Don’t have time to watch or read the news? No problem! The Butler Collegian’s editor-in-chief has compiled a list of the top five things he thinks readers should know this week.
Let’s keep this relatively short, sweet and to the point. Happy reading!
Fact 1: Sexual assault still a concern: “The exact size of the campus sexual assault problem remains unclear,” The New York Times editorial board said last Saturday. The commonly cited statistic that one in five women who attend college is assaulted before she graduates—repeated by the White House—comes from a 2007 study based on undergraduates at just two unnamed public universities. That figure often shocks, yet there is no reliable alternative estimate. Under the federal Clery Act, universities are required to publish data on campus crime, but activists have long suspected that administrators under-report sex crimes.
Fact 2: Anthem data breach exposes millions: On Jan. 4 approximately 80 million current and former policyholders of Anthem Inc. may have had their personal information stolen during a data breach, according to The Indianapolis Star. Anthem officials said no personal medical data or credit card information had been compromised, but the stolen names, birth dates, social security numbers, addresses and member IDs could represent a “treasure trove” to cyber-thieves, experts said.
Fact 3: Harper Lee’s return is clouded with controversy: More than 50 years after “To Kill a Mockingbird” was published, Harper Lee remains one of the most influential novelists in the history of American literature, selling over 40 million copies worldwide. In a standard six-month period, sales of the novel brought the author almost $1.7 million in royalties, according to court documents. Now Lee’s literary agent has announced the publishing of another book, “Go Set a Watchman,” which will be released this July. The new novel is already a number-one ranked book on Amazon.com based on preorder sales. Nevertheless, The New York Times reports that friends close to Lee are suspicious about the circumstances related to the new book. Lee suffered a stroke in 2007, has trouble seeing and has almost lost her ability to hear. Sue Sellers, who lived near Lee for 48 years and visited her frequently, said Lee often feared publishing again during her lifetime because any future work would be compared to “Mockingbird.” Karen Hare, a resident of the same town as Lee, made a similar statement. “She always said she didn’t want anything done until she died,” Hare said, according to The New York Times.
The novel has sold over 40 million copies worldwide.
Fact 4: Legendary college coach Dean Smith passed away: Dean Smith, the coaching innovator and winner of two national championships at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an Olympic gold medal in 1976 and induction into basketball’s Hall of Fame, died Saturday, according to ESPN.com. He was 83 years old. Smith received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in November 2013 and he coached numerous professional hall-of-famers and champions such as Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Sam Perkins and Vince Carter. He is survived by his wife and five children.
Michael Jordan (left), Dean Smith (right).
Fact 5: Counseling depressed teens, one text at a time: Nancy Lublin, CEO of Do Something Inc., a nonprofit that helps young people start volunteer campaigns, now owns the world’s first and only national 24/7 crisis-intervention hotline that counsels exclusively through text messaging. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said suicide is the third leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 10 and 24. Because the average adolescent sends almost 2,000 text messages each month, the Crisis Text Line reaches a younger demographic. According to The New Yorker, 98 percent of text messages are opened. Text messages are four times more likely to be read compared to e-mails. Lublin hopes that the data her company collects can prevent suicides and assist school districts and police departments. “The corpus of data has the volume, velocity and variety to really draw meaningful conclusions,” Lublin said.
There you have it. Check the news section next week for another set of facts you can use to impress (and annoy) your friends with. Who doesn’t love a smart aleck, right?
P.S. This week’s facts were a little grim. I apologize. I will try to make next week’s list a little more cheery.
Written and compiled by Julian Wyllie
