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<p>Tensions at Yale University hit a boiling point yesterday after an email about Halloween costumes created a week-long controversy on campus.</p> <p>Students called for the resignation of Associate Master of Silliman College Erika Christakis after she responded to an email from the school’s Intercultural Affairs Council asking students to be thoughtful about the cultural implications of their Halloween costumes. According to The Washington Post, students are also calling for the resignation of her husband, Master of Silliman College, Nicholas Christakis, who defended her statement.</p>

Video shows Yale student freaking out and yelling profanity at professor who said students have a right to dress up for Halloween: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IEFD_JVYd0

SOUTHBRIDGE (CBS) — The Southbridge Middle/High School was locked down Wednesday afternoon after students reported seeing a weapon. The building was put into shelter-in place lockdown and no weapon was found. Sources tell WBZ that a student was waving a stapler, and other students thought it was a gun. A photo from a student that was sent to WBZ showed armed police officers walking through a hallway. Police said all students and staff were safe and there was no immediate danger. The school was cleared shortly before 3 p.m. and students were dismissed.

OVIEDO, Fla. - The family of a girl who was given detention for hugging a classmate has hired an attorney. In a press release from the attorney's office, Morgan & Morgan, Matt Morgan said the law firm was hired to help raise awareness. The incident happened Monday at Jackson Heights Middle School in Oviedo. "I'm definitely hoping that we're bringing light to this subject," said Kathy Fishbough, whose daughter, Ella, was issued the detention. "I really didn't expect this." Morgan said he believes there may be policies in place that discourage children from being kind to one another. "According to...

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- A 14-year old girl could be charged with assault and battery after she threw a baby carrot at one of her former teachers. School disciplinary documents allege a baby carrot was used as a weapon in an assault and battery of a Moody Middle School teacher. "I don't even know how to combat the stupidity," Karrie May, whose 14-year-old daughter Aliya is currently suspended for launching the vegetable, said. May said her daughter has been out of school for a month. "I don't understand this,” May said. “Yes, it happened, and I can see a couple...

MSNBC’s “Hardball” host Chris Matthews remarked that Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s gender is “a big part of even today” and that she’ll be “hounded by a bunch of guys” during MSNBC’s coverage of her testimony before the Benghazi Select Committee on Thursday.

GRESHAM, Ore. – Dexter McCarty Middle School student Alan Holmes understands that his freedom is intricately tied to those who fought and died defending the United States of America. His older brother joined the U.S. Marines when he was 19 years old and served a tour in Iraq, Fox 12 reports.

Pot may be legal in Colorado, but you can still be fired for using it. The state Supreme Court ruled 6-0 Monday that a medical marijuana patient who was fired after failing a drug test cannot get his job back. The case was being watched closely by employers and pot smokers in states that have legalized medical or recreational marijuana. Colorado became at least the fourth state in which courts have ruled against medical marijuana patients fired for pot use. Supreme courts in California, Montana and Washington state have made similar rulings, and federal courts in Colorado and Michigan also...

In 2013, a seven year old student was suspended from school for chewing a pop-tart in the vague shape of a gun.   The story struck a nerve, and made national news.    Glen Harlan Reynolds, in a USA Today article, noted that students were suspended for even more ridiculous "offenses".  From usatoday.com: Meanwhile, a 5-year-old girl was charged with "terroristic threats" for talking about her pink toy gun that shoots . . . bubbles. The school suspended her for 10 days and required a psychological evaluation.And in Maryland, boys were suspended for playing cops and robbers and using their fingers...

The Boy Scouts of America has put out approved activities for its members, and water gun fights are strictly prohibited.A blog for the organization’s leaders said May 6 that pointing simulated firearms at people is not allowed. “Why the rule? A Scouter once told me this explanation I liked quite a bit: A Scout is kind. What part of pointing a firearm [simulated or otherwise] at someone is kind?” said Bryan Wendell on the scouting website. The rule is clarified in the Boy Scouts of America National Shooting Manual, which says “For water balloons, use small, biodegradable balloons, and fill...

(CNSNews.com) – Attorney General Loretta Lynch vowed on Tuesday to continue the Obama administration’s push for public schools to abandon their “zero tolerance” discipline policy, because critics claim it is aimed disproportionately at minority students and other “at risk” youth, including migrants and LGBT students. “We are working with our partners in the private sector, and of course, the federal government, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, to end the school to prison pipeline that sends too many children on the well-worn path from the schoolhouse to the jailhouse,” Lynch said at the National...

