Harvard students and staff rally against possible lay-offs

Last week, more than 150 Harvard students, staff and union workers congregated outside Harvard’s Labor and Employee Relations Department to protest potential layoffs due to Harvard’s budget reductions, The Harvard Crimson reported.

While no Harvard staff members have been let go yet, The Crimson reported that union workers led protesters in confrontational chants of “They say lay off we say back off” and “Hey Harvard, you’ve got cash, why do you treat your workers like trash?”

Harvard administrators estimate the endowment for the university will decrease 30 percent by the end of the fiscal year. The university’s budget cuts have also initiated the development of early retirement packages, which are reportedly available to 1600 staff members.

University of Louisiana accused of animal abuse

ABC News aired a report last Wednesday accusing the New Iberia Research Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette of mistreating chimpanzees, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

During nine months of undercover investigations by ABC News, The Humane Society video recorded staff members forcing chimpanzees to take medicine, transporting animals in an unsafe manner and knocking the teeth of stubborn animals.

The United States Department of Agriculture said in a statement that they found no abuse of primates during a federal inspection of the center on Jan. 27, yet they will start a new investigation as a result of the Humane Society’s claims.

Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement, “If the allegations prove to be true, the American public can expect the perpetrators to be held fully accountable.”

Study finds business school students are more likely to cheat

Two studies conducted by Rutgers University Prof. Donald McCabe found business school students cheat more than students enrolled in other schools, The Hoya at Georgetown University reported.

Results from the first survey of 54 universities in the United States and Canada from 2002 to 2004 found business school graduate students cheat more than graduate students studying different subjects.

McCabe’s second study surveyed undergraduates from 2002 to 2008, and the results showed similar findings.

“I hate to say (business school students cheat more) because I teach business students, but I think it’s something about the kind of people who are attracted to that kind of field. They have the bottom-line mentality,” McCabe told The Hoya. “There’s a bigger reward for the risk for business students.”