News
Quick Takes: 3 Shot at South Mountain CC, Trayless Trend Takes Off, Exit From Seminary, K-12 Gender Gap in Math Eliminated, Fight Over Stanford's Name, A Giuliani Takes on Duke
July 25, 2008
- A gunman opened fire in a computer laboratory at South Mountain Community College, in Arizona, Thursday afternoon, wounding three people, The East Valley Tribune reported. Two of the victims have life-threatening injuries. Police arrested a man who had been arguing with one of the victims, and witnesses said that they believed that only one of the victims was the intended target. More than 20 others were in the room at the time of the shooting.
- Less than a year after a few colleges started experimenting with removing trays from cafeterias, the trend appears to be poised to take off -- with students and colleges seeking trayless dining as a way to help the environment and save money by minimizing waste. Aramark is now projecting that more than half of the 500 colleges where it handles food services will go trayless in the upcoming academic year. An analysis of the issue released by the company and based on surveys and other data from colleges that have already made the move found that students endorse the shift if they are offered explanations and the option of a tray for those who need one. Institutions that eliminated trays experienced a 25-30 percent reduction in food waste.
- Peter Enns and the Westminster Theological Seminary issued a joint statement Wednesday that Enns -- whose views on some issues have led to a process that could have resulted in his dismissal -- has agreed to leave the institution. Enns has suggested a human role in parts of the Bible, offending some at the seminary, but the move to dismiss him has alarmed many religious scholars. The joint statement said that the administration appreciated "the valued role" Enns had played at the seminar and that "his teaching and writings fall within the purview of Evangelical thought." For his part, Enns acknowledged "that the leaders of the seminary (administration and board) are charged with the responsibility of leading the seminary in ways that are deemed most faithful to the institution’s mission as a confessional Reformed Seminary."
- Gaps between boys and girls in the rigor of mathematics courses they take in elementary and secondary schools, and in their resulting mathematics knowledge, have been eliminated, according to a study by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The research appears in the new issue of Science.
- Stanford University scientists are angry over a U.S. Energy Department attempt to trademark the name of one of the government's prized laboratories -- and the fight has put the lab's name in question. At issue is what to call the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, known for years as that or by its acronym, SLAC. The San Jose Mercury News reported that when the government tried to trademark the name, Stanford University objected to including its name in the trademark. So now the government is proposing to name the lab just the Linear Accelerator Center, and the dropping of Stanford is viewed as a slap at the university.
- Andrew Giuliani, son of the former presidential candidate and New York City mayor, is suing Duke University for kicking him off of the golf team, The New York Daily News reported. The younger Giuliani says that coaches were unfairly trying to reduce the size of the squad. Team members, however, say that poor behavior -- including an incident of apple throwing -- are the reason for his dismissal from the team.
