Acronyms S.U.C.K. (seldom usefully convey knowledge)

I'm an acronym hater.

That's right. I hate them. I hate that every time someone creates a new program, they need to give it some convoluted seven word name that just conveniently spells out "ACHIEVE."

I own a company that represents professional speakers, and let me tell you, we have a couple of speakers who just LOVE (lacking originality, void of effort) their acronyms. Leadership speakers are the most guilty. I bet 90-percent of their audience members can't remember a day later whether the "A" stood for attitude, action, acceptance, or aardvarks.

When professional speakers use acronyms, my skin crawls. The only thing that gets me leaving a room sooner is when someone uses the exhausted line, "Webster's defines (whatever) as (whatever)." I'm out the door before they finish the definition. I'm sure that most of those speakers don't even own a Webster's. We had one speaker who was doing a keynote and forgot what his own acronym stood for, during the speech. That's awkward.

This year, you'll be creating all kinds of new programs and projects, and I know the temptation will be to give everything a jazzy acronym name. AVOID (another variation on ineffective development) the temptation. It's old. It's tired.

Sometimes acronyms limit you. You'll give your awesome new project a clever acronym name, because it makes perfect sense now, and years later it will be completely stupid and irrelevant. Imagine back in 1995 you named a campus group "PAGER." How dumb would that be today?

Several years ago, my company created a leadership program called SALAD. Originally, it stood for "Seeking Alliances through Leadership and Diversity." Seemed great for about a year. The visuals of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers were a marketing delight. It took us about a year to realize that it really wasn't a "diversity" program, but more of a community building workshop. Unfortunately, we couldn't rename the program SALACB. The program is a huge success, but at least once a week, we have to explain that it's not a diversity program, per se. We've tried to downplay the whole acronym thing for that program for several years, but it's hard to shake.

Sometimes acronyms just confuse the hell out of people. I participated in a program called the Colorado Institute for Leadership Training. That's right: CILT. The leaders pretend that the name isn't problematic, but it is. When people ask me what year I graduated from "CLIT," I tell them, "Sometime during junior year of college."

Then there's the whole thing about periods. Do you use them or not? Is it NAACP, or is it N.A.A.C.P.? (Another great example, by the way, of an organization that had to decide what the hell to do about an acronym name that had become politically incorrect.)

Sometimes acronyms are hard to remember. The Midwest Greek Conference Association (MGCA, never an easy one to remember) recently changed its name to AFLV – The Association for Fraternal Leadership and Values. I love the conference and its leadership team, but I begged them to call it the Fraternal Leadership and Values Association. "FLAVA" would have been so fun to say, and remembering it wouldn't take six minutes.

As much as I hate acronyms, I love nicknames. Why not call CILT, simply "The Institute," or "Leader Camp." Maybe "The G Spot." I don't know... something original. Why couldn't MGCA have become "Greek World Expo" or maybe "Fratapalooza!"

"Where you going this weekend?"

"Fratapalooza."

That would have been super cool.

Top 100 Leadership Blogs

My blog was named one of the "Top 100 Leadership Blogs." How flippin' cool is that?

Here's the website that lists all of them. Check it out. Lots of good links there to other blogs dispensing advice.

From now on, I'd like to be addressed as "T.J. Sullivan, award winning blogger." (yeah, right...)

Thank you, Christina Laun (whoever you are!). I owe you a drink.

Greeks Go Bald!

No, this isn't a posting about your Greek Advisor's receding hairline. It's about a really cool philanthropic effort by students at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. I love its simplicity and its direct connection to the people it helps.

Lifted from their website:

Hundreds of students and volunteers associated with various Greek organizations at Kennesaw State University and across the southeast are coming together in solidarity with children stricken with cancer. Originally started and organized by Delta Tau Delta, Greeks Go Bald! has become an annual philanthropy event among the entire Greek community at Kennesaw. Over the next two months all volunteers and participants will raise money in an effort to reach this years event goal of $20,000 to donate to the St. Baldrick's Foundation.

Several members of local fraternities and other organizations have registered with their various teams and will begin raising money from now, until the event date. Then, on the day of the event, these brave men and women will shave their heads in solidarity with children affected by cancer.

