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Act changes to protect privacy
By Elizabeth Murphy
Daily Collegian (Penn State)

(U-WIRE) UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In the interest of health and safety to students, changes have been proposed for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) by the U.S. Department of Education.

The proposed clarifications to FERPA, a law designed to protect the privacy of students' records, were posted on the federal register last week.

Joe Puzycki, interim associate vice president of Student Affairs, said Penn State will benefit from these changes. He said there are many crisis situations on campus and many students struggling in a variety of ways.

"In those circumstances, we might think that a student might be at serious risk to themselves or others," Puzycki said. "We have an obligation to head that off, and sometimes that means sharing information outside of a student's privacy."

Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education, said some of the changes are just clarifications of current laws pertaining to releasing student records to parents and health or law officials when a student is considered a danger to himself or others.

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"We wanted to make crystal clear to schools that they could release that type of information, in the wake of the tragic Virginia Tech shooting a year ago," Bradshaw said. "Some schools indicated to us they felt they could not release information to parents or health officials or law officials; they thought FERPA prevented that.

As a result, we wanted to clear up any confusion that might be out there."

The proposed changes state the need to balance the interests of safety, privacy and treatment and giving administrators greater flexibility in taking appropriate actions during times of issues stemming from the health or safety of students.

Puzycki said in most high-risk situations, administrators consult other university offices, including getting a legal opinion.

"These decisions are not made in a vacuum," he said. "We make sure that if we are going to release information that it is not going to do further damage."

Donald Heller, director of Penn State's Center for the Study of Higher Education, said anything policymakers can do to provide more latitude to institutions of higher education is a step in the right direction.

"One concern is whether information would be released that shouldn't have been. But most institutions are conscious of student privacy issues. I'm not too worried that these regulations will have a negative impact on students," Heller said.

Puzycki said the changes will make it easier for institutions to make decisions regarding the health and safety of students.

"The language is going to clarify better for people and show the options there are to help a student," Puzycki said.

The changes are open to comment on the federal register until the deadline on May 8. The comments will be taken under consideration; other revisions will be made; and the Department of Education aims to publish the final rules next fall, Bradshaw said. "The response so far has been helpful," he said, "and we'll clear up any confusion that's out there so that schools understand what they can and can't do in respect to records."

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Unpaid internships put a squeeze on students' wallets
By Tom Moran
Minnesota Daily

(U-WIRE) Minneapolis — Ever since Chris Maher started his unpaid sports management internship, he's found himself staying in more often, thinking about his finances and repeatedly surviving on ramen noodles.

Maher, a sports management senior, is among the college students making the difficult choice between career advancement and paying the bills as they search for summer employment.

Jake Dreyer, an English junior, said he's unsure if he'll find an internship before he graduates, because he works nights and already has work experience.

Dreyer said he could only work unpaid if he didn't have classes, so he's limited to summer internships.

As the director of career development and placement at the Milano New School for Management and Urban Policy in New York, Carol Anderson is well-acquainted with the struggle at her school among students with poor economic backgrounds, who constitute a large percentage of the population.

Now more than ever, Anderson said, internship experience is crucial for recent graduates.

"The whole world is moving toward a competency-based model," she said.

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Students agree, according to a 2007 survey by Vault.com, a Web site that provides career and education information. Eighty-three percent of students said internships are "extremely important" to future career success. By April 2007, 61 percent reported having a summer internship lined up or planned to, according to the survey.

Anderson said paying interns varies among industries. The corporate sector is most likely to offer paid internships, while nonprofit business and government internships are largely unpaid.

According to the Vault.com survey, 29 percent of students have had an unpaid internship.

Anderson said students from wealthy colleges frequently get unpaid internships, which are unaffordable to those without financial backing.

But she added that if students are determined to find an internship, they'll likely succeed if they are inventive and resourceful.

Double whammy

Many majors at the University, including nursing and food science, require students to find internships before they can graduate. Some require students to earn academic credit.

Holly Hatch, associate director of undergraduate studies, said the University doesn't give credit for internship experience, but instead for the academic experience associated with it.

Students appreciate working for academic credit in some cases, like when they need credits to sustain scholarships or are already paying full time tuition, but it can pose difficulties.

Maher, who finances his own education, doesn't mind working an unpaid internship for credit now, but doesn't look forward to paying tuition this summer for four internship credits required of him to graduate.

He said paid internships aren't widely available in his major.

"It's kind of like a double whammy," he said. "You're paying for the credits that you're taking, so, literally, you're paying for an unpaid internship."

But Maher said the benefits of an internship outweigh the negatives of being unpaid.

Anderson said the internships still allow students to "dip their toe in the water," network with industry members, meet mentors and possibly land a job.

She said students should also consider the amount of exposure and education they'll get from an employer and if the work deepens or broadens their skills.

As an intern at the WCCO television station last summer, journalism senior Alex Harkness said she learned more in three months there than she did in three semesters of classes.

"I never would have had to call someone who had lost a loved one in the (journalism) school, I never would have had to make a call at 9:30 at night to a police chief," she said. "So it's really amazing how much you learn and how steep the learning curve is."

Harkness is now the assistant assignment editor for WCCO.

University aid

The University offers options for students struggling because of unpaid internships. Students can apply for certain grants and scholarships, such as the CLA Undergraduate Internship Grant.

Some University departments also allow students to have credits from summer internships apply to the following fall semester, Sara Nagel-Newberg, director of St. Paul Campus Career Center, said.

