Proposed bill would let 18-year-olds drink in bars

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA — Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL- Minneapolis, proposed a bill Monday that would allow 18-year-olds to drink in bars and restaurants but would still deny them the ability to purchase alcohol in stores.

The bill would also allow Minnesotans 16 years and older to drink at bars and restaurants with their parent or guardian. Wisconsin has a similar law but without an age requirement.

Kahn has introduced the bill multiple times in the past without success. She said she proposed the legislation because of problems of binge drinking at the University of Minnesota, which she represents.

Student reaction to the proposed legislation was mixed. Students younger than 21 years old said they thought the legislation would be a good idea while some older students said it would cause problems.

Lauren Schreffler, a kinesiology freshman, said she thought it would make more sense to make all drinking legal at age 18.

“You can go and die for your country, but you can’t have a beer,” Schreffler said. “It’s stupid.”

If Minnesota lowered its drinking age, it could lose federal money.

-The Minnesota Daily
By Kevin Burbach

Professor designs Haiti recovery

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME – Professor Tracy Kijewski-Correa has some powerful words of inspiration following her work with the Kellogg Institute in Haiti. “Listen, Innovate, Empower!” is the mantra of the group’s efforts to provide aid following the devastating earthquake that struck the island nation in January 2010.

Kijewski-Correa gave a lecture titled “An Empowerment Model for Sustainable Residential Reconstruction in Léogâne, Haiti, after the January 2010 Earthquake” on Tuesday in the Hesburgh Center.

Kijewski-Correa, associate professor of civil engineering, spoke of a proposal she and her team of associates designed to construct personal residences within Haiti. She said engineers working on the project must listen to the needs of the Haitian people.

“This project relies on its workers to consider the preferences of the locals in constructing homes while upholding safety as a priority in construction,” Kijewski-Correa said. “Some may ask for a house built with the same type of brick that caused deaths (during the earthquake), to which an engineer must provide reliable alternatives.”

-The Observer
By Chris Barnes

Brother Jed grabs students’ attention with controversial evangelism

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY – In-your-face evangelism met students strolling through Free Speech Plaza last week as a man with a cross looked up to the heavens while bellowing about the wrath of God.

The man was George Edward Smock, better known as Brother Jed, and he’s been visiting the university annually for the past 40 years. As a person who is known for controversy, Brother Jed and his campus-based ministry are not always the most welcomed visitors at a university.

But while students haven’t welcomed him with open arms, Smock is no stranger to college campuses.

“Being a former professor, I knew students were not listening to the word of God in the classroom,” Smock said. “Most students are not actively participating in Christianity.”

Throughout the world and primarily in the U.S., Smock and his wife “Sister Cindy” tour college campuses in order to bring the focus back to God.

“The goal is to get students thinking about religion,” Smock said.

-The Daily Reveille
By Lauren Duhon