The investigation into the Sept. 8 strangling of Yale graduate student Annie Le has progressed quickly since late last week.
On Thursday, animal lab technician Raymond Clark III was arrested and charged with Le's murder. He is currently being held on $3 million bond and is expected to face a hearing Oct. 6, according to the Yale Daily News.
On Sunday, a New Haven Police Department spokesman told the Daily News that police were still looking for a motive in the killing and that there are currently no other suspects in the case. Le's body was flown back to her native California over the weekend, and her family told the Daily News that a funeral has been planned for Sept. 27.
U. of California system plans to hike fees, slash budget
The University of California, facing a budget shortfall between $1.5 and $2 billion, may be forced to increase fees by 32 percent next year, the system's Board of Regents announced last week. The increase, which comes after a 9.3 percent increase approved in May, would bring the price of tuition to $10,302 for in-state undergraduates and is expected to be voted on in November.
The UC system, which includes nine campuses and serves about 150,000 undergraduates, is also looking into admitting fewer freshmen and transfers. It has already implemented staff furloughs, salary freezes, fee increases and a number of other cost-cutting measures.
Students have reacted to news of the increases with dismay, several of the UC campus newspapers have reported, and 14 activists were arrested at the regents' meeting in which the proposal was announced.
"Students ought to be angry about the fee increase proposal," UC President Mark Yudof told the Los Angeles Times. "I'm angry about it too."
"I like the old system: The closer it was to being free, the happier I'd be," he added. "But that's not the world I live in."
Bill to reform student aid advances in Congress
Legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last week would restructure student loan programs and inject billions of dollars into federal education programs, including many designed to ease financial burdens on college students.
The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, which passed 253 to 171, has been attacked by many Republicans as a "federal takeover of the student loan industry," according to the online magazine InsideHigherEd.com. Legislators opposed to the bill have also voiced concerns that the legislation will cut jobs and needlessly expand the government to the detriment to private lenders.
The bill seeks to increase Pell Grant funding by $40 billion over 10 years, restructure the Perkins Loan Program, make $10 billion available to community colleges, institute variable interest rates on federal student loans, create a grant program to increase college attendance and graduation and streamline federal financial aid in general.
The bill would also inject funding into early-childhood education programs and provide $4.1 billion to repair a variety of educational facilities.
Though the bill passed by a wide margin in the House, it is expected to meet stiffer opposition in the Senate.
Princeton plans review of eating clubs
Princeton plans to review the relationship between the university and its eating clubs, the school announced Thursday.
A task force, which will be formed within the next week and is slated to begin meeting next month, will include undergraduate students, faculty, staff and alumni.
Sometimes targeted as bastions of elitism, Princeton's 10 eating clubs serve as both dining halls and social groups. Each operates on private property and is financially independent of the university.
According to a university press release, the goal of the review is to examine how eating clubs fit into Princeton's social fabric and to determine if there are ways to improve ties between the university and the eating clubs.
In an interview with the Daily Princetonian, President Shirley Tilghman stressed that the review should not be taken as an effort to eliminate or radically change the eating clubs.