Why I'm Hopeful (by Patton Oswalt)

Patton Oswalt is an actor and comedian. He wrote the following in the February 09 (the lastest issue) of GQ. I read it a couple of times and liked it so much, I wanted to pass it along. I think it's worth a minute of your time, particularly if you're tired of hearing about the doom and gloom of the American economy and choose instead to be hopeful about our future.

---

I think a lot of the problems we've been experiencing come from the fact that no one embraces the miracle and amazement of the present. So many people – steampunks, fundamentalists, hippies, neocons, anti-immigration advocates – feel like there was a better time to live in. They think the present is degraded, faded and drab. That our world has lost some sort of "spark" or "basic value system" that, if you so much as skim history, you'll find was never there. Even during the time of the Greeks, there were masses of people lamenting the passing of some sort of "golden age."

But I'd never go back and live in any other time that teetering on tomorrow; this is the greatest time to be alive. In the face of even more fear than we faced in 2004 -- our banks are collapsing, Al Qaeda has reconstituted itself, the weather's getting scarier and more random by the day -- we chose the smart guy. The fall of 2008 was perfect for the "Scare the Shit out of 'Em" playbook, but we ignored it and strode forward like gunfighters, armed with smarts, engagement, and optimism. It's not that I'm hopeful about any one thing. What makes me hopeful is that the soil we walk on has, for the first time in a long time, been beneficial to hope itself.

Facebook is forever

From CNN. Another reminder that when your friends tag you on Facebook, it's pretty much a done deal:

(CNN) — Jon Favreau, future White House director of speechwriting, has so far been at a loss for words over Facebook pictures of him at a recent party.

Pictures of Favreau, 27, at a recent party appeared on Facebook Friday. In one of the photos, Favreau, who served as President-elect Barack Obama’s chief speechwriter during the campaign season, was dancing with a life-sized cardboard cut-out of future secretary of state Hillary Clinton. In a second photo, a friend was offering the cutout a bottle of beer while Favreau stood beside the likeness with his hand on the cardboard New York senator’s chest.

The picture was reportedly up for a scant two hours or so before Favreau removed it, along with every other picture of himself beyond his profile photo — but there’s no getting the Facebook genie back in the bottle.

Favreau wasn’t talking to reporters about the incident, but transition officials said he had offered an apology to Clinton.

The Clinton camp reaction? "Sen. Clinton is pleased to learn of Jon's obvious interest in the State Department, and is currently reviewing his application," Clinton aide Philippe Reines told the Washington Post.

Amethyst Initiative, Choose Reponsibility, an update

I've written before about the Amethyst Initiative, a group of 134 college and university presidents and chancellors who signed a statement that, basically, says that the 21-over drinking age isn't working. This weekend at the Association of Fraternity Advisors annual meeting in Denver, I had the opportunity to sit in on two sessions that focused on the debate over whether the federal government should dictate a drinking age. Both featured Dr. John M. McCardell Jr., President Emeritus of Middlebury College (VT).

As you can guess, there are a lot of strong opinions about whether the legal drinking age should be 18, 21, or something else. McCardell is on the board of directors of Choose Responsibility, a group who believes it should be 18. Not everyone who has supported the Amethyst Initiative necessarily believes 18 is the magic number... they just think that 21 isn't working.

People in higher education are not sure how to politically dance on this one. If you question the 21-year-old drinking age, then you run the risk of being accused of supporting alcohol abuse and the negative consequences that brings. At the sessions, I spoke to many attendees who personally think the 21-year-old drinking age is a ridiculous federal mandate but who did not feel they could ever publicly take a stance. National fraternity staff members are even less likely to invite themselves into the public relations fray – many in the public would expect fraternity folks to be all for easier drinking.

Drew Hunter of the BACCHUS Network stressed that his organization has not formed a statement on the issue, and he also acknowledged that as a recipient of federal Department of Transportation dollars, he sits in an unusually tight spot on this issue. It was interesting when Hunter said that lowering the age would, without a doubt, cause drinking rates to increase among high school age kids. McCardell agreed, but said that's why any return to a younger drinking age would have to be matched by aggressive alcohol education. McCardell even supports a license of some sort (that didn't make any sense to me whatsoever).

You get the drift of the debate...

For me, it just comes down to fairness. Choose Responsibility points out that at age 18 in this country, you can fight a war, adopt children, own property, sue or be sued, hold public office, purchase firearms, smoke, gamble, buy lottery tickets, or buy a house. But, you can't have a legal drink. As simplistic as that argument is, it has always worked for me.

