Bio-bus runs on cooking oil, helps keep air clean

Montana Kaimin (U. Montana)

The air around the University of Montana campus will be a little cleaner Wednesday morning as ASUM and the Office of Transportation introduces the brand new Bio-bus fueled with recycled cooking oil from UM Dining Services. If all goes well, the new Park-N-Ride bus will be running at 7:50 a.m., taking hundreds of riders to and from campus throughout the day. The UC Food Court and the Food Zoo donate the oil from their fryers, which normally would be disposed of as toxic waste. ASUM pays for the fuel at $3 a gallon. The biodiesel fuel can be used in any diesel engine without modification, and there are no carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide emissions, McKiddy said. Carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons are reduced by 50 percent compared to petroleum emissions.

Oregon State U.'s `Shy Man' dating school shows how to woo

OSU Daily Barometer (Oregon State U.)

Not every man knows how to flirt. But after a few sessions in Steven Davis' class, ``The Shy Man's School of Dating,'' at least quiet types will have gained some practical experience in the subject. Flirting is just one of the topics that will be covered in the seven-week Oregon State University experimental college course that begins Friday. Davis, a self-proclaimed introvert when it comes to social skills, said he used to find it hard to socialize. Now he has spent the last three years teaching courses on how humans interact, using improv and comedy to teach sales training classes and his Shy Man's Dating Workshops throughout the United States and London.

Squirrel attack cuts power, cancels classes at U. Alabama

The Crimson White (U. Alabama)

When a squirrel clashes with a transformer, the results are never pretty. University of Alabama administrators canceled afternoon classes and closed 21 buildings after a squirrel wreaked havoc on a Campus Drive power substation Tuesday morning. The animal reduced the power output to buildings in the north-central part of campus, overheating motors and filling several buildings with smoke. Provost Nancy Barrett ordered the buildings closed at 4 p.m. due to lack of electricity and canceled all classes in them until 8 a.m. Wednesday. The buildings incurred no damage as a result of the outage, said Anne Rhone, executive director of University facilities. However, numerous elevator and air conditioner motors were destroyed by intense heat, she said.

Oberlin offers class on Dave Matthews Band

Cavalier Daily (U. Virginia)

Dave Matthews Band fans now have a new forum for sharing their affection for the popular musical group: the college classroom. Oberlin College, a small college located in Ohio, now offers the first ever college-accredited course on the ubiquitous Charlottesville-based jam band. ``Dave Matthews Band: Music and History'' was taught for the first time last fall by Oberlin junior Tim McKay. The class is part of Oberlin's Experimental College (ExCo) program, a system that allows students to teach classes for credit. McKay, a percussion major in Oberlin's Conservatory of Music, decided to teach his two-credit class in ``davematthewsbandology'' -- as he calls his area of expertise -- in part because of a dearth of courses on popular music in Oberlin's music curriculum.

UCLA study shows liberalism increasing among incoming freshman

Daily Bruin (U. California-Los Angeles)

The age of mass anti-war protests and bra-burning demonstrations may be over, but freshman liberalism is at its all-time high in three decades, according to the fall 2001 freshman survey report released Monday. The survey, which includes responses from 411,970 entering freshmen from 704 colleges and universities, found that 29.9 percent of college freshmen label themselves ``liberal'' or ``far left'' while 20.7 percent of students consider themselves ``conservative'' or ``far right.'' The percentages of ``liberals'' on campus are substantially lower than the 40.9 percent of students who viewed themselves as liberals in 1971, according to the survey released by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute and the American Council on Education.