We are sorry to inform you that your application for admission to Winston Smith Memorial University has been denied. We were all prepared to offer you a spot in our freshman class this fall, but when we Googled you, we found three outstanding warrants for your arrest, plus there is a photograph of a naked derriere on your homepage … Read the rest of this entry »

Four nervous freshmen huddle on the sidewalk outside the Delta Upsilon house at Colgate University. It’s homecoming weekend at the 2,750-student school in upstate New York, the party inside the house is raging, and they’re on a quest for beer. They take out their wallets, eyeball their fake ID s, and consider the wisdom of presenting them to the private security guards at DU’s front door. Deciding the ID s won’t pass muster, they keep walking. Read the rest of this entry »

For years, universities have known that one freshman does not a graduate make. Yet the focus of policymakers and teachers throughout the education pipeline has been to get students accepted to college. An admirable goal, experts say, but one that may be fruitless, even detrimental, unless students finish with a degree. Read the rest of this entry »

Call it a rebellion against Henry Ford, who famously said of his Model T that you can have it “any color, so long as it’s black.” From the first lowriders in the 1930s to the MTV show Pimp My Ride, customizing cars is an American art form. Read the rest of this entry »

The voting is still two months off, but partisans hoping for a battle royal over judicial nominations are probably going to have to wait even longer after the much-vaunted “Gang of 14″ centrist senators signaled that Judge Samuel Alito, with his 15 years of service on the federal bench, may not meet the group’s criteria for a filibuster. In May, the bipartisan gang forged an alliance to avoid–or at least postpone–a procedural endgame over judicial filibusters. The infamous “nuclear option” would have Republicans changing Senate rules to allow a pure majority vote on judges–and Democrats vowing to logjam the session. Read the rest of this entry »