Harvard's sex magazine, H Bomb, is … uh … coming soon, and the staff threw a naked party in New York, according to the Crimson. And they had quite a turnout: The naked party in New York attracted 40 to 50 students and alumni from Harvard and other schools, people there said. Photographs from the party will be featured in the February issue. The photographer, Spencer Tunick, is known for his massive installations of naked......

In October, Boston University threw down the gauntlet and declared plans to expand. Now, Boston College is one-upping BU with expansion plans of its own. BC's expansion plan rivals that of BU. BU said it would put in $1.8 billion, and BC has announced that it will spend $1.6 billion. The BC Heights reports that the money will go to construction and renovation, and 100 new faculty members will be hired. The rest will go......

--The Legislature is going to consider banning spanking tomorrow. That's spanking of children, not "please, sir, may I have another" frat-spanking or whatever role-playing you do with your significant other. [WCVB] --A man's SUV became stuck on train tracks in Beverly last night just as a commuter train was heading toward him. He escaped in the nick of time. His SUV got creamed. [Photo-WCVB] --The Roman Catholic Archdiocese plans to close at least two schools......

--A former MBTA employee is in trouble for allegedly selling fake discount passes. Casey Ross reports that Giovanni Francis, 19, was selling discount passes for the elderly and blind to people who a) weren't old and b) could see just fine. T police caught them trying to sneak through on those passes, and video of the fake blind people is available on WCVB's site. Francis used to be a sales associate for the T. He......

After Harvard officials attempted to crack down on "party grants" that were funding booze, the school and the Undergraduate Council reached a compromise. The UC will still be able to give out party grants, but the money can't go toward alcohol. Victoria Kabak at the Crimson reported yesterday that "The money may now instead cover the costs of other party-related expenses." The agreement will last until the end of the semester. And the Harvard students......

The Sustainable Endowments Institute, which is based in Cambridge, has published its second annual College Sustainability Report Card. The Institute issues grades for schools in several green-friendly fields: Administration, Climate Change & Energy, Food & Recycling, Green Building, Transportation, Endowment Transparency, Investment Priorities, and Shareholder Engagement. The endowment and investment fields are crucial to the report because they indicate whether or not a school is putting its money where its mouth is and investing in......

While most colleges live and die by US News & World Report, the Washington Monthly is offering competition with what's really important--how much the students help the community when they get their diplomas. Here are the three criteria from the Monthly: The first is social mobility: does the school do a good job recruiting and graduating poorer students? The second is research: is the school supporting the scientific and humanistic study that is key to......

The local college news has been depressing. One Globe editorial in particular sent Bostonist into a funk. While brainiacs with ordinary parents get denied at Harvard, the dumb but well-connected just waltz their way in, proving that the college admissions process is a skunky business. But Tufts offered a ray of light this week with the announcement that it will help students pay off their college loans if they take a job in public service.......

Bostonist heard word from Lena Chen over at Sex and the Ivy that the party was over at Harvard - literally. The Crimson soon followed up with the announcement that Harvard was cutting students off from the "Party Grant Program." For those of you who didn't attend schools with "party grants," the Harvard Undergraduate Council used to get "thousands of dollars every week"--the Crimson's estimate--for parties. No wonder Harvard is bummed--thousands of dollars every week......

Revenge of the Book Eaters will take place on Wednesday, September 26th, at the Berklee Performance Center. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. For ticket info, visit 826 Boston's website. This fall, the latest branch of 826 National, the series of fantasy stores/writing centers created by author Dave Eggers and Nínive Calegari, will open in Egleston Square. Students will be able to explore the wonders of cryptozoology at the Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute, and then......

Not only is Harvard rich, but its students know a) how to use condoms and b) how to find the campus student health center. Last Friday, the Crimson shared the news that, according to a study by Trojan condoms, Harvard students were models of sexual health. Author Christian Flow captures the excitement with the headline "Trojan Surprise: Harvard Rises Up in Sex Survey." Then Flow writes that Harvard used to be "frustrated" since it wasn't......

Gordon College, a Christian nondenominational liberal arts college in Wenham, received a massive influx of cash - $60 million dollars. That's nothin' compared to the bills that line Harvard's pockets, but, proportionally, this gift is a blessing, so to speak, for a school with an endowment of $33 million. Dale E. and Sarah Ann Fowler made the donation, and the campus will be named in their honor. In a phone interview with the Gloucester Daily......

A hot-pink color scheme. A dead ringer for Kate Bosworth on the cover. A first chapter that opens with lyrics from Loverboy's "Workin' for the Weekend." No kidding. Restless Virgins, a book on the Milton Academy sex scandal, just screams, "Bourgeois sex! Bourgeois sex! Yippee skippy!" The sex scandal in question didn't involve teachers (Exhibit A: Arlington's school system) but a 2005 incident in which one girl was - ahem - orally satisfying the sexual......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

It's college-ranking time. Of course, these rankings are about as scientific as a game of pin the tail on the donkey, but schools have a lot of fun learning about how other campuses see them. For example, the University of New Hampshire was named one of the top party schools. UNH is no West Virginia University, which appears to have abandoned the pretense of higher education altogether, but UNH was number seven on the party-hearty......

