College Clips
Published Oct. 2, 2007
Harvard University grads to pen
mock Facebook guide
Harvard University graduates Evan Lushing and Gregory Atwan are planning to make a career out of an activity college students nationwide use as fodder for amusement — surfing the Facebook.com.
This spring, the duo said they plan to release a facetious guidebook for the popular social networking Web site created by Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg, formerly of the Class of 2006.
Besides describing the site's users, "The Facebook Book" also recounts tales and urban legends surrounding the site's founding.
The book is the first collaborative project for the pair.
Atwan and Lushing wrote most of the original material for the book, but they also incorporated personal accounts from friends and acquaintances.
But at least one Harvard student said they believe Facebook's dominant presence might not be enough to attract an audience for the book.
"I wouldn't buy the book, but if I saw it, I would definitely pick it up and flip through it," Vivian Liao said.
— The Harvard Crimson
(Harvard University)
Discount birth control soon to be unavailable to University of Mississippi students
Students at the University of Mississippi who now pay only $15 for a pack of birth control pills will pay as much as $50 for the same pack after December.
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 made it more costly for pharmaceutical companies to offer colleges and universities discounts on birth control. Ole Miss was one of the campuses that ordered large quantities of birth control when the legislation passed.
"We are no longer considered eligible for that (discount) pricing," said Sandra Bentley director of the University of Mississippi student pharmacy.
Plan B, an emergency contraceptive, will not be affected by the legislation.
— The Daily Mississippian
(University of Mississippi)
Smoking the hookah not as safe as users think
Health officials say hookah smokers are subjecting themselves to more health problems than cigarette smokers.
Frequent hookah users encounter health hazards that are not commonly associated with smoking cigarettes. Hookah users easily spread germs and infections by sharing a mouthpiece. There is also three times more nicotine in hookah than in normal cigarettes, according to Lauren Borovicka, the tobacco prevention programs coordinator of the Athens City-County Health Department.
"Hookahs are not safe," she said. "Hookah smoke contains carbon monoxide, nicotine, tar, arsenic, cobalt, chromium, lead and cadmium, which are all substances that are known to cause cancer. We know that water pipe smoke is similar to cigarettes in the amount of carbon monoxide it contains."
Like cigarettes, water pipe smoking has been associated with serious diseases including pulmonary disease and coronary disease, Borovicka said.
— The Post
(Ohio University)