Gay marriage, bat infestations, and other news from around the country.
By Annika Carlson, Hope College
September 25, 2007
Sean Fritz, left, and Tim McQuillan show their wedding license before getting married, Friday, Aug. 31, 2007, in Des Moines, Iowa. The Ames, Iowa, couple was married a day after a judge threw out the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Students Monopolize Gay Marriage Window of Opportunity in
Iowa
Iowa State University
Gay marriage was legal in Iowa for four hours on Aug.
31—just long enough for Iowa State students Sean Fritz and Timothy
McQuibben to tie
the knot. Polk County Judge Robert Hanson ruled that Iowa’s gay marriage ban,
implemented under the 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, was unconstitutional
because it denied due process and equal protection to homosexual citizens.
Fritz and McQuibben, who were engaged for six months, submitted a standard
marriage license request form when they heard about the ruling. Hours later,
Judge Hanson ordered a stay on the ruling, preventing any other gay marriages
from being legalized. The students’ union is the only legal gay marriage in
Iowa’s history.
“Neither of us are activists, we’re just married. We’re both
just happy to be married and we’re looking forward to our honeymoon,” Fritz
told the Iowa State Daily, responding to the media frenzy that surrounded the couple. Since
their wedding, “It’s been pretty crazy. We’ve been trying to just grant
interviews to anyone that wants them, because we don’t want to play favorites
with the press or anything like that he said.” McQuibben agreed, saying, “We
really just see [talking to the media] as something we need to do.”
While Fritz and McQuibben say most responses to their
marriage have been positive, not everyone on campus is thrilled about their
union. Don McDowell, a senior political science student, called the judge’s decision “obviously disappointing, and it’s a prime example of
judicial activism. … I think what happened today is very undemocratic.” Senior
Matthew Hendrickson agreed. “I’m against gay marriage,” he said. “I don’t
believe it’s right by the Bible’s standards. And it’s pretty much against the
country, besides Maryland.”
Maryland, Massachusetts — whatever.
Students Start Hunger Strike in Support of Campus Employees
University of Minnesota
On September 17, students at the University of Minnesota began a hunger strike in support of their campus American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union, which had been on strike since September 5. Clerical, technical and healthcare workers participated in the strike.
AFSCME members asked for a 3.5 percent increase in wages, as well as step increases—automatic raises that employees earn by working for set periods of time—starting at 2 to 2.5 percent this year; the university’s offer capped all increases at 4.25 percent. The overall increase would apply to all union members, and step increases would supplement that raise over time. After weeks of stalled negotiations, 11 U of M students announced a hunger strike to raise awareness about the unfair labor conditions. Participating students consumed only water and juice for the duration of the strike. Sophomore Kyle Johnson, one of many students who rallied on behalf of union members earlier this month, seemed resigned to the necessity of the hunger strike. “We’ve expressed our support and our demands,” he said. “What else are we supposed to do?”
Isaac Kamola, a political science graduate student, called the hunger strike a move to “drum up visibility and moral outrage” about the conflict. The students were joined by an AFSCME union member, a university staff member, and Richa Nagar, a professor. “A hunger strike is not about sacrificing oneself,” Nagar told campus paper The Minnesota Daily. “It is essentially about bringing attention to an injustice by shaming those who propagate it.”
University spokesman Dan Wolter disapproved of the students’ participation in the strike, saying it is “unfortunate when people choose to use their personal health to make a point in a labor dispute.” Just three days after the students’ hunger strike began, the university and union struck a deal—late Thursday night, the union agreed to the university’s offer, which gives most union workers a $300 lump sum bonus instead of step increases. AFSCME voting members will consider the offer in early October.
Tree Protestors Triumph Again
University of California-Berkeley
Remember
those Berkeley protestors living in trees to prevent construction of the school’s
new athletic center? Apparently, the administration is getting sick of tree
house antics. UC police officers recently erected a fence around the site of the protest. Initially the fence prohibited any contact
between the protestors and the rest of the campus, but after negotiations and protests
from the student body, the administration allowed the tree sitters access
to food and water.
The environmental activists first took to the trees last
December to protest the site of the school’s new sports center. Its
construction was slated to level more than 40 oak trees. Because protestors camped
on the site, the Berkeley administration has filed several petitions for their
removal, asserting that the protestors were living in an unsafe and rapidly
changing environment. Last week, another judge rejected Berkeley’s claims,
noting, “People are continuing to live there, continue to get food, continue to
dispose of waste. … There is no reason to believe that this situation is not
going to continue to grow as it’s been growing in the last few days.” In other
words: the tree hippies aren’t giving up any time soon—get used to them.
Students Ditch Guano Dorm for a Hotel
Texas Southern University
Think your dorm is bad? This week, an entire dorm at Texas
Southern University was evacuated
due to a bat infestation. The winged critters swarmed halls and made their
way into students’ rooms. Two hundred and eleven TSU students were moved out of
Lanier Hall East and into nearby motels. As a precaution, 11
students will get rabies vaccinations, although TSU spokesman Terrence
Jackson told the campus paper, “None of them have started showing any symptoms,
but they could not rule out that they’d been exposed.” Video compiled by local
station KHOU News shows footage of students finding bats in their beds and swatting bats with brooms in the
hallway. All of a sudden your weird roommate looks a lot more manageable,
doesn’t she?
Dorm Bed Upgrade Makes Coupling Easier
American University
It’s easier to be frisky in a big bed. According to the Washington Post, campus housing offices are providing
students with double beds instead of the traditional twin or twin long size
mattresses. Schools are billing the upgrade as an effort to keep students in
campus-owned housing. Dorms are also increasingly offering amenities like maid
service, microwaves, and private rooms to attract prospective students and keep
them from moving off campus.
The Post profiles
students and officials at American University, who generally agree that the new
beds are awesome for sleepovers. Director of Residence Life Rick Treter noted
that student feedback indicated “sometimes they are not in the bed alone.”
Sophomore Matt Valdivia, who has always slept on a twin bed, heaped praise on
his “amazing” new full bed: “Now I can be alive and fit on the bed in every
direction. . . . And it is easier to fit multiple people.” Senior Elissa
Robinson, who slept on a queen sized water bed before college, agreed that
“it’s definitely much easier to have another person in the bed if the occasion
arises.”
The article also cites more practical reasons for full beds.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the prevalence of
overweight adolescents more than tripled between 1980 and 2004, and that
college kids usually gain about nine pounds by the end of their sophomore year.
Whether your freshman 15 caught up with you or that twin just isn’t romantic
enough, now you know the remedy: demand bigger beds.
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