On campus, Sept. 13
1. The 1,364 incoming freshmen at Yale are officially attending the top school in the USA, according to new data released earlier this week by College Factual. Last year’s top choice, the University of Pennsylvania, dropped to second place, while Duke held firm in third. Rounding out the remaining seven spots were more familiar institutions — all schools that made an appearance on the 2015 list. This year’s list is similar in composition, but placement within the top 10 shuffled. “The two factors that seem to cause the shuffling comes down to time to completion among graduating classes – with each school just slightly over four years — but slight improvements getting to a rate of four years ,” says Bill Phelan, co-founder and CEO of College Factual. To view the entire list — and to examine College Factual's data-drive methodology — head over to college.usatoday.com.
2. President Obama continued to promote his controversial proposal to provide two free years of community college during a speech Wednesday at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich. During his talk, Obama announced the creation of the College Promise Advisory Board, as well as $175 million in apprenticeship grants by the Department of Labor. Education has always been the secret sauce, the secret to America’s success,” he said. During his speech, Obama noted that Tennessee saw the enrollment of 15,000 students in its own community college program this fall. “Not one” had to take out a loan to pay for tuition. He added that in the last six months, six more states have enacted similar programs. Ten more, said, have introduced new legislation. “There’s a movement going on,” Obama said.
3. Campus Pride has released its latest rankings of the most LGBTQ-inclusive colleges and universities.The list of 25 features a wide range of public and private universities, including Ivy League schools Cornell and Princeton, and major state schools including The Ohio State University and University of Maryland-College Park. This year marks the seventh “Campus Pride Top 25 LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges & Universities” list. It evaluates schools’ respective policies, programs and practices in higher education, with the top 25 based on the final responses to the Campus Pride Index, a “national benchmarking tool which self-assesses LGBTQ-friendly policies, programs and practices,” according to its website. To see the entire list of schools, visit college.usatoday.com.
4. A sorority at Missouri State University has changed its bylaws to accept transgender students who “identify as a girl.” The Xi Omicron Iota sorority previously required members to “be a girl.” Sorority President Danielle Marquard said the bylaw change was suggested by member Kara Venzian and was enthusiastically embraced by the rest of the local Greek chapter. “Transgender equality is a hot topic right now and it’s something everyone is paying attention to,” said Marquard, a senior in marketing. “We have a lot of open and welcoming women in the chapter.” Marquard said the bylaw change is “effective immediately,” so students who might be interested are welcome to participate in meet-and-greet events this month.
5. College students aren’t exactly known for their healthy eating habits. That’s one reason ordering takeout is a popular solution to squelch a rumbling stomach. Over 18% of Americans get takeout once a week, and online and mobile companies like GrubHub have stepped in to provide convenient ways to order takeout with a tap of the finger. Recently GrubHub took a look at their ordering data and discovered some interesting culinary trends. According to GrubHub, the most popular foods ordered by college students are: frozen yogurt, waffle fries and chicken souvlaki pitas. A typical crowd favorite, pizza, has dropped to No. 8 on the annual list.