The 21-year-old drinking age came about in the 70's when the Congress passed a highway bill that denied any state 10-percent of its share of federal transportation funds unless it changed its drinking age to 21. Naturally, they all did it, because none of them wanted to lose tens of millions of annual dollars for roads. A state could change their law tomorrow, if they wanted to.

In essence, this federal government blackmail took away the states' right to make up their minds based on the will of their citizens. It doesn't sit right with me. If Utah wants to make their drinking age 30 and Louisiana wants to make it 16, then I think that's a discussion for the voters of those states.

By the way, only four nations in the world dictate a 21+ drinking age: the United States, Mongolia, Indonesia and Palau. Good company, huh?

I also believe that the groups that use the emotional pull of drunk driving prevention (that's you, MADD) are completely ignoring the deaths, the sexual assaults, the injuries, and the massive irresponsibility that is resulting from the 21-year-old drinking age. Anyone who works on a campus will tell you that too much time is spent dealing with enforcing the drinking age, and too many scary injuries and deaths are occuring because students who want to drink always find a way and then do it in a dangerous way. Whenever I hear a student getting ready for his or her 21st birthday, my neck muscles tense up, and I beg them to be careful.

MADD and other organizations like theirs seem to think that the lives they save on the roads are a fair trade for these others.

In any case, I encourage you to take a few moments and consider the issue for yourself. I don't normally support too many political action-type organizations, but I sent a check today to Choose Responsibility. I'm the father of a 15-year-old son, and while I'm not eager for him to start drinking, I also would prefer that he enter a world with a lot less reckless abuse of alcohol. I have a difficult time believing that most people who work with college students would disagree with me, but maybe I'm wrong.

The federal highway bill is coming up for reauthorization in 2009, so the timing is right for this issue to be picked up by the media. With all the veterans coming back from the Middle East starting in 2009, I am sure the "can fight the Taliban, but can't have a beer" argument is going to get attention.

The bill needs to be reauthorized with the federal drinking age stipulation removed. Let's let the decisions happen at the state level, where they belong. I'm going to be writing to my Congressional delegation encouraging them to at least give this a fair argument.


Kudos, by the way, to AFA for having the courage to put this on their educational program. I was very impressed that Richard Celeste, former governor of Ohio, former U.S. Ambassador to India, and now president of Colorado College was one of the session participants. He is one of the signers of the Amethyst Initiative.

Free speech gets ugly at N.C. State

By Jay Price, Raleigh News & Observer

RALEIGH - Four students who admitted spray-painting racist and threatening graffiti aimed at President-elect Barack Obama at N.C. State University won't be charged with any crime, but their work was condemned at a student rally Thursday.

About 500 people attended the rally at the NCSU Brickyard organized by the student government to demonstrate opposition to the graffiti. The graffiti appeared early Wednesday as modifications to positive messages about Obama that someone else had painted in the university's Free Expression Tunnel.

By 10 a.m., university workers had painted the entire tunnel white to erase the offensive messages, and students began replacing them with anti-hate slogans.

The U.S. Secret Service assisted in the investigation, said Jon Barnwell, spokesman for the NCSU police. The federal agency was notified immediately because of the nature of the graffiti, which said "Shoot Obama" and "Kill that n--."

November 4, 2008

Blah, blah, blah letter at Framingham

In an attempt to inject some humor into their foundation fundraising, The Legacy Fund at Framingham State College in Massachusetts sent an appeal out to young alums that read, in part:

"With the recent economic downturn and loan crisis, it has become even more important for Framingham State College to receive your support. Blah, blah, blah, blah..."

The appeal went on to repeat the word "blah" 137 times. The letter was then signed by the president of the alumni association.

The whole story can be found here.

The humor wasn't well received by everyone. Some who called to complain called it insulting, unprofessional, and ridiculous. However, 40 alumni who had never given to the college alumni association before gave more than $2,000 as a result.

I thought it was pretty amusing. It's definitely a lesson in how some people get a joke, and some don't. While it remains to be seen if the stunt produced more positive or more negative consequences, it is definitely the only alumni association appeal making national news right now.