COLUMN: Mid-college-life crisis a possibility for any student
By Joshua Green
The Pitts News (U. Pittsburgh)

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(U-WIRE) PITTSBURGH — As I mindlessly speed back to the University Pittsburgh on that stretch of asphalt that reaches across Penn's Woods, I cannot help but be troubled by the fact that I am more than halfway done with my college career. A week-long stint is enough to conjure up memories of the past and make me anxious about where the turnpike of my life is leading me.

We all have felt or will feel the looming dread of which I speak.

Back when I was a junior in high school, I was enthusiastic and optimistic about moving on to this beacon of higher education. But as a junior in college I wonder if perhaps there might be roadwork ahead, or if a lane is closing, or perhaps there is an overturned tractor-trailer.

Or maybe there is this weird dirty guy sticking his thumb out at me, beckoning me to pull over and give him a ride.

I call what I am going through a mid-college-life crisis. It's kind of like a regular mid-life crisis, but without the Ferrari and the 20-year-old secretary.

Well ... maybe the 20-year-old secretary.

Here are some of the symptoms I've experienced that can be used to help self-diagnose this condition.

I've been taken aback by the number of people in my graduating class who are either engaged or married. Whether I heard about it from a friend or through mini-feeds on Facebook, it seems as though many people wish to receive a bachelor's degree and a wedding ring upon graduation.

This is partially upsetting because it is a reminder of the next logical step in life. It's more depressing because I have not been invited to any of the weddings. It's even more depressing that when I finally am invited, I will have to start buying people blenders and slow cookers.

The fact that I've been around for two decades now is also enough to keep me up at night. Being 20 means that I am halfway to being 40 and a quarter of the way to being 80. I experienced this firsthand when I visited the mall while I was on spring break. Everyone there was either seven years younger than I was or 70 years older. I am now at the point where I get weird looks if I walk too close to the Limited Too. I do not even laugh at the trinkets in Spencer Gifts the way I used to. Although, the salt and pepper shakers shaped like boobs are hilarious. Tee hee! My friends and I have also become less enthusiastic about attending large house parties.

For whatever reason, the thought of standing shoulder to shoulder in a smoke-filled room watching some girl pretending to be interested in how many reps some broseph (see May 22, 2007, column, "Brosephs: You're not as unique as you think you are," on www.pittnews.com) did at the Pete that day just does not appeal to us anymore.

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Drastic weight fluctuations in some of my peers suggest a mid-college-life crisis. People often avoid the "freshman 15" only to be bludgeoned from behind by the junior 30. This goes either way. As well as gaining weight, I have often seen people who suddenly look as though they've reduced their diet to toast and carrot sticks.

This goes hand in hand with drastic style changes that people make.

Upon reaching the middle of a college career, it seems only normal to wonder if the look that you have gone with is the look that you want to keep.

Some people change the color of their hair, some people switch from glasses to contacts, and some people even get tattoos.

Personally, I have started to wear adult diapers on the outside of my jeans. I have my friends write messages on them with Sharpie markers. It's a good way to remind myself that when things in life get stinky, my friends will always be there.

It's easy for me to see that I am going through a mid-college-life crisis. What's important is not the diagnosis but the treatment.

By simply remembering that I am not the only one going through this, I can accept the fact that this is completely out of my control. Everyone is in the same miserable, leaky boat that I'm in. It also helps to remember that this is not a real mid-life crisis. Actually, this is a beginning-life crisis. The aging businessman who gets hair plugs and an expensive car is not worried about his future but rather living in his past.

No, my friends, we have only reached mile-marker 50 on this long stretch of highway.

Let us not look at the end of college as a dark tunnel pushing through a mountain but instead as a service station where we can refuel and prepare to move onward.

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Lecturer warns students of identity theft via networking sites
By Matthew Archer
Daily Mississippian (U. Mississippi)

(U-WIRE) OXFORD, Miss. — Computer forensics examiner Sgt. Brian Blache visited Ole Miss Tuesday to inform students about various identity theft techniques in his lecture "The Internet, Identity Theft and Computer Forensics."

He began by discussing what the Internet and social networking really are.

"Basically, (the Internet) is just bringing people together with common interests," Blache said. "This is very important because ... there are things on those sites that you don't know."

He moved on to discuss various networking sites, segueing into how identity theft becomes involved.

"One in every 5,000 people will be a victim of a violent crime," he said. "One in every 130 people will be in a car accident. But the odds of becoming the victim of an identity theft are only one in 23 people."

Even more people - about one in every two - will lose important data on the Internet, he said.

The most prevalent Internet scams are the 419 (Nigerian) scams, he said. These include inheritance, roommate and dating scams. Blache also discussed eBay and other online auction scams.

Check washing is another common strategy of identity theft criminals, Blache said. The thieves sit and wait at mailboxes for check payments and steal them when you put them out. Then they wash the ink off the check using common household cleaners.

Identity theft insurance is one way to battle identity theft, he said.

"There are several companies that now offer ID theft insurance," Blache said. "So if you don't have identity theft insurance, talk to your insurance agent."

Identity theft, as well as other more violent crimes, is combated through computer forensics, which is the searching for evidence of crimes on computers, Blache said. Image hashing and various computer programs are just a few of the methods that computer forensics investigators employ.

"When I take a computer, I can pull e-mails and texts from that computer and find passwords they would have used for their encryption," Blache said. "If I'm a hacker and I like to play World of Warcraft, a lot of my passwords are going to be geared towards that game. So (the government) uses that information to break that."

One example of computer forensics at work is the capture of the BTK murderer who killed more than 10 people in Wichita, Kan. Investigators traced encoded information on a floppy disk to Dennis Rader, who was tried and found guilty for the murders.

In that case, after more than 31 years and 100,000 man hours, a computer forensics investigator cracked the information on the disk that led to an arrest in less than 15 minutes, Blache said.