Amherst College has once again demonstrated why they are one of the premier institutions of higher learning in the world. Without external pressure or a committed donor, Amherst, a need-blind institution, have decided to do away with all financial aid and instead award scholarships only.

It’s quite unfortunate to have institutions like my alma maters Hopkins and Columbia getting literally billions in alumni donations and still can’t offer something so profoundly important.

Dear Amherst College Alumnus or Alumna:

I write to let you know about an important new change to Amherst’s financial aid practices. Acting on the advice of faculty committees, the Board of Trustees has decided that beginning in the 2008-09 academic year, Amherst College will replace all loans with scholarships in its financial aid packages. This should be especially helpful to students from middle-income families, who too often have had to take on significant debt in order to ensure access to an outstanding education, and who too often graduate feeling that their career choices are constrained by that debt. With this change of policy, Amherst is ensuring that we can attract the most talented students, regardless of their economic standing, while providing further, proactive leadership to higher education in this important area.

This new policy—one in place at only two other colleges and universities nationally—builds on Amherst’s longstanding leadership around accessibility and scholarship. Seven years ago, Amherst demonstrated its commitment to being a leader in making education more accessible to low-income students by eliminating loans for students from families with incomes of less than $40,000 a year. A few years ago, we expanded this policy to include families whose incomes were below $60,000 a year. The new initiative that will be implemented next year significantly broadens our commitment by eliminating loans for all families. Once implemented, this new policy will affect not only incoming students in the Class of 2012, but also current Amherst students.

Let me be clear about what this new policy will mean. Because Amherst is need-blind, every student admitted to the College receives financial aid that meets the student’s full financial need. Currently, middle-income students take on federal or college loans as part of financial aid packages that also include scholarships, grants and job opportunities. Beginning in the 2008-09 academic year, the loan component of this financial aid package will be replaced with scholarships; no Amherst student will be required to take out loans in order to come to Amherst. (We know that many families will still choose to take some private loans to cover their expected payment.)

This is a significant new financial commitment for Amherst. But, as our Board of Trustees chair, Jide Zeitlin ’85, noted in a news release about this program, for almost two centuries Amherst’s alumni, parents and friends have consistently demonstrated a commitment to supporting Amherst when it has taken steps to broaden access to the college by the most talented students from across the nation and the world. We believe that this new program, designed to eliminate barriers for middle-income families and allow an even greater number of students to graduate from Amherst without debt, will inspire new levels of commitment from those who know the College best. We hope, too, that our actions will encourage other institutions to take similar steps to open their doors to talented young people, regardless of circumstance.

With best wishes and thanks for all you do for Amherst,

Anthony W. Marx

Sunrocket (my VoIP service provider) quietly called it quits yesterday. Normally, a company going bankrupt will already greatly inconvenience their customers. Sunrocket’s exit however, just absolutely takes the cake.

The CEO Lisa Hook, who only got the job less than 16 months ago, suddenly resigned last Friday. Without notifying any of Sunrocket’s subscribers or employees, she disconnected all services and laid all the employees off. Now thinking back, what did I really expect from an ex-”AOL broadband” executive. You can read the NYTimes’ perspective on the matter here:

Internet Phone Company Halts Operations

By MATT RICHTEL
Published: July 17, 2007

SunRocket, one of the largest start-up companies offering Internet phone service, has ceased operation and is moving its customers to one or more other companies, a person briefed on its status said yesterday.

A message on SunRocket’s customer service line said the company was “no longer taking customer service or sales calls.” Executives of SunRocket, which is based in Vienna, Va., and had 200,000 subscribers as of April, could not be reached for comment.

—

The internet of course, is up in arms about what to do. If you are among the unfortunate Sunrocket subscriber base, contact your credit card company immediately and file a dispute.

Also, a member of slickdeals, y_2032, has suggested that Sunrocket violated FCC rules when they disconnected members’ services without prior notice. You can file a complaint against the CEO here:

I AM MORE CONCERNED THAT WE THE CUSTOMERS HAVE RECEIVED NO SHUTDOWN NOTICE.

I HAVE CONTACTED THE FCC WHO CLAIMS THAT THERE IS A REGULATION REQUIRING SHUTDOWN NOTICE. THE SUGGESTED THAT EVERYONE FILE A COMPLAINT. PLEASE CALL THE FCC AT:

Phone: 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322)
TTY: 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322)
Fax: 1-866-418-0232
E-mail: fccinfo@fcc.gov

also submit an online complaint at:

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cib/fcc475.cfm

as this lack of notification should NEVER happen again.

