This column will appear every Thursday. Its purpose it to comb other campus newspapers for interesting things happening at universities across the country. This gives students at the UW a chance to see what trends are occurring across the country and compare their college experience to that of other students. Sometimes the stories will be funny, other times sad or poignant, but they will always be interesting.

Ideas for the column can be sent to news@thedaily.washington.edu

Another beer with your lecture, sir?

Leave it to our friends east of the mountains. Tuesday’s edition of The Daily Evergeen delivered this little gem: In order to raise awareness about research projects happening at Washington State University and the University of Idaho, someone decided people would be better informed if presentations on the subject were given in a place where alcohol could be served.

Called “Science on Tap,” topics discussed in this scholarly setting will include the characteristics of e.Coli, stealth technologies and, best of all, Idaho professor Dick Vanderwall, who will relate how the school cloned a mule back in 2003, The Evergreen reported.

“I always look forward to opportunities to discuss cloning with the general public,” Vanderwall was quoted as saying in a UI press release. No quotes from patrons of the Coeur d’Alene Brewing Company in Coeur d`Alene, Idaho about their feelings about discussing cloning during happy hour were included in the story.

Perhaps the administrative masterminds at UI and WSU figure that if they get their audience drunk, they’ll be more responsive with their checkbooks when a discussion about University funding follows the stimulating talk about e.Coli.

Bugs invade UCLA restaurant

The Sbarro pizza restaurant in the student union at UCLA underwent a minor crisis and a major extermination after insects were discovered nesting in the walls of the restaurant, The Daily Bruin reported.

Ewwww. According to the corporate spokesman for Sbarro, the restaurant was perfectly clean, except for the bugs, of course.

“The campus kitchen was clean and our store was clean, but [the insects] found a place to hide in the walls,” Tony Missano, president of business development for the Sbarro Corporation, was quoted as saying in The Daily Bruin. “There was an area in the middle of the kitchen where the insects were living.”

Perhaps to add a modicum of silliness to the incident, the University’s food services quickly lowered the campus Sbarro’s rating from a “Grade A” to a “Grade B” eatery.

The Daily Bruin also reported that the student union’s Jamba Juice and Taco Bell establishments received shipments of bacteria-contaminated ingredients last month.

Exploring the ghosts of presidents past

The Harvard Crimson, which has a different article about its ongoing presidential search nearly everyday, reported Wednesday that the records about the hiring of someone to replace Lawrence “Open-Mouth-Insert-Foot” Summers will likely be kept secret by the University for 80 years.

That means details unreported by The Crimson will likely not come to light before 2087.

In lieu of providing any new information about the present-day search, Crimson reporters have chosen to focus on the most recent search documents to come unsealed, which detail the 1908 replacement of Harvard president Charles W. Eliot with Harvard government professor A. Lawrence Lowell.

In a well-written article, two Crimson staff writers detail that selection process, which included candidates like then-President Theodore Roosevelt, an 1880 graduate of the institution. Roosevelt did not make the shortlist, but told the Boston Evening Herald that he was “pleased as punch” with Lowell’s selection, The Crimson reported.

Reach reporter Blythe Lawrence at blythelawrence@thedaily.washington.edu.