A future Labour Government is committed to outlaw the scourge of Islamophobia by changing the law and making it an aggravated crime, according to the Party’s Leader Ed Miliband. “We are going to make it an aggravated crime. We are going to make sure it is marked on people’s records with the police to make sure they root out Islamophobia as a hate crime,” Miliband told the Editor of The Muslim News, Ahmed J Versi in a wide ranging exclusive interview. “We are going to change the law on this so we make it absolutely clear of our abhorrence of...

Earlier this school year, a sixth-grader in the gifted-and-talented program at Bedford Middle School in Bedford, Virginia was suspended for one year after an assistant principal found something that looked like a marijuana leaf in his backpack. The student, the 11-year-old son of two school teachers, had to enroll in the district's alternative education program and be homeschooled. He was evaluated by a psychiatrist for substance abuse problems, and charged with marijuana possession in juvenile court. In the months since September, he's become withdrawn, depressed, and he suffers from panic attacks. He is worried his life is over, according to...

Some schoolchildren claim another student bragged about having marijuana. They inform school administrators. An assistant principal finds a leaf and a lighter in the boy’s knapsack. The student is suspended for a year. A sheriff’s deputy files marijuana possession charges in juvenile court... There was only one problem: Months after the fact, the couple learned the substance wasn’t marijuana.

The Associated Students of University of California, Irvine voted to ban hanging flags in its main lobby. The flag banning legislation passed with six yea votes, four nay, and two abstentions. he Associated Students of University of California, Irvine (ASUCI) voted Tuesday to remove all flags, including American flags, from an inclusive space on campus because of their offensive nature. The bill, R50-70, was authored by Social Ecology Representative Matthew Guevara, and accuses all flags, especially, the American flag, of being “symbols of patriotism or weapons for nationalism.” “[F]lags construct paradigms of conformity and sets [sic] homogenized standards for others...

Tolkien lore led a Texas boy to suspension after he brought his “one ring” to school. Kermit Elementary School officials called it a threat when the 9-year-old boy, Aiden Steward, in a playful act of make-believe, told a classmate he could make him disappear with a ring forged in fictional Middle Earth’s Mount Doom. “It sounded unbelievable,” the boy’s father, Jason Steward, told the Daily News. He insists his son “didn’t mean anything by it.” The Stewards had just watched “The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies” days earlier, inspiring Aiden’s imagination and leading him to proclaim that he had...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Oxford University Press bans pigs from children’s books, so here’s Porky Pig reciting the Pledge of Allegiance Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world.The Telegraph reports:The Oxford University Press has warned its writers not to mention pigs, sausages or pork-related words in children’s books, in an apparent bid to avoid offending Jews and Muslims.Jews?I’m Jewish, and I have neither been offended, nor heard of any Jew claiming to be offended, by pigs being mentioned in literature. On the contrary, I grew up with this stuff, and I love it. Here’s “Piggies” by...

A police sweep at Oceanside High School East in Rockland last week has stirred up a passionate debate over how to balance the individual rights of students with "zero tolerance" drug policies. Principal Renee Thompson said that although there have not been any specific drug problems at the school, she organized the raid by the Rockland Police along with the Knox and Lincoln County Sheriff's Departments in an effort to "send the message that we have zero tolerance for drugs, tobacco and paraphernalia brought on school grounds." According to Rockland Police Detective Sergeant Chris Young, it's the first time in...

"[The role of the schoolmaster is to] collect little plastic lumps of human dough from private households and shape them on the social kneading board." ~ Edward Ross, Social Control: A Survey of the Foundations of Order Five-year-old Elizabeth of Mobile, Alabama learned two new words last month in kindergarten: suicide and homicide. After drawing what resembled a gun, she pointed her crayon at another child and went "pew, pew." Horrified by the outburst of violence, the school required Elizabeth to fill out a "suicide/homicide assessment scoresheet" complete with questions on how often she thought about killing herself. An agreement not...

A Milford parent is questioning the two-day suspension of his 10-year-old son from Stacy Middle School. Nickolas Taylor, a fifth-grader, was suspended after pointing an imaginary ray gun - his finger - and mouthing laser sounds in the school’s cafeteria last Friday, said Brian Taylor, Nickolas' father. “I think this is very slanderous toward Nickolas and his character,” said Taylor. “It was non-threatening. He’s just a typical boy with an imagination.” A conduct slip, written by Assistant Principal Noah Collins, lists the offense as a threat. Collins could not be reached for comment despite numerous phone calls and emails seeking...