Up-to-date college news from this week:

Shooting at small Oakland, CA College

Tragedy struck this week at Oikos University in Oakland, CA as a gunman opened fire on campus killing at least 7. According to the AP, the shooter, One Goh, had intended to target a female administrator. In a news conference, Alameda County Dist. Atty. Nancy O’Malle said:

“On Monday, April 2, One Goh committed crimes of such enormity and brutality that our community, our country and citizens around the world are left reeling. The scope of this murderer’s rampage is unprecedented in Alameda County.”

Students Pepper Sprayed

While protesting rising tuition costs, students at Santa Monica College were pepper sprayed by campus police earlier this week. During a board meeting, over 100 students protested outside and were subsequently pepper sprayed with over 30 students needing medical attention. Chants ranged from ”Let us in, let us in” to “No cuts, no fees, education should be free.” Santa Monica College president Chui L. Tsang was less than sympathetic to the students stating:

“Santa Monica College regrets that a group of people chose to disrupt a public meeting in an unlawful manner. The College has launched a full investigation into the matter. The College’s action comes at a time when SMC is confronted with the greatest budget crisis ever to face higher education in California.

Kentucky Wins National Championship

Led by national player of the year Anthony Davis, the University of Kentucky Wildcats won the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Their 67-59 win gave coach John Calipari his first national title and is the school’s eighth championship. Davis only shot 1 of 10 from the floor and all six of his points came from the free throw line. However, he had 15 rebounds, tied an NCAA championship game record with six blocks and added five assists and three steals.

Texting in Class

According to a US News and World Report Article texting is a huge problem in college classrooms. A study by University of Pittsburg of over 190 students showed that students read 2.6 text messages and sent 2.4 texts during one class. Author of the study  Fang-Yi Flora Wei said:

“College students may believe that they are capable of performing multitasking behaviors during their classroom learning, such as listening to the lecture and texting simultaneously. But the real concern is not whether students can learn under a multitasking condition, but how well they can learn if they cannot sustain their full attention on classroom instruction.”