Baha’i student expelled in Iran

SEMNAN, Iran — Earlier this month, an economics major was expelled from Iran’s University of Semnan on religious grounds.

Baha’i student Minoo Shahriari was dismissed from the government-operated school after failing to identify with one of the approved faiths on a form, as reported by Iran Press Watch. After disregarding threats of harassment for her “error,” Shahriari found herself absent from class rosters and ignored by staff members when she pressed for an explanation.

“The person in charge completely ignored me,” Shahriari said in a report. “Eventually, he only said, ‘You must leave the university and Semnan at once. If you have a complaint, you can register it with the judiciary in the city.’”

Members of the Baha’i faith have been expelled from Iranian schools since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979.

Obama invitation meets backlash at Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Catholic community was rattled last week when the University of Notre Dame invited President Barack Obama to speak at the school’s May 17 commencement ceremony.

The nation’s most prominent Roman Catholic institution boasts a history of presidential presenters: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush all addressed the Fighting Irish during their tenure.

However, Obama’s invitation has drawn criticism because of his allocation of federal funding for stem cell research and family planning groups that provide abortions — topics that conflict with the beliefs of the Catholic Church.

Alumni and bishops have expressed their outrage; Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix decried the choice as a “public act of disobedience,” as reported by the Associated Press.

With the exception of conservative student groups, the decision was well-received by the student body — 73 percent of student letters written to the school’s newspaper approved of the school’s selection.

Despite the backlash, Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown stated that the university does not plan to withdraw the invitation.

Cost of birth control to impact college students

A new bill seeks to make birth control more available to college students by lowering prices.

The Affordable Birth Control Act signed into law earlier this month seeks to do exactly what its title claims.

It will offer incentives for drug manufacturers to provide discounted birth control to college health centers as they did before the passing of the Deficit Reduction Act in 2007, which ended those benefits.

Since 2007, University Health Services (UHS) at the University of Michigan and Princeton University have supplied only generic prescriptions available at a much lower cost. This posed a problem for medications without generic counterparts, such as Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo and NuvaRing.

Now, clinics are awaiting a response from drug companies about price reductions.

“I’m just hoping they will think very positively about how we can … be able to roll back the price,” chief UHS pharmacist Gwendolyn Chivers told The Michigan Daily. “But that can’t be guaranteed because it will all revolve around the manufacturer.”

Reach columnist Rachel Solomon at news@dailyuw.com.