Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Nigeria Campus Massacre May Be Linked To Student Union Election « Student Activism

Nigeria Campus Massacre May Be Linked To Student Union Election « Student Activism:


Nigeria Campus Massacre May Be Linked To Student Union Election

As many as forty people were killed early Tuesday morning in a student hostel adjoining Federal Polytechnic Mubi, a college in northeastern Nigeria, and authorities are trying to piece together why.
Initial suspician centered on Boko Hiram, a violent Islamist group whose name literally means “western education is forbidden.” But given the nature of the killings and the reported targets, officials now believe that the massacre may be connected to student elections held last weekend.
The police commissioner for the region told reporters that many of those killed “were executive leaders that were elected” in the Saturday elections, which the New York Times said were “bitterly contested along religious and ethnic lines.” The BBC reports that student union leadership positions in Nigeria are often “stepping stones” to



The For-Profit College Implosion Picks Up Speed

This is really welcome news.
For-profit higher ed behemoth Kaplan, which is owned by the Washington Post, announced last week that it is closing thirteen of its seventy campuses nationwide. Nine will shut down completely, and another four will be folded into nearby locations.
Even better news is the reason for the shutdowns — three of the campuses were apparently just stripped of their accreditation, and thus their students’ eligibility for federal loans.
Loan defaults at for-profit colleges are ridiculously common, with three-year defaults standing at 22.7% in newly-