Thursday, April 12, 2007

Mini-News at Universities

Three tiny news items caught my eye today so here are my mini-commentaries on these stories:

  • Iowa State University -- my alma mater recently changed the name of its College of Agriculture to become the "College of Agriculture and Life Sciences" to better reflect the "modern emphasis and breadth of the college." COMMENTARY -- given the rise of biotech foods and the greater use of technology like GPS in agriculture today perhaps it is time to create an entirely new word so let me offer this one: "College of AGRISCIENCE"
  • Juneberries -- North Dakota State University's Extension Service is searching for volunteers to help them find wild juneberry patches so that they can "study the plants and produce new varieties of the fruit for commercial use in jams, syrup, and pies." COMMENTARY -- given the "obesity crisis" in our schools why not simply mobilize a few hundred obese students to walk the fields, hills, and forests of North Dakota in search of juneberries?! A little hiking in the fresh air should help the cause don't you think?
  • Health Insurance -- Student governments at both Utah State University (this month) and the University of Utah (last year) have approved resolutions calling on the university administration to REQUIRE all students at the schools to have health insurance. COMMENTARY -- An interesting coincidence here in that the only state in the USA to require health insurance is Massachusetts home of Governor Mitt Romney who of course has some roots in Utah given his work on the Salt Lake City Olympics -- any linkage? You tell me. So let me ask -- why stop at health insurance student leaders? Let's require students to go to the recreation center each day to maintain good health or perhaps the university could send Body Mass Index (BMI) reports with grade reports to the students' parents -- oh wait, the BMI idea was already implemented in the State of Arkansas by Governor Huckabee who is now running for President of the USA. The slippery slope to government control of our lives just got greased by these Utah students.

Mini-thanks :-)

Todd

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