Requests from a weary road warrior

I always tell people that traveling is the very worst part of being a speaker. Yeah, we're fun and lively when you see us on stage, but you have no idea what we tolerated all day in order to make it to your town. The following was written by my business partner and fellow speaker, David Stollman. It's pretty damn funny and was clearly written as an alternative to killing a fellow traveler one day this week.

We're getting to the point in the semester where speakers have been on the road for two months and are starting to have mental issues similar to that of the most unstable postal workers. So, if you have a flight in the next six weeks, you've been warned. David flies United and US Airways a lot, so you might want to look into booking on Delta.

------------

by David Stollman


I have decided to inform the world how they can stop pissing me off while joining me in flying around the country. Ten requests.

1. Realize that the laws of physics still apply to airplane overhead bins. Do you have some sort of shrinking charm that makes you think your bag will magically fit in there?! Are you Harry Freaking Potter?!

2. Walking in airports is governed by the rules as driving. Stay to the right. DO NOT just STOP in the middle of the damn walkway to hang out or to look through your bag. Pull over bitch!

3. In case you are too stupid to realize, let me explain. The tray table and back of the seat in front of you is attached… to ME! Quit banging! Stop pulling on my headrest to stand up and pushing on it to sit down. There are armrests for that! I am riding in a plane not on a damn mechanical bull!!

4. Shut the hell up. Most people work hard and fly to get there and back. That means they need to work or sleep on flights. No one wants to hear your damn conversation. Not even the person you are talking to. So only speak in low tones if ever. And NEVER talk on a flight before 9am. Some people got up yesterday to get there early enough. Shut up and let them sleep.

5. Airlines are evil. All of them. Get used to it. Quit being shocked when they crap all over you. Learn the system, know your rights and push back or shut the hell up. You look stupid and waste my time when I am in line behind while you yell about a snowstorm making you late for Aunt Edna’s retirement party.

6. If you can’t learn how to pack, then you will be checking your luggage and will have to pay for it. Shut up and deal with it. You want to bring 5 pairs of shoes for one weekend, well you just paid a "stupidity tax." Tough.

7. Don’t fart on my freaking plane! Unfortunately airlines aren’t nice enough to pass out Beano with their drink service. But until they do, squeeze those cheeks. I don’t want to be stewing in your fumes for two hours. Hell YOU don’t even want to be stewing in them for two hours. Learn what food makes you fart and DO NOT EAT IT BEFORE YOU FLY.

8. I don’t care how badly the airline screwed you over so stop trying to tell me. No matter how bad your story is mine is worse. They keyed my car, punched my mother, pissed in my coffee and send my luggage to Anchorage. What in the world makes you think I am sitting in 5C waiting for you to vent to me. Shut it.

9. If you can’t carry your luggage through the aisle of the plane without hitting me you have to check it. And if you are too stupid to realize that backpacks change your general surface area then you are too stupid to leave your house. Seriously, you know how narrow that aisle is! If you hit me with your backpack when you turn around to ask your homey for some granola again I am going to shove it up your ass.

10. Speaking of that, get your ASS out of my face too. When you stand in the aisle and bend over to the side, your ass is in my face! Bend with your damn knees or I am going to stand up and rodeo smack you like a porn star.

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David is still available for Spring '09 bookings and promises to be very nice after navigating the friendly skies to your lovely city or town.

Sitting in an airport on 9/11

It's been seven years since 9/11, and on this anniversary, I find myself sitting in an airport. Baltimore, to be exact. On my way to Atlanta. It occurs to me that it's the first time I've flown on the actual date since the national tragedy all those years ago.

Everyone remembers where they were when it happened. I was on the very last plane they let continue beyond Europe, headed to the U.S. It was a Delta flight from Shannon, Ireland to Atlanta. We would be the last of 38 planes that would be diverted to Gander, Newfoundland. They didn't tell us what happened until we landed. With all the other jumbo jets already landed beneath us, we thought there had been a catastrophic Y2K failing of the air traffic control system.

The previous night, I had treated myself to a hotel night in a former castle in Ireland. The rest of the nights that week – seven – I would sleep on the floor of a Canadian elementary school, waiting to be allowed back into the U.S.

I was traveling alone, and that made for a very strange and disconcerting week. We were the final plane evacuated from the Gander Airport. We sat on the plane for 36 hours waiting, watching movies, worrying. When we were finally evacuated, we were taken to a very tiny town named Lewisport more than an hour away. They wouldn't let us have our luggage or our toiletries.

