Civic Participation

  UCLA students were among those protesting for immigration rights when police attacked protesters on May Day. The LAPD has announced an investigation into police actions that day, which included firing rubber bullets into the crowd. The UCLA students affected by the day’s events are now planning a forum in response. “The community looks to see what college students are doing,” said one student organizer. “We need to say something.” 5/8/07  Read More from UCLA

  Last week, student organizations at Amherst College collaborated on a massive scale for Awareness Week 2008. 26 student organizations organized a week dedicated to social change, community engagement, and volunteer work. The goals of the week were to raise awareness and involvement, challenge students to consider motivations for community engagement work, and to strengthen connections between groups. Read more from Amherst

  As the youth vote doubled – and in some cases tripled – its previous numbers across the early primaries it is becoming clear that the youth vote may play a significant role in determining the outcome of 2008’s presidential election. With Super Tuesday upon us and 24 states holding their primary elections this week, students in states across the country are ramping up their efforts to get their peers to the polls. The GW Student Association at George Washington University started GWvotes.com, a nonpartisan initiative that allows students to access information on voter registration, ab

  Brigham Young University will ticket its commencement this year—and cancel its processional—due to heightened security for their speaker, Vice President Dick Cheney. Students will have a maximum of four tickets each due to worries that Cheney will draw too large of a crowd. College Democrats will be protesting the speech outside the venue, while others are trying to gather funds for an alternative commencement speaker. Students for Alternative Commencement are taking donations to get Ralph Nader to speak at the University. So far the students have gotten both the producer and directo

  by Jason Gulya  Already in 2007 we’ve heard much about the upcoming elections, both about the primaries and—after speculations over who will win the primaries—the elections themselves. This trend has reached colleges nationally, with students more interested at this early stage than perhaps ever before. At Rutgers University, the RU Democrats and the Rutgers College Republicans are already swapping impressions of the possible 2008 candidates. Around the country, on-campus groups—whether they be Republican, Democrat, or affiliated with another political party or ideology—ar

  Last week two dozen protestors from the University of Pittsburg, Chatham University, Carnegie Mellon University and Planned Parenthood stood in the rain in protest of rising birth control prices. The protestors carried signs, passed out stickers and gathered signatures to be sent to Rep. Mike Doyle, insisting that Congress restore affordable birth control to colleges. Prices for oral contraceptives began doubling at student health centers last year when a change in Medicaid rebate law ended incentives for drug companies to provide discounts to colleges. The universities of Mi

Reverend Jeremiah Wright has made quite a name for himself in recent weeks as the fiery and outspoken former pastor of presidential candidate Barack Obama. Wright spoke at Amherst College last February and was well-received at the time. The Amherst Student newspaper investigates the current sentiments of students and faculty on campus to see if anything has changed.

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  Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain has announced his pick for vice president: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. This week NSNS examines Governor Palin’s stances on higher education. In her two years as governor, Sarah Palin approved a 7 percent, or $20.5 million, increase in funding for the University of Alaska thanks to the state’s multibillion-dollar surplus from oil revenue. Governor Palin has been particularly supportive of vocational education and workforce training programs in the fiel