Forget the sharpened pencils, the fresh pink erasers, and the latest and greatest calculator. The kiddies are preparing for school in a whole new way – with bulletproof backpacks. The Herald ran a story about two safety-conscious daddies from Danvers who invented a bulletproof backpack. The backpack is for sale online, and Mike Pelonzi, one of the dads, told the Herald today that "The response has been phenomenal." How does it work? The backpack includes......

Governor Deval Patrick has signed off on a "tax holiday" that will encourage people to go shopping and juice the local economy. If you don't feel like paying the state's 5 percent sales tax, then you can drop your bucks on whatever you like as long as it doesn’t go over $2,500 on the weekend of August 11 and 12. Massachusetts has done this in the past because maybe the schools, the transportation, and......

--Neighbors and family in Weymouth are still stunned by the murder of Joanna Mullin, allegedly by her own allegedly drug-addicted, not-allegedly spitting cousin. The judge who dealt with Ryan Bois called him an "animal" before sending him for a psychiatric evaluation. Norfolk DA Robert Nelson is arguing that Bois was fully aware of what he was doing when he attacked his cousin and took her body out of the house. --It turns out that, while......

--Now that will get your attention for sure! Some prankster hacked into a flashing electronic road sign and changed it to read "PENIS FOR LUNCH" instead of "ROAD CONSTRUCTION AHEAD" on Route 1. Please don't arrest this person. This person is funny. Apparently a lot of other people thought so, too, since the authorities didn't find out until later yesterday afternoon. One transportation rep said, "Some people might see it as a joke, but this......

--Forbes announced that former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney placed fourth in their "creepiest candidate" poll. We can understand why – and it has nothing to do with Mormonism or big sticks. It's simply the fact that the man has not aged for several decades. Of course he's creepy – he's hiding a portrait in the attic! --Romney's new "crazy eyes" ad certainly won't help him get off the creepy list. Earlier in......

The Boston wing of the FBI met with leaders of local schools because they think spies might try to steal research. The Herald writes, "Boston FBI Special Agent in Charge Warren Bamford recently met with officials at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, among other schools, to train academics on what sort of research could be used by terrorists." The FBI wants academics to watch their laptops and note any overenthusiastic......

MIT Professor James Sherley ended his 12 day hunger strike in mid-February, hoping that the attention he'd gained in the effort would bring some resolution to his quest to expose and eliminate systemic racism at the university. His faculty appointment ends on June 30 (the end of the fiscal year) and he's said that even though he doesn't have tenure he doesn't have any plans to leave. It's a different story for Frank Douglas, executive......

It's official - Brookline will purge trans fats, which increase bad cholesterol, from all foods made within its restaurants and schools. Per the ban, restaurants must "stop using trans fats for frying by Nov. 30, 2008, and to end their use in baked goods by April 30, 2009." The ban proposal enjoyed overwhelming approval, and, since more and more food products are phasing out trans fats, these bans don't seem that ridiculous after all. "Trans......

Last week UMass-Amherst faculty and librarians got together and took a vote. 214 stood, one remained sitting. The resounding message was that the faculty of the flagship campus in the university system was none too pleased with the recently released plan by system president Jack Wilson. The hometown team, UMass-Boston faculty, had scheduled their at bat against Wilson and the Trustees for today – but that vote has been postponed. The Globe reports that after......

No games last night of local interest. So let's take a spin around the country to see what's going on in the rest of the sporting world. We'll start in Arlington, Texas, where the Red Sox are about to begin a three-game set with the Rangers. Daisuke Matsuzaka goes tonight against Brandon McCarthy. Big D is still buzzing about this week's announcement that the Cowboys and their new stadium will host Super Bowl XLV in......

"Get to Know Us By Filling in the __ : An Evening of Literary & Musical Entertainment" will be from 6 to 9 pm tonight, May 23, at 647 Boylston Street. Clear your calendars because 826 Boston, the soon-to-be-opened Massachusetts division of the writing school that started in San Francisco, is holding its inaugural fundraiser. "Get to Know Us By Filling in the __ : An Evening of Literary & Musical Entertainment" promises to get......

Text messages aren't just our favorite way to vote Sanjaya off of American Idol, they're also the quickest way to get in touch, no matter where we are. The mobile is always close at hand (and usually in the pocket) if we're at a concert, in class, or even in the cube toiling away on our TPS reports a text message won't likely go ignored for long. A number of US colleges and universities have......

As expected, local universities are evaluating their own security response mechanisms in the hopes of avoiding a rampage similar to what happened at Virginia Tech. Boston police didn't wait around - they held a meeting with representatives from local universities one day after the shootings. (Look on the bright side of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force embarrassment - we already know that the BPD and local law enforcement are fast.) WHDH reports, "The group focused......

--An alleged Bad Seed brought out the "Never a Good Idea" line from the BPD, and this time they wrote, "Disrespecting Mother Never a Good Idea." On Thursday in Roxbury, a 13-year-old suffered a case of hormones from hell. She was, according to the report, "swearing and throwing objects" at her own mother, and she kept on with that behavior when the police arrived at the scene. (The 13-year-old is allegedly not the sharpest tool......

Who cares about any other sport? It's Red Sox Opening Day! They will be up against the Kansas City Royals late this afternoon at 4:10 pm. It will be on NESN and ESPN and on WRKO and WEEI if you're catching it on the way home. Here's the lineup from the official site: 1. Julio Lugo, SS 2. Kevin Youklis, 1B 3. David Ortiz, DH 4. Manny Ramirez, LF 5. J.D. Drew, RF 6. Mike......