All the video that you watched seven years ago today – we first saw it on 9/13. Two days later. Everyone still cried. We knew the entire world had changed.

I played cards. I waited in line for my turn at the one pay phone so I could call the CAMPUSPEAK office where Tracy held things together like a champ. We waited. I flirted mercilessly with a hot gym teacher at the school.

After three days in the same clothes, a group of men and I hitched a ride in a pickup truck to a mall (honestly, by American standards, not really a mall) and bought them clean out of socks, t-shirts and boxer shorts so that most of the 330 passengers from my flight could have at least one clean article of clothing.

We were the last plane to land, and the last to be released from Gander. Seven days stranded in a remote area of Canada. The people had been nice to us, but our patience was long gone. Seven days of mass produced spaghetti, donated blankets and nasty clothes. Our senses of humor felt distant and unfamiliar.

They came around 3 a.m. to wake us and load us on buses. Our plane was finally headed to Atlanta. The Delta crew had spent the week in hotel rooms, and we hated their guts for it. How nice it must have been to shower whenever you wanted, instead of during a 5-minute pre-assigned time slot.

In the scheme of things, I know we should have felt lucky. We could have been passengers on the planes that flew into buildings. But, when you're stressed, uncertain, and frightened, you want to be home. We wanted to be home.

When we landed in Atlanta, the plane erupted in applause.

As we pulled up to the gate, hundreds of Atlanta based Delta workers were gathered on the tarmac at the gate. They were waiving American flags and cheering. Hundreds of them. Their final plane had come home. For the second time that week, I sobbed. The whole plane sobbed.

Today, I'm landing in Atlanta. I'll be welcomed by the typical surly, disinterested airport employees. But, I'm going to think about that day, the flags, the cheering. Today, I'm going to be thankful, and introspective, and calm. I'm thankful that we haven't had a repeat of 9/11, and I'm going to be a little more patient as I navigate the TSA security line.

Life goes on, even after the most devastating moments. Doesn't it?

Yeah, it's a little sad...

Something funny happened after I graduated college. August became a slightly depressing month.

When I was in college, I looked forward to summer jobs wrapping up, and I could feel the excitement building for fraternity recruitment, football games (yes, even at Indiana), and the general thrill of a new year beginning. I missed my friends and couldn't wait to get back to campus.

But, then you graduate, and August just means the end of summer. And, when you work in higher education as I do, it means that it's time to get back to work. Trade in the shorts for the suits. Play time is over.

During the summer, I give my staff half days on Fridays. It's a treat for surviving a very demanding school year, and it encourages my staff to get out and enjoy themselves a little bit more. Take a long weekend... catch a Friday afternoon flight and go somewhere cool. For me, it usually means a long workout, a trip to Costco, and getting my car washed.

Well, today is the final "half day Friday" of our summer, and dammit, it's depressing. Our catalogs are hitting campuses about now, and next week will be a really busy one as people begin arriving back at campuses and booking speakers.

Don't get me wrong -- I love what I do, and I'm really grateful you're booking speakers! But summer ending also means that, soon, I'll be back in that TSA security line and listening to the United Airlines safety announcement. I don't miss those things during the summer.

So, student reader, if you come back to campus a little early, and your advisor seems a tiny bit sad or moody, don't worry. We will snap out of it in a week or two. But cut us a little slack. We're in mourning.

These are the weeks when we will try to grasp a few final evenings with friends, before our evenings are entirely claimed by student organization meetings. Our weekends are about to vanish. Job stress is about to make a dramatic return to our lives. And then will come the moment in which we know that summer is truly over...

No, not Labor Day...

The first alcohol violation of the new year.

Take a deep breath everyone. Here we go.

New CAMPUSPEAK catalog available for download

The new CAMPUSPEAK catalog is at the printers, but as usual, we've posted it on our company website for early download for those who can't wait to see what's new and exciting. To download a PDF of the catalog, go here.

We've combined our speakers catalog and our interactive workshops into one document. We have eight new speakers. And the biggest news of all is that our speakers are offering "added value" items for those who book them – everything from free CD's to gift certificates and more. It's pretty cool. Just our little way to usher in our 10th anniversary year.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

I'm not here to make friends...

