Nikolai Wasielewski, a 19-year-old Michigan State University freshman, will stand trial for tossing fireworks into the front yard of a house in East Lansing last November, according to an article published by The State News on Friday.
Police allege that Wasielewski and three other MSU students threw an exploding firework from their car into a friend’s yard as a prank on Nov. 1, 2009, according to the article.
No damage was done to the property, according to the article. Wasielewski, who claimed he is innocent, faces up to 15 years in prison.
Mike Nichols, Wasielewski’s attorney, told the State News that his client is innocent.
“He didn’t do anything wrong, he didn’t do anything criminal,” Nichols said in the article.
Wasielewski’s three co-defendants agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges in return for a lesser sentence, which includes remaining on probation and performing community service, according to the article.
Harvard receives record number of applicants
A record-breaking 30,000 students have applied for admission to Harvard University, according to an article in The Harvard Crimson.
William Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid, told the Crimson that the number of received applications represents a 5-percent increase from last year.
Fitzsimmons said the increase is a result of more financial aid offered, the elimination of early-admission and Harvard’s newly-founded engineering school, according to the article.
According to the article, admissions to Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences increased substantially since it was created in 2007.
Despite the increase in applicants, Fitzsimmons said Harvard will still continue its conservative acceptance rate, according to the article.
Last year, the university accepted 7 percent of applicants, according to the article.
Despite economy, University of Chicago plans to hire 60 faculty members
As many schools throughout the country are cutting faculty positions, the University of Chicago plans to hire 60 tenure-tracked faculty members, according to the University of Chicago Maroon newspaper.
The faculty body will grow 1 percent each year for the next five years as part of the university’s expansion, according to the article.
University of Chicago Provost Thomas Rosenbaum told the Maroon that most of the new employees will be junior faculty members so that they may rise in rank over the years.
The expansion is part of university President Robert Zimmer’s plan to strengthen the university “across the board.”
Rosenbaum said in the article that the university wanted new hires in “particularly exciting areas…with intellectual need and educational impact.”