College Clips

By James Patrick Schmidt

Published March 2, 2007

Middlebury College professor proposes underage drinking license

A Middlebury College professor wants to create a "drinking license" for underage individuals.

The professor, John McCardell, proposed a license that would be available to 18 to 20-year-olds who successfully complete an alcohol education program.

McCardell is the director of the non-profit organization Choose Responsibility, which seeks to promote national awareness of the hazards associated with excessive and reckless underage drinking.

"We believed on the basis of the white paper research that the time had come to encourage a public discussion and debate about the effects of the legal drinking age, 21," McCardell said.

Pennsylvania State Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte, said he is in no way motivated to lower the drinking age but supports additional education.

"I'm more apt to start a program and apply it to our current age and see its effectiveness rather than doing both steps at one time. Taking a course and giving a license out doesn't qualify a person to be a more responsible drinker," Benninghoff said.

• The Daily Collegian (Pennsylvania State University)

Facebook can complicate relationships for students

The days of announcing a new relationship by showing off an accidental hickey are in the past.

Instead the announcement about a couple's relationship status occurs on Web sites like Facebook. The phrase, "It's not official until it's on Facebook," has become a common saying among college students.

"The Facebook adds pressure to a relationship because everyone knows about it," said Florida State University junior Joanna Stein.

Some students feel that this part of Facebook can make or break a relationship.

"I don't think that having a relationship on Facebook is a big deal, but if I was in a relationship and my significant other didn't want to put it on Facebook, I would question her motives," FSU senior Richard Sierra said.

— The FSView & Florida Flambeau (Florida State University)

Indiana students launch napping club

Indiana University-South Bend students don't have to sleep on benches thanks to students Michael Duttlinger and Joe Spencer, co-founders of a nap club.

The idea started as a joke until they realized that providing an opportunity for napping on campus could benefit students and the university would allow it.

"Pretty much any club that fills out all the forms, has four officers and doesn't break the rules can be approved," said Duttlinger, the club's president.

The club was started to help prevent students from nodding off during classes by providing a safe napping environment between classes to promote the physiological benefits of sleep.

The club has nine air mattresses purchased with the club's allotted funding and a room on campus where students can nap from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday. A moderator wakes up students at the times they specify.

— The Indiana Daily Student (Indiana University)