Exchange program violates law, State Department rules

The U.S. State Department has found that a private program for foreign students violates federal laws that cover student exchange services.

Prompted by an inquiry from the Service Employees International Union, the department’s review concluded that the exchange program run by American Pool Enterprises failed to provide “accurate information to the public when advertising [its] exchange visitor programs or responding to public inquiries.” In addition, as a subsidiary of a Canadian corporation, the department ruled the company did not meet U.S. citizenship requirements to administer summer work and travel programs.

The company had applied to bring 2,500 foreign students into the country under the J-1 visa program, the union stated in a press release.

Study cites cow belching as source of pollution

Cow manure may not be as bad for California’s air as previously thought, a first-of-its-kind UC Davis study has found. In fact, cows, much maligned for their contribution of greenhouse-effect-causing methane gas, actually produce only half the amount of the state’s air pollution previously attributed to them.

Perhaps most important, the majority of a dairy cow’s contribution to smog comes not from her manure but from her belching, the university’s scientists said.

“Our discovery means our whole approach to dairy waste management and air-emissions management might change,” stated UC Davis air-quality specialist Frank Mitloehner, who conducted the study. “For the most tightly regulated pollutants, the 700 ozone-forming gases collectively called ‘volatile organic compounds,’ the source is not the cows’ waste. It’s the cows.”

The study was to be presented to the California Air Resource Board at its Jan. 26 meeting in Fresno, Calif.

RIAA brings new file-sharing lawsuits against students

The Recording Industry Association of America filed more than 700 lawsuits against illegal file sharers on Jan. 27, targeting more than three times the number of university network users it sued in recent rounds.

The “John Doe” suits do not identify students by name, and cite individuals for illegally distributing copyrighted music on the Internet via peer-to-peer services.

“The great music created by hard-working writers, artists and technicians continues to be stolen at an alarming rate through illegitimate peer-to-peer services on the Internet,” RIAA General Counsel Steven Marks stated.

The recent suits are targeting 68 users at 23 university campuses. None are from UC campuses.

Republican senator calls for increase in Pell Grants

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has introduced a non-binding “sense of the Senate” resolution calling for a $450 increase in maximum Pell Grants for 2005-06.

“The federal Pell Grant has served as an established and effective means of providing access to higher education,” the resolution states, urging lawmakers to raise the top award to $4,500.

In addition, the resolution proposes that Congress include a provision in its upcoming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act to set the maximum Pell Grant at $9,000 by award year 2010-11 — more than doubling the current ceiling of $4,050.

Earlier in January, President George W. Bush proposed increasing the top award by $500 over the next five years.

The value of the grant has declined by 16 percent since the mid-1970s, factoring in inflation, and the portion of student aid covered by the award has fallen by more than half in the same period, the resolution stated.

Controversial drug shown effective against alcohol use

Ibogaine, a controversial hallucinogen, has proven effective in fighting alcohol cravings in rodents, UC San Francisco researchers have found. Previously advocated by some clinicians for use in treating human addiction, the drug may open the way for developing other drugs to reverse substance dependence, the findings state.

Derived from a West African shrub, drug-treatment advocates in other countries have long been using the drug for its ability to reverse withdrawal symptoms. However, recent evidence of its toxicity to some nerve cells, as well as its popularity in the 1960s drug culture because of hallucinogenic side effects, has discouraged studies testing its efficacy.

The report, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, is the first rigorous study of the drug’s ability to treat substance abuse.