. Brown people are catching up, too, but not before the 2008 Beijing Olympics."

The paper's managing board wrote the issue of "fake stories," but many student groups and bloggers have voraciously criticized the article's "anti-Asian bigotry."

— Columbia Daily Spectator (Columbia University)

School gives freshmen spending money

In an effort to encourage freshmen to explore the town surrounding Syracuse University, the school's Office of Residence Life is offering gift certificates in the form of KeyBank debit cards with a $50 balance to all first-year students. The cards, which are available to all freshmen regardless of whether they live on- or off-campus, can be used anywhere MasterCard debit cards are accepted.

The program, "Paint the Town Orange," is an extension of last fall's "Exploring the Soul of Downtown Syracuse." That event was well-attended, and the university wanted to continue to strengthen the link between the school and the city.

"The students showed up with a lot of interest, and we wanted to continue the relationship-building process with the community," Student Affairs spokesman Matt Snyder. "They really seemed to latch on to the cultural opportunities the city has to offer."

— Daily Orange (Syracuse University)