LGBTA Student Resource Center features transsexual speaker
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY — During National Coming Out Day, recognized each year on Oct. 11, LGBTA Student Resource Center featured guest speaker S. Bear Bergman to speak to about 30 students about gender roles.
S. Bear Bergman, a transsexual man, longtime activist, theater artist and author, spoke to students on “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Gender” Tuesday night.
Bergman started by saying that gender is a culturally specific word, meaning what is considered “feminine” or “masculine” varies around the world.
However, some individuals do not feel as if they fit their gender’s cultural norm and, as a result, want to seek their true identity to find happiness, Bergman told students.
LGBTA Student Resource Center Assistant Director Brian Patchcoski said LGBTA is focusing this entire academic year on transgender issues.
“We want the Penn State community to be aware and recognize their struggles and triumphs and really understand the life of individuals who have followed their true identity,” Patchcoski said.
—The Daily Collegian
By Liz Dennerlein
Professors censured for plagiarism
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS — The University publicly censured two professors for plagiarism last week, following an investigation by the Vice Provost of Research and Graduate Studies.
According to the University, Mahesh Visvanathan, a courtesy assistant professor in the department of electrical engineering and computer sciences, and Gerald Lushington, a courtesy associate professor in the department of medicinal chemistry, engaged in scholarly misconduct by permitting the publication of plagiarized text despite warnings from colleagues.
The censure announcement named four academic papers that contained plagiarized material. The papers were published in August 2009 in the Proceedings of the 2009 International Joint Conference on Bioinformatics, Systems Biology and Intelligent Computing.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which held copies of the papers in its digital library, published a Notice of Violation of IEEE Publication Principles in place of the papers. The notice states that the papers contain significant portions of text from three other scholarly works, without attribution, and recommends that researchers remove any references to the papers in their own research.
In addition to failing to stop publication on learning of the plagiarism, the University’s censure faults the researchers for failing to report the misconduct to the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies as required by the University Senate rules.
Visvanathan declined to comment when contacted by The Kansan. Lushington, in an email, expressed regret on behalf of both researchers and wrote that their research group had implemented measures to prevent such incidents from happening again.
—The Daily Kansan
By Ian Cummings
Hand guns banned in California
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON — According to the Los Angeles Times, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that will ban the public display of hand guns in California starting Jan. 1. Unloaded, long-barreled guns are excluded.
There has been a national trend toward firearm leniency, as 42 states have laws that allow the open carrying of unloaded handguns.
On the side supporting the ban, police in the Bay Area have complained that instead of chasing the real criminals, they receive calls from panicked customers at Starbucks about gun enthusiasts who gather at the coffee shop with their pistols on their hips.
On the other hand, Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California said through citizens’ efforts to exercise their Second Amendment rights, the courts will force the state’s police to distribute more concealed-weapon permits.
“This situation will be a catalyst to unite all of the gun community in lawsuits,” said Paredes.
Penalties include up to one year in prison and up to a $1,000 fine.
—The Daily Titan
By Steven Yuan
