Penn State elects new trustees after Jerry Sandusky scandal aftermath

Penn State alumni elected three new members to the university board of trustees, including a well-known former football player who recovered from a spinal cord injury and a businessman who has criticized the board’s actions after Jerry Sandusky’s arrest in a child sex-abuse scandal, the Associated Press reports. Alumni elected lawyer Adam Taliaferro, who played for the late coach Joe Paterno; prominent donor and outspoken board critic Anthony Lubrano; and retired U.S. Navy captain Ryan McCombie. Election results were announced Friday following more than three weeks of online voting that drew a record turnout of at least 37,000. The new trustees begin their three-year terms July 1. All three newcomers have expressed varying degrees of criticism of the board, but no one more so than Lubrano, who has been especially critical of the board’s ouster of Paterno days after Sandusky was charged in November. Alumni sent a message that they were dissatisfied with the board’s decisions, Lubrano said following the trustees meeting during which election results were announced…

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Experts unlike ruling in Facebook speech case

The “like” button on Facebook seems like a relatively clear way to express your support for something, but a federal judge says that doesn’t mean clicking it is constitutionally protected speech, the Associated Press reports. Exactly what a “like” means—if anything—played a part in a case in Virginia involving six people who say Hampton Sheriff B.J. Roberts fired them for supporting an opponent in his 2009 re-election bid, which he won. The workers sued, saying their First Amendment rights were violated. Roberts said some of the workers were let go because he wanted to replace them with sworn deputies while others were fired because of poor performance or his belief that their actions “hindered the harmony and efficiency of the office.”

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Illinois state Senate votes to end legislative scholarships

The Illinois Senate agreed Thursday to stop letting lawmakers hand out free college education to certain constituents, removing the final roadblock to ending a century-old practice plagued by allegations of corruption and political favoritism, the Associated Press reports. Legislators and government watchdogs said the program might have survived if lawmakers hadn’t abused the perk by awarding tuition waivers to the children of political allies and campaign donors. Critics said the decision to scrap the program was a reminder that corruption hurts all residents – including students who are just seeking help to pay for their higher education.

“It’s important to come to an end, but it’s hard to call anything a victory that ends up taking anything away from students, most of whom deserve to attend college,” said Emily Miller, policy and government affairs coordinator for the Better Government Association. “It did become a symbol of corruption, and that’s a defeat for the students who should have benefited.”

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FAMU band members charged with hazing over manslaughter

There was no single blow, stomp or strike to Robert Champion’s bruised and battered body that killed him as he was pummeled by fellow Florida A&M University marching band members during a hazing ritual aboard a charter bus last fall, the Associated Press reports. Instead, his death was caused by multiple blows from many individuals. That inability to pinpoint which blow ultimately caused the 26-year-old drum major’s death led authorities to charge 13 defendants Wednesday with hazing rather than more serious counts like manslaughter or second-degree murder.

“His death is not linked to one sole strike but it is attributed to multiple blows,” said State Attorney Lawson Lamar at a news conference announcing the charges.

Champion’s mother, Pam, said she was glad charges were brought but disappointed they weren’t more severe.…Read More

Political battle over student loans heating up

Democrats and Republicans alike say they want to prevent the cost of federal loans from ballooning for millions of students, the Associated Press reports. But the effort has evolved into an election-year battle each side is using to embarrass the other and spotlight its own priorities to voters. In the latest political chess move, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, scheduled a House vote for Friday on legislation preventing the 3.4 percent interest rate on subsidized Stafford student loans from doubling as scheduled on July 1. In a bitter pill for Democrats, the measure’s $5.9 billion cost would be paid for with cuts from President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul bill. Boehner announced the vote in an abruptly called news conference Wednesday that followed days of pounding by Obama and congressional Democrats…

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Penn State pays family of Joe Paterno under late coach’s contract

Penn State has agreed to provide millions in payments and benefits to Joe Paterno’s estate and family members under the late football coach’s employment contract, although a family lawyer says the Paternos did not sign away their right to sue, the Associated Press reports. The school turned over four checks Thursday worth more than $3 million for bonuses that covered the season, bowl game and entire career, according to a university spokeswoman. A breakdown provided by Penn State included the use by Paterno’s family of a Beaver Stadium suite for 25 years and $900,000 from television and radio revenue from last season. Half the broadcast revenues were paid in February, and the rest will be paid later this year, the school said…

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5 years after Tech, Va. colleges gauge threats

Virginia’s colleges and universities have quietly investigated hundreds of students, employees and others in recent years to prevent a repeat of the Virginia Tech massacre of 2007, when a student gunman left a series of increasingly disturbing warning signs before killing 32 people and himself, the Associated Press reports. Monday marks the fifth anniversary of Seung-Hui Cho’s deadly rampage, the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. A state panel investigating the killings determined that professors, students and mental-health professionals knew about Cho’s troubled behavior for years but never tied all the information together — something officials said might have prevented the slayings. In response to the panel’s findings, the General Assembly passed a law in 2008 requiring Virginia’s 15 public, four-year colleges and universities to form panels with broad powers to investigate students’ academic, medical and criminal records. And their findings are largely exempt from public disclosure laws…

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CA university slammed for pepper-spraying students

State lawmakers are calling for greater oversight of campus police departments after investigators blasted University of California, Davis, administrators and officers for pepper-spraying demonstrators — a police action that drew widespread criticism after a video went viral, the Associated Press reports. In a report released Wednesday, a UC Davis task force said the decision to douse seated Occupy protesters with the eye-stinging chemical was “objectively unreasonable” and not authorized by campus policy.

“The pepper-spraying incident that took place on Nov. 18, 2011, should and could have been prevented,” concluded the task force created to investigate the confrontation…

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Shaken by USC shooting, Chinese students still seek US colleges

Shaken by the shooting deaths of two Chinese students near the University of Southern California, China is unlikely to slow its pace of sending its students to U.S. universities, the Associated Press reports. The deaths of USC graduate students Qu Ming and Wu Ying, both 23, this week in what police suspect was a bungled carjacking came amid a big jump in the number of Chinese pursuing higher education in the U.S. Much of that has been made possible by China’s economic growth, which has produced a richer generation of students. But they have also grown up carefully protected by their parents and possibly not as well equipped to handle the cultural challenges in a country so distinctly different from China…

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California students pepper-sprayed

Campus police pepper-sprayed as many as 30 demonstrators after Santa Monica College students angry over a plan to offer high-priced courses tried to push their way into a trustees meeting, authorities said, the Associated Press reports. Raw video posted on the Internet on Tuesday evening showed students chanting “Let us in, let us in” and “No cuts, no fees, education should be free.”

Students were angry because only a handful were allowed into the meeting, and when their request to move the meeting to a larger venue was denied, they began to enter the room, said David Steinman, an environmental advocate who is running for Congress as a Green Party candidate. Two officers were apparently backed up against a wall, and began using force to keep the students out of the room. Steinman said both officers used pepper spray…

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