You can also unlock your current gizmo using one of these username / passwords:

• User:Admin || Password:7UprUtew
• Password: s.M

As reported by many blogs, a leaked copy of HP7 is now making the rounds on the internet. The leak is by no means simple to read or indeed complete. Someone has manually taken snapshots of each of the first 495 pages and the book still seems to have at least 1/4 left. The file even made a brief appearance on Oink.cd before the admins removed it.

Deathly Hallows Week, Day 2: News
July 16th, 2007

Update on DH Leak: I did some digging around, and the leak may be a real copy of the book. If the leak is not a hoax, it appears someone got a hold of a copy, is taking pictures of each page, scanning them and uploading them. I saw some of the pictures (without reading any words), and it certainly looks genuine. ..

…

Update 1: Well, it looks like the epilogue has also been leaked, so I already know who dies and who doesn’t…. and who else ended up being a hero ….

Update 2: The whole book has been leaked.

Update 3: This is now absolutely confirmed to be the real book..

It looks like McCain’s presidential bid is coming to an end. His chief strategist and his campiagn manager have both resigned. Even the guy who has co-authored 5 books with him has left his campaign. It is rumored that none of the three left amicably from the campaign. It was definitely interesting to see one of the most beloved republican senators turn traitor and self-destruct.

McCain Campaign Suffers Key Shake-Ups

By LIZ SIDOTI
The Associated Press
Wednesday, July 11, 2007; 4:03 AM

WASHINGTON — John McCain jettisoned his two top aides Tuesday as the one-time Republican front-runner struggled to right a presidential bid in deep financial and political trouble.

Campaign manager Terry Nelson and chief strategist John Weaver offered McCain their resignations, which the Arizona senator accepted with “regret and deep gratitude for their dedication, hard work and friendship.”

At least three other senior aides followed the two out the door, and the campaign announced that Rick Davis, who managed McCain’s 2000 bid and has served as the current campaign’s chief executive officer, will take over.

…

The White House is similarly showing signs of implosion. A Senate appropriations committee has refused the Vice President’s office’s request for more funding until they hand over the subponeaed documents. (And yes, the Vice President’s office is part of the executive branch, regardless of what Dick Cheney would like to believe).

U.S. Senate panel moves to cut off funding for Cheney in flap with Dems over executive order

The Associated Press
Published: July 10, 2007

WASHINGTON: Senate Democrats moved Tuesday to cut off funding for U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s office in a continuing battle over whether he must comply with national security disclosure rules.

A Senate appropriations panel chaired by Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin refused to fund $4.8 million in the vice president’s budget until Cheney’s office complies with parts of an executive order governing its handling of classified information.

…

I haven’t blogged for a while due to a massive amount of work, but I expect to blog more now that I’m caught up.

It seems like the white house is now in a quite a serious bind. President Bush has once again cited executive privilege and refuse to turn over documents subpoenaed by Congress. This time though, the head of the senate Judiciary Commitee, Senator Patrick Leahy, has suggested that he is willing to press criminal contempt charges against Bush.

Incidentally, there is also a bill floating around Congress to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. Why this bill has gotten absolutely no media coverage is beyond me.

Blacked Out by the Corporate Media, Impeachment Advances
by Dave Lindorff | Jul 1 2007 - 9:55am

The corporate media are disgracing themselves even further, if that is possible, on the impeachment story.

On Thursday, three more members of Congress signed on to Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s bill to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney (H Res 333), bringing the total number of co-sponsors of the bill to 10. That in itself would be national news, but there is more to it than simple numbers. The new sponsors include two freshman, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, who ran for office calling for impeachment, and Hank Johnson, who took over the seat of pro-impeachment Rep. Cynthia McKinney (McKinney filed her own bill of impeachment against President Bush in the waning days of the last Congress), but the group also includes Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA).

…

The White House is practically an insane asylum at this point, the better question is why hasn’t everyone been impeached yet. Apparently in Japan, the public is so outraged with a pension scandal that the prime minister was forced to give up his bonus and take responsibility for the blunder. If only we in the US could hold our own government to such high standards.

Japan PM Abe’s support rate stuck near danger zone

…

Abe, who faces his first major electoral test in a July 29 upper house poll, is trying to soothe voter outrage over mismanaged pension records, but the Nikkei said its survey showed he has failed to do so.

Disapproval of Abe’s cabinet stood at 52 percent, up 8 points from May, according to the telephone survey conducted from Friday to Sunday among 898 voters, the Nikkei said.

The government has come under fire after revelations that no proper record was kept of millions of pension premium payments, meaning some retirees could be short-changed.

Abe will return 2.34 million yen ($18,890) of his summer bonus of 5.36 million yen to take responsibility for the pensions issue, chief cabinet secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a news conference.

…

Now, for a random but interesting graph: