Justin Cosby, a Cambridge resident and suspected pot dealer, was fatally wounded on May 18th during what police believe was a robbery gone awry. He was shot in the stomach in Kirkland House, a university dormitory, but he managed to run out into the street before collapsing. He died several hours later in the hospital.

Jordan Copney, a professional songwriter from New York, has been charged with his murder, the Times of London reports. It is believed that Copney targeted Cosby because he was carrying a large stash of marijuana and $1,000 in cash. Copney allegedly knew Cosby through two girls who attended Harvard: his girlfriend, and her close friend, Campbell. Police say that Cosby sold drugs to the Harvard students, including the two girls reportedly involved in the shooting.

Prosecutors believe that Cosby was "visiting friends on the campus" when he was confronted by Copney, who had traveled to campus with the express purpose of robbing Cosby. It is unknown how Copney gained access to the dormitory, but police believe that Campbell loaned him her security pass, an allegation that Campbell thoroughly denies. Once Copney was in the building, he approached Cosby, and "during the course of the confrontation, multiple shots were fired. One of those shots struck Cosby, resulting in his death."

The Boston Globe reports that although Campbell admits that she knew Copney through his girlfriend, she maintains that she was not involved in the murder in any way. Campbell claims she was taking a final when the alleged robbery occurred, and she never lent her security pass to Copney. She also makes the distinction that she lives in Kirkland annex, not Kirkland House, which is where the shooting took place. "I have no knowledge of anything that happened, none whatsoever," Campbell said. However, Harvard has taken action against Campbell, banning her from campus and barring her from participating in graduation.

Campbell has publicly stated that she believes she is the victim of racism:

Asked why she believes Harvard administrators took the actions they did, she said she was not making an "overall claim of racism," but "I do believe I am being singled out. . . . The honest answer to that is that I'm black and I'm poor and I'm from New York and I walk a certain way and I keep my clothes a certain way," she said. "It's something that labels me as different from everyone else."

Campbell's claims are not without precedent. Last month, Harvard held a panel to look into whether campus police unfairly stopped black students because of their race, reports the Associated Press - which also puts the percent of African-American, admitted students at 11%:

In 2004, police stopped and questioned a prominent black Harvard professor who matched a robbery suspect's description. Then, in 2007, police responding to noise complaints asked leaders of black student groups holding a field day on campus to show their Harvard IDs.

Last year, a black campus worker who lost his bicycle lock key said an officer drew a gun on him after he tried to cut the lock off.

The panel found that they needed to do more work in order to create a "welcoming environment at the school."

During a phone call monitored by her attorney, Campbell told the New York Post that she is "hurt and I'm confused, for me not to be graduating is frustrating." She also said that she had never seen Cosby before, and she doesn't know why she is the only one being asked to leave campus. "This is incredibly hurtful to know it's only me that has been kicked off campus," Campbell said. "I'm feeling I'm being scapegoated and I can't defend myself."

Campbell's lawyer, Jeffrey Karp, says that Harvard has not yet disclosed their reason for barring Campbell from graduating, but he hopes he will be able to work out a deal that will allow her to participate in the ceremony. "Harvard is being cold and callous," he said. "What they have done to Chanequa is equivalent to having your house foreclosed and losing your job on the same day."

Student Says Harvard Is Wrongly Linking Her To Campus Murder [Boston Globe]
Harvard Accused Of Racism After Expelling Student Over Campus Killing [Times]
Brooklyn Harvard Student Chenequa Campbell Barred From Campus During Murder Investigation [New York Post]
Black Harvard Student: Racism Part Of Campus Ban [AP]

Daniel Abramson, a Vassar STUDENT (who we must assume thinks of himself as some sort of highfalutin version of Mystery) had signed up to teach this mini-course, which was available to all students for zero credit. The course description for the now-cancelled class read:

This course aims to take a critical look at dating across lingual/cultural barriers. Experts in each local will be brought in to the class for instructional purposes. Coming out of this class students should feel informed enough about different mating rituals to approach women of different national backgrounds.

The course was canceled after only one class. The first class of The Language of Ladies was titled "Orienting Yourself for Women of the Orient," which, of course, raised some red flags. According to Ming Tseng, a guest columnist for the Vassar student paper, the class itself was no better than the title:

Audience member Reese Wong '10 said, "Some points Dan made about body language, politeness, common greeting customs, and the manner in which phone numbers are exchanged in Japan were valuable tips for people traveling to Japan, but I took offense to many of the stereotypical ways that Japanese women were described." In the guest lecturer's presentation, Japanese women were characterized as shy and giving, among other essentializing descriptions. The instructor admits that he did not collaborate with the guest lecturer and read over the presentation; therefore, he takes full responsibility for allowing those stereotypes to be reinforced.

Although she does not support the racist undertones of the course, Tseng is of the opinion that the incident should be viewed as a "teaching moment" that can open dialogues about race and gender.

Abramson himself has spoken out about the course, and apologized for the first class, which he admits "proved to be insulting" after all. He claims that he did not intend the discussion to take the turn that it did, and says he hopes to learn from the experience so that such a situation won't occur again in the future.

However, some students seemed to really like the class. Alexander Holodny, another guest columnist for the Miscellany News wrote,

Forums such as The Language of Ladies serve not as secretive manipulation schools, but rather as safe environments for men to discuss strategies to find substance in their lives. There is nothing wrong with being interested in your sexuality, despite the proverbially forbidden nature of sex. Especially if, in taking interest, men create a positive environment that enables them to internalize the essence of sexual interaction.

While I can completely understand how this course may have felt like a "safe environment" for men, I fail to see how this is any different from the rest of our fucking culture. Even at a liberal school like Vassar, surely there is some space where men can talk amongst themselves about men stuff, like "mating rituals" and how to "take" a woman to bed.

Holodny went on to defend the course, claiming that it was an accurate representation of cultural differences and thus should not be considered offensive. He argued that "the fact that Japanese women, in the general sense, tend toward shyness and generosity should not be interpreted as an offensive assertion-it's a merely an observation," one that could potentially help a man who is looking to "mate" with an "Oriental" woman. He ended his piece by asking the ladies of Vassar "Wouldn't it be refreshing to meet guys who feel grounded, confident, lively and playful? Guys with swagger?"

[Image viaLarry Miller's Flickr]

Mini-Course Raises Issues Of Sexism And Racism [The Miscellany News]
Canceled Mini-Course Was Crucial Safe Environment For Male Students [The Miscellany News]
Mini-Course Was Intended To Teach Multiculturalism [The Miscellany News]

Anyone can post anonymously on JuicyCampus. But when someone lists the "biggest sluts" at Oklahoma State — using first and last names — the posters are unknown, but the women being gossiped about are not. Writes Susan Kinzie for the Washington Post, "It's not unlike the bathroom wall at a dive bar, except that anyone, anywhere, can read it. And it never gets erased or painted over."

Ivester says his site is not breaking any laws, and he hopes to add photos and video soon. The problem is that some students, especially at Georgetown, where many go into Foreign Service or government, worry: Is stuff on this site going to keep me from getting a job?

Supposedly, the site is coded so that the content doesn't get picked up by Google searches. But still. "The fact is," Ivester told the students in the auditorium Tuesday night, "the Internet is changing privacy as we know it."

Whether or not this is true, it just seems like this guy's business model involves humiliating women. Should people be allowed to anonymously post possibly erroneous "gossip" about their classmates, using their full names?

Juice, the Whole Juice and Nothing but the Juice [Washington Post]
'Juicy' Creator Defends Site [GW Hatchet]
JuicyCampus.com [Official Site]

Lewin writes, "Pasangi Perera Weerasingag, who attended a coeducational British-model high school in Dubai, said that when she arrived at Mount Holyoke last year, she was shocked by the presence of so many lesbians among the students."

Ms. Weerasingag adjusted and now loves the environment at Mount Holyoke. "At the beginning, there were times when I'd have to close my eyes and say, 'O.K., I'm at Mount Holyoke, and it's different.' But that lasted only a week or so, and now I have so many friends who are openly gay, and it makes no difference," she says. Other prospective students see freedom in single-sex schooling, "My options of traveling to the United States are limited by my conservative upbringing," says Ascia al-Faraj, a student at the American International School in Kuwait. "But the chances of attending one of the Sisters schools is more likely."

This seems like a win-win situation. But on one hand, isn't it sad that the Sister Schools — historically and culturally important — have to struggle for applicants? And on the other hand, is there something super effed up about the concept of women's colleges if religious conservatives are attracted to them?

Recruiters For Top Women's Colleges In U.S. See A Bounty In The Middle East [International Herald Tribune]

Tracie had one, William Serrin, who taught her reporting and, in her words, "how to cut the crap and not cry about it."

Megan: "There was an adjunct in the German department at my university who was the first older guy I ever wanted to bone, but I only think about him under rather specific circumstances. There was a prof in grad school I wanted to sue for sex discrimination and now wish I had, and one on my study abroad who hated me who I was randomly put in touch with a couple years ago." Megan's biggest intellectual influence was her high school German teacher.

Don: "Steven Bronner - total asshole. Marxism. was considered the 'voice of new Socialism' — i considered him the 'voice of old lechery' Marjorie Howes - Joyce seminar and Irish literature courses. it was all about the material maybe. Some other dude, who taught my satire class - i think he hit on me. perv." Don reads Ulysses every year, for whatever reason.

Anna had two favorite professors: one taught a creative nonfiction class; one taught a Dostoyevsky seminar. (True story: The nun who taught my fucking high school AP English class pronounced it "Dostoyvesky" and I think that's why I spent that year sampling eating disorders in lieu of literary greats.)

Balk went to college for a semester and a half, which explains why he is a genius.

And the DrunkenStepfather is also an autodidact! Not only did he not attend college, he doesn't even really read, although he made an exception for the Barbara Walters memoir and The Art Of The Deal. (Which I have also read.)

The one professor I still think about is Francis Fukuyama, with whom I took a graduate class at George Mason after I dropped out, namely to see if I could get away with taking a graduate class without actually graduating. The readings overlapped probably 50% with readings I'd been assigned in a (much more expensive) seminar I'd taken at Penn, but somehow he made it so I could actually understand them. No easy task, as Professor X could tell ya.

And finally, because I'm obviously deliberately ignoring the obvious point that "Maybe If Your Career Involved The Application Of Critical Theory Or Ancient Philosophy Or Whatever You Would Think More About Your Old Professors And Less About This Fucking Website," I asked my friend Jess. "Totally," she said. "Jim Nechas. He would have been a great blogger."

In The Basement Of The Ivory Tower

Yup! Clarence Thomas.

Earlier: Bill Bender Fucked Students For 20 Years, Looking Like This

"Make your cum taste like chocolate!" LOL.

Anyway, this story came — so to speak — to an end, as all good ones do, when a couple administrators finally started paying attention to all the prudes who'd risked their careers to lodge complaints against him. ("He comes on real strong," one wrote.) Still, Bender kept it up — heh — for a long time, considering the first complaints about him started trickling in back in 1989, after he asked a student out on a date, telling her she looked like she'd be good in bed, asking her what her prior sex partners would say about that, and pointing out that even though he and his wife were probably not divorcing, that his wife wasn't "horny" enough for him.

As a result of those complaints, campus authorities "met with Bender to address the complaints. They made suggestions about how Bender could prevent the appearance of impropriety."

Ha ha, the appearance of impropriety!

Anyway he's finally been ousted, but this is an interesting case. I mean, I just polled the Jezebels, and just over half of us have had professors we (and most of our classmates) fantasized about screwing. (And I'm sure those of us who have did not just took too many women's studies classes.) Anyhow, college is just like that. Even if you're well aware of the fucked-up mix of neediness and attention and affirmation you'd be seeking through such a liaison, you'd still probably do it, because you're in college and everyone's supposed to fuck up in college, right?

So I'll give them some leeway and say it takes an extra-strong guy, with an uncommon degree of willpower, to be a college professor. There should probably be some moral aptitude test, or an age limit, a testosterone quotient exam, or some rigidity test like they give to suspected pedophiles, to qualify. Like with the bar, the average guy would take the test and maybe not pass at first, and he'd have to work in research till he got his urges more under control.

And a guy like Bender, well, he'd take the test and get sent DIRECTLY TO JAIL.

20 Years Of Shame [The Red And The Black]