Ivy Watch

Ivy Watch - Informative and entertaining news from around the Ivy League

Brown:
Zakaria to Speak at Graduation
Brown University recently announced that journalist and political commentator Fareed Zakaria will deliver the baccalaureate address next month at Commencement. Zakaria is a New York Times best-selling author and an editor of Newsweek International.

Cornell:
Chi Alpha Funds Frozen
The Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship’s funds have been frozen by the Cornell Student Assembly after an openly gay member of the group was asked to step down from his leadership position. The Student Assembly has started an investigation into the matter.

Dartmouth:
Louise Edrich ’76 to Deliver Address at Commencement
Louise Edrich, the author of “The Plague of Doves” and finalist for this year’s Pulitzer Prize will speak at Commencement. She is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa tribe in North Dakota. Some students have found the choice to be a little disappointing and would like to have a say in the decision-making process. Others, however, like the 2009 Class Council President, were excited about the choice.

Harvard:
Panel Discusses Harvard ROTC Policies
Six ROTC members at Harvard University led a discussion, sponsored by the Harvard Republican Club, Harvard College Democrats, and Harvard Political Union, in front of about 60 fellow students regarding the challenges many of them face. Due to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, Harvard has refused to support or fund ROTC programs. The cadets train at MIT. Harvard’s ROTC program was expelled from campus in 1969.

University of Pennsylvania:
NYT Columnist Speaks at the Annual Oration
Stanley Fish, a NYT columnist, spoke at Columbia’s Annual Oration, an event sponsored by the Philomathean Society. Fish argued that professors should not try to influence their students' opinions. They should, as Fish states, “introduce bodies of materials and inquiries” and give students the opportunities to analytically examine those materials and inquiries without interference.

Yale:
No More ‘Porn in the Morn’
Yale has decided that a class taught by Professor William Summers titled “Biology of Gender and Human Sexuality” and popularly known as “Porn in the Morn” will no longer carry a science credit. Consequently, it will not be offered this upcoming fall.

**There really wasn’t too much of interest going on at Columbia (top story was about kitchen smoke setting off a fire alarm).