What would you say is the biggest reason students join organizations when they get to college? To make friends, perhaps? Well, if so, they aren't getting that message from today's reality TV contestants.

This video is absolutely hysterical. Wouldn't it be a hoot to show it at the start of new member recruitment and ask potential members, "Are you here to make friends?"

Enjoy.

The Urge to End It All

There's a really, really interesting article in today's New York Times Magazine about the impulsive nature of most suicide attempts. If the topic of suicide prevention interests you, I recommend you read the article. I found myself very surprised by some of what I read there.

This article would be a great "staff reading" for those in residence life, counseling, peer education, and more.

Commencement Speech

Go start a fire.

It's a strange piece of advice, coming from the son of a firefighter. But, that's what I want you to do. Leave this place and go start a fire.

Gather everything you've done to this point into a big pile and light it ablaze. It's only purpose now is to provide fuel and energy. Create a fire that warms others and sets the darkest places alight. Start a fire that comforts, and spreads, and guides.

Remember that fire can also destroy, so tend your fire and burn it responsibly. That said, toss on something explosive now and then, because a fire is more interesting when it crackles than when it smolders.

There will be times when tending makes you tired, and it's nice to have others who help you keep things burning. Add to theirs, too, because there's far too much for any single one of us to burn.

Most of all, remember that fire is unpredictable. You can shape your fate no more than you can shape the flames. And someday, when only ashes remain, pray that they nourish and bring new life. For in that way, your fire will have shaped the landscape.

Go from here, and start a fire. You have everything you need. There is no need to be afraid.

Happy graduation.

Words that make you look dumb

Folk just can't spell.

Cruising Facebook this morning, I counted three wall postings offering "congradulations" on upcoming graduations. If I thought it was a deliberate play on words (you know, congratulations on your graduation: conGRADulations!) I would groan just a tiny bit less.

It's not. Folk just can't spell.

I've been reviewing intern applications this week, and let's face it, there are common misspellings and crappy words that just make a person look dumb. My top five:

5. "Irregardless" Not a word. "Regardless" is just fine.
4. "Alot" – I see this a lot.
3. "Amongst" – Bring it down a notch, Shakespeare. "Among" is fine.
2. "You're" and "Your," used interchangeably.
1. "There," "Their" and "They're," used interchangeably.

Irregardless, amongst my Facebook peeps, their are alot of friends graduating, and its you're special day. So, congradulations!

Students to protest campus gun bans

I continue to find this issue interesting. Note the part about a nationwide campus demonstration that is being planned for next week.

The article below ran April 11 in the Colorado Springs Gazette:

Group wants to carry guns at UCCS

By BRIAN NEWSOME

THE GAZETTE

If a gunman were to burst into a classroom at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs with murder on his mind, one group of students wants a chance to shoot back.

But packing heat to class, even with a concealed-carry permit, is prohibited by CU (University of Colorado) policy and cause for expulsion.

Now, about a dozen UCCS students have joined a national and fast-growing group, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, whose goal is to lobby legislators and school administrators to allow their handguns in class.

"I carry because I'm a former Boy Scout, and the motto is ‘Always be prepared,'" said John Davis, 30, a UCCS senior who organized the local effort.

Both Colorado College and Pikes Peak Community College also ban guns regardless of permits, but students at those campuses have not objected to the policies, according to the schools.

"From my perspective, I certainly am an advocate for people's Second Amendment rights," said CU Regent Kyle Hybl, R-Colorado Springs. "I also think the issue of concealed carry on campus is one that needs to be looked at internally to see what's in the best interest of the campus."

Students at UCCS and CU-Boulder plan to participate in a nationwide protest April 22-25 in which they will wear empty holsters "to show we're basically defenseless when we come to school," Davis said. He said his group will use the event to educate other students about concealed carry permits. Students also will collect signatures on a petition that will be presented to the CU Board of Regents advocating a change in its gun policy.

Davis and other members of the group believe being armed in an incident like those at Virginia Tech or Columbine High School could save lives. The guns are concealed, he said, and having one in a classroom is no different than in a restaurant or a movie theater. His parents and other family members carry concealed weapons, he said.

But the CU policy came about because "there is a strong belief that having guns in classrooms is not conducive to an open environment or a learning environment," said UCCS spokesman Tom Hutton.

