#Buzz
NU’s CashStripe program calls it quits
For those of you who frequently gripe about the library’s antiquated printing payment system, the NU administration has finally answered your prayers. After numerous complaints from students and staff, it has been decided that the decades-old CashStripe program will be terminated in June. The library will then replace the cash-to-card service with a much more efficient online payment system. Still have change leftover on your card? Don’t fret – you have until Jan. 31 of next year to use it up, either at Kafe Kellogg or select vending machines.
UC Berkeley freshman creates ridiculously automated dorm room
At UC Berkeley, freshman Derek Low took his ordinary dorm room and made it a paradise for college couch potatoes. Low tricked out his room with shades and lights all controllable by remote and smartphone app, as well as customized “party” and “romance” settings only a click of a button away. Berkeley’s residential life judicial board is investigating to determine if Low broke any dorm codes with his creation dubbed BRAD: Berkeley Ridiculously Automated Dorm Room. The video of the demonstrations has gone viral on Youtube and everyone wishes they could have half as cool of a dorm room. And you thought you were rebellious for using bed risers and hanging Christmas lights.
[Gawker]
Brown University gives Providence money to improve town-gown relations
Think we have it bad with good old Mayor Tisdahl? At least we’re not in Providence, where Brown University will pay the city $31.5 million over the next 11 years in an effort to improve town-gown relations. The city is facing a large budget deficit, which is why university administrators are trying to help out. Many universities, Brown included, are exempt from certain property taxes because of their nonprofit status, which is why more and more colleges are offering these voluntary payments. This just leaves us wondering—is a hefty payment from NU enough to finally get Evanston off our backs?
GRE moves to Score Select system
If you’re stressing about graduate school, here’s a little piece of information to make your heart race a little less. The GRE, the graduate school equivalent to the SAT or ACT, is now moving to Score Select. This means, since the test is good for five years, technically a sophomore in college could take the GRE and use that score when applying to grad school. Or, if that score sucks as badly as that SAT exam you took for “fun” in seventh grade, no schools ever need to know!
Half of all new college graduates are jobless or underemployed
It’s time to take off the shades, Northwestern students, the forecast for our future isn’t as bright as we may have predicted. Seniors getting ready to graduate in June should quit reading this now. The Associated Press released an awfully pessimistic study last week declaring that ,”About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor’s degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years.” One in every two new college graduates, (and no, just because we go to Northwestern doesn’t mean we are magically exempt) will face a harsh reality upon leaving our security blanket Heavanston campus. The study claims that “Broken down by occupation, young college graduates were heavily represented in jobs that require a high school diploma or less.” Let’s hope we all look good in visors and greasy polo shirts because chances are good we may end up working at Burger King (but, hey we do love our BK Lounge).
State recycling program halts Evanston ban on plastic bags
Illinois state law is trying to implement a plastic bag recycling program and stop Evanston from banning or taxing them. In yet another really fascinating drama of local politics, the bill is expected to pass the state House after already having gone through the Senate. The bill would plan to reduce waste from plastic bags by examining how they could be recycled, but it would prevent cities like Evanston from independent entanglements with plastic bags. It looks like the future Evanston ban on plastic bags isn’t gonna happen, at least for now — thank god your obsessive, unnecessary CVS trips are safe! Sadly, Mayor Tisdahl is going to have to look for yet another thing to shut out of Evanston — she’s already got brothels and the Keg, plastic bags just seemed like a natural third step.
Obama visits bar at CU-Boulder
President Barack Obama was at CU-Boulder yesterday talking about lowering student loan interest rates and going out to bars. But actually. Obama stopped by the local bar called The Sink and snapped a pic (which has subsequently become internet famous) with totally-psyched Madalyn Starkey. Like any good college student out at a bar, Madalyn was live-tweeting the whole ordeal and muploaded the picture instantly to Facebook (what, no instagram?). The picture-thing is now totally a bigger deal than the lowering-interest-rates-thing but whatever, now at least everyone knows he visited CU-Boulder and that mediocre college bar is super famous now. If Obama came to the Keg it would definitely stay open for good — how do we make this happen?
[ Huffington Post ]
Out of booze? Try hand sanitizer
Six California teenagers were taken to the hospital with symptoms of alcohol poisoning, yet they claimed they never drank any liquor. Has an engineer finally come up with a way to get drunk without having to down six shots of Skol in an hour? Nope, these kids came clean and confessed to drinking hand sanitizer: possibly the newest trend in teen drinking. Distilled hand sanitizer can create a drink with 120 proof—definitely way worse than that jungle juice they serve at frat parties.
[Yahoo]
Harvard fashion show photoshops models to look thinner, more muscular, unlike Harvard students
Eleganza, Harvard University’s equivalent to Unity here at Northwestern, a fashion show for charity, was accused of digitally altering its promotional images. Eleganza promotes “diversity and charity, celebrating different cultures, backgrounds, and forms of expression,” according to the group’s website. The alteration of the images, making women models look thinner and male models more muscular caused an uproar on the Harvard campus. But hey, we all know that Harvard guys are much too studious to be hitting the gym on the daily, so if Photoshop is the only way for these guys to get swole, who are we to take that away from them?
[Ivy Gate]
Northwestern ranks low in best bang for your buck schools
Gone are the days of justifying a $200,000 (and steadily rising) college education with the fact that it wasn’t just any college education, it was a Northwestern education. In other words, a premiere college education from one of the top universities, the Harvard of the Midwest. A pseudo-ivy education is definitely worth 200 grand, right? Or is it? A recent study by PayScale ranks Northwestern at number 146 out of 850 colleges in their ROI- what you pay to attend, versus what you get out of the degree in lifetime earnings. Now, maybe 146 wouldn’t seem that bad out of 850 if we hadn’t seen who way ahead of us at number 78 on the list: that’s right, U Chicago. Next time you need a laugh and see a herd of prospies on a tour- shout out Northwestern’s number 146 ranking and watch the horrified reaction among every tiger mom in the group.
[Payscale]
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