Anti-Islam editditiflP 3 W Wayne State UnivSl|§|||i paper criticized v -- he said , ,- 4 * '< x, r r , ning the editorial, ,«,, -. ; ~ H Asastudertnew*£^ from stiKients, faculty or «a£f,’’he sakl ,< We wel come their ideas, but it doesn’t necessarily iqfcji they represent the newspaper.” The university’s vice preadeitt Iwstadeßpfe'' ; velopment and campus life, Chattes Brown,said Wednesday that “we’re veqi saddened that Ids artick was written by one of our students.’’ “We don't condone this.” ‘ V ' But, Biown added, students have the tight!) free speech. Brown said he has spoken to Oancy abouti&e editorial and plans to Speak with the staff oftfjte student-run newspaper along with Musftift*sK * , « ' ’ , S' ', , ", ' y oerns. “This is a teachllte moment for us," Swap said . *<< . • A vj. >Nr by Nirgj Warikoo Knight Ridder Newspapers An editorial headlined “Islam Sucks'* that ran in fc student newspaper has drawn fire from an Acifer American group. The piece, published Tuesday in the daily cam pus newspaper of Wayne State University in De troit apd written by a student, says Islam “pre sents I danger to the welfare of many due to its influence." Written by Joe Fisher, who was not available for comment Wednesday, the editorial also says, “Islam subjugates hundreds of millions of women, sexual minorities and other religions where it's the law of the land” After reading the editorial, Imad Hamad, re gional director of the American-Arab Anti-Dis crimination Committee, said, “It is absolutely ap palling that such ignorance, accompanied by nu merous inaccuracies, would find its place in a newspaper distributed by a highly respected aca demic institution.” Hamad said he was concerned that such an edi torial might lead to hate crimes against Muslim Coaster promises to detect party drugs Francisco Guerra, president of Drink Safe Technologies, has developed a coaster that can detect the presence of date-rape drugs in alcoholic bever ages. by Patrick Danner Knight Ridder Newspapers Francisco J. Guerra is a magician turned-inventor who says theme parks like Walt Disney World use a machine he created to make “'evaporative snow.” Dentist Brian Glover says his bubble making device was used on pop star Britney Spears’ recent tour. Now, the pair have teamed on some thing less frivolous but with potentially far-reaching consequences: a drink coaster that can detect date-rape drugs in alcoholic beverages. “Just having a product like this is a de terrent,” says Glover, a Long Island den tist and a principal in Davie, Fla.-based Drink Safe Technologies. “Perhaps people will think twice before commit ting a hideous crime as this.” The pair say they have applied for a patent for their technology, which allows a drop of a drink to be placed on a light colored circle on the coaster. Users are then instructed to rub gently on the circle. The color will change to a darker shade within a minute if a date-rape drug is de tected, they say. Date-rape drugs include Rohypnol and GHB. “The tests, when properly performed, do work,” says James McCafferty, direc tor of labs at Southern Research Group in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He says the lab, which is licensed with the Drug Enforce ment Administration, has developed for Drink Safe two chemical tests that are ca pable of detecting “adulterated drinks.” McCafferty adds he has conducted tests on 50 popular alcoholic beverages, with five showing false-positives, meaning the test detects a drug where none is present. He declines to name those drinks. Drink Safe intends to have other drinks tested. “It sounds very promising,” says Dr. Karen Simmons, director the Rape Treat ment Center in Miami. However, she has some advice for drinkers. “I personally tell people to carry their drink with them ... and not to drink out of a large punch bowl.” Guerra, 33, and Glover, 34, say they spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” on developing the technology. They ex pect to test market the coasters within 90 days. Guerra says they’re negotiating to sell the licensing rights for the coasters to li quor manufacturers, who could put their logos on the coasters and distribute them to bars and clubs. The cost for mass-produced coasters would be pennies each, Guerra says. They also have developed a personal test kit with strips that can also be used for test ing. NATIONAL CAMPUS NEWS Friday March 1, 2002 Most homeschooled students test well; skills easily transfer to college by Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki Knight Ridder Newspapers Thomas Burke scored well above the na tional average on his SAT and ACT college admissions tests. Not bad for a kid who didn’t go to high school The Hillsdale College economics major from Oxford, Mich., got a 27 on the ACT and a 1230 on the SAT. The national average on the ACT is 21, and the SAT is 1020. The highest pos sible on the ACT is 36; it's 1600 on the SAT. “I’d done the lowa standardized testing, and I’d always tested well ahead,” said Burke, 20. “I’d also taken junior college classes since I was 16 and did well in those.” Overall, homeschooled students average 22.7 on the ACT and 1093 on the SAT. The National Home School Legal Defense Fund found that 69 percent of homeschoolers go on to college or other post-secondary edu cation. In 1998, about 200,000 of the 14.5 mil lion undergraduate students in the United States had been homeschooled. Even so, colleges have struggled to find fair methods for ranking these students in their ad missions procedures. Admissions officers have been reluctant to place much credence in grade point averages administered by parents. Wayne State University in Detroit has a rela tively simple admissions criteria _ 21 on the ACT and a 2.5 grade point average. But offi cials felt the need to raise the bar for homeschoolers, to a 2.75 GPA. “They’re still unique enough that I think most colleges and universities are still grappling with how best to handle them,” said Mike Wood, interim director of admissions. “It’s very rare to see a homeschooled student who doesn't have a good grade point average, and that's why we require the test score as well as the grade point.” The University of Michigan receives very few homeschooled applicants, about a dozen out of the 24,000 applicants per year. U-M, the state's most selective university, requires homeschooled students to take the subject-spe cific SAT II tests in five areas - English, math, history, social and natural sciences - in addi BAD CREDIT IS LIKE A BAD NICKNAME. IT WILL STICK WITH YOU FOR YEARS. tion to the general SAT or ACT. “Generally, we find they’re very well-pre pared, and they tend to be highly motivated," said U-M spokeswoman Julie Petersen. Hillsdale College has a high percentage of homeschooled students compared with many other colleges and universities: About 10 per cent of Hillsdale’s 1,160 students were homeschooled. These are the students who don't wait until the last minute to start their term papers, said James Taylor, chairman of the Department of Education at Hillsdale College. “1 see a kind of self-discipline - a kind of take-matters-into-their-own-hands,” Taylor said. “And 1 do think it’s a result of having to do a lot of independent study in the homeschool environment.” Many of the homeschooled stu dents want to be teachers, Taylor said. Former homeschooler Thomas Burke, 20, studies calculus at his fraternity house near Hillsdale College. Burke, a sophomore, said that after intensive studying at home, college courses initially didn't hold his interest. One flaw is that homeschoolcd students are often not well-rounded, said David Stewart, director of Hillsdale's honors program "I can generally count on them tor having almost no science and viitually no lab science." Stewart said. “They've typically done a iot more in Hnglish and history than other students come in with They tend to he better writers." Hmke said that after the intensiveness of studying at home, initially college wasn't all that areal. Hut the harder courses now hold his interest “Having to sit through classes, that was a bit different," Buike said. “For the most part it was rather boring, to be completely honest. When I was at home, a lot of things were self-taught. I was always tiding work. My mom didn't sit down and lecture me " KRT PHOTOGRAPH BY GABRIEL B. TAIT/DETROIT FREE PRESS The Behrend Beacon Page
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