"There's an appropriate place for guns, and the classroom is not an appropriate place," Hutton said. Students with concealed carry permits are allowed to store their guns at the campus police station or lock them in their cars, he said.

A state law passed in 2003 allows concealed weapons to be carried in most parts of Colorado.

That same year, the Board of Regents sought an opinion on its weapons policy from the Attorney General's Office. Then-Attorney General Ken Salazar said the Colorado Constitution gave regents authorization to regulate their internal affairs and said there was no conflict in saying no to guns.

Davis said his group is talking to students at CU-Boulder and other campuses, including PPCC, about an effort to get state lawmakers to limit the regents' authority on the matter. Colorado State University allows people with concealed carry permits to bring their guns to class, according to the national Students for Concealed Carry on Campus Web site.

The group claims on its Web site, www.concealedcampus.org, to have recruited 25,000 members in the last year, mostly college students. It says it is not affiliated with the National Rifle Association or any political groups.

In identifying its mission, the group says: "The first step is to see ‘colleges' removed from the lists of places listed as ‘off limits' by the concealed carry laws in many states.

The next step is to see other states follow Utah's lead in prohibiting state (tax subsidized) colleges from enacting their own bans on concealed carry."

Supporters of allowing concealed handguns on campus are quick to point out the background checks and training required to obtain a permit, and they say concealed-carry permits have not led to more violence among those people.

Opponents point to the risks of guns ending up in the wrong hands or being misused.

The "No Information" Desk

Have you ever noticed that the staff at the information desk in your student center never have an answer to the simplest question? Every student center or student union in the country has an "information desk" staffed by bored students. And, inevitably, the students working there are completely clueless. About everything. Except their iPods.

Maybe this is a harsh judgment. But, as a person who is frequently lost on America's college campuses, I think I have a unique and authoritative perspective on this phenomenon.

This afternoon, I arrived at Mississippi State University in Starkville. It's a lovely place with friendly people. I find my way to their beautiful, brand new Colvard Student Union. I am almost to my destination: the office of my good friend, Heidie Lindsey, in room 314. I enter the building, wind my way past the food court, and see the information desk where a young man sits, earphones in, reading a book.

"Excuse me," I begin, trying desperately to get his attention. "I need to find Room 314. Are we on the first or second floor right now?"

This qualifies as information, right?

"Huh?"

"What floor are we on right now? The first or the second?"

"I don't know. We're on the main floor," he says. Annoyed that I've interrupted Kanye. At this point, I'm questioning the wisdom of the legislators who voted to expand federal work study funds.

"Well, if you were me," I said, "would you walk up those stairs one level or two to find the student affairs office?"

"Student Affairs?" he asks. Again, with the look.

"Um, Greek Life, Programming Board, student organizations?" I beg.

"Do you mean Student Involvement?"

"Yeah, Student Involvement."

"It's upstairs."

I have to tell you, this is typical. A week or so ago, I walked into the Student Center at St. Cloud State University, and asked the friendly young woman at info desk where I should go for the student leadership conference. She had no idea. It was on a floor above them.

How funny that the absolute last place you should go for answers at any college or university is the information desk in the student center. I guess they do other things: sell tickets, process paperwork, collect parking tickets, pass out cue sticks for the pool tables. I'm not entirely sure.

But we certainly need a better name than "Information Desk."

How about "Random Desk." They fulfill random needs and requests, and give you random looks when you ask questions. I like that. Make the change.

Blogging from NACA, or "Of Mice and Men"

The final day of NACA in St. Louis. A few random tidbits:

• Um, this conference is too damn long.

• Hooray! Two contracts for Kelly and Becca on site and another dozen "strong interests." This is very good news.

• Mike McGee is a poet. Normally, I wouldn't get that excited about poets at NACA. Most of the poets I've seen at NACA conferences are angry and yelling, and I don't relate to them much. But, Mike is hysterical and his poems were really funny and relevant to a broader audience, I thought. He made poetry cool for me, and that hasn't ever happened before. Check him out here. He has a podcast, too. Mike was so good that both Isaiah and I loved him and wanted to meet him after his showcase. Hire him to your campus. He rocks.

• So, how much do you love this picture with Remy, Emile and Isaiah? Isaiah SO did not want to be in this picture, but I made him.

Off to Mississippi, Georgia and Texas this weekend!