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Trinity College Dublin, one of Ireland’s most prestigious universities, has announced that it will phase out use of the term “Freshman” in favor of the more gender-neutral “Fresh.” Currently, first and second year students at Trinity are referred to as “junior freshmen” and “senior freshmen.” The school’s Vice-Provost Chris Morash and Student Union President Kevin Keane shared the news in a mass email sent on Tuesday. They noted that the change stems from a proposal from Trinity’s Equality Committee that “the title given to first and second year undergraduates students be changed from ‘Freshman’ to the gender-neutral term ‘Fresh.’” […]...

The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill has removed the word “freshman” from official university documents, citing as their reason an attempt to adopt more “gender inclusive language.” We are “committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our community,” reads a statement administrators sent to Campus Reform on Wednesday.

This week the Club for Growth released a study of votes cast in 2011 by the 87 Republicans elected to the House in November 2010. The Club found that “In many cases, the rhetoric of the so-called “Tea Party” freshmen simply didn’t match their records.” Particularly disconcerting is the fact that so many GOP newcomers cast votes against spending cuts. The study comes on the heels of three telling votes taken last week in the House that should have been slam-dunks for members who possess the slightest regard for limited government and free markets. Alas, only 26 of the 87...

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner did little to convince freshman GOP lawmakers of the newfound urgency of raising the debt ceiling on Thursday. House freshman lawmakers who attended the late day bicameral closed-door meeting said that Geithner’s refusal to present a “scorable” plan that would reduce the deficit in exchange for a must-pass debt limit increase, left many feeling frustrated. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), who sat through most of the hour-long meeting, told The Hill that Geithner said “absolutely nothing” to convince him of the urgent need to increase the current $14.3 trillion limit by the August 2 deadline. If Congress...

Freshman Republican: Obama’s timing on Libya ‘intentional’By Russell Berman - 03/25/11 04:22 PM ET The head of the House Republican freshman class is accusing President Obama of intentionally waiting until Congress adjourned to deploy U.S. military forces to Libya without its consent. “Why did he wait until the day after we adjourned Congress [to launch military strikes]?” Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.), the president of the 87-member GOP freshman class, said in a phone interview on Friday. “I believe that timing was intentional by the president.” Congress adjourned for a scheduled recess on March 17, hours before the United Nations Security...

Members of an African American Student Union were left open-mouthed and outraged after a white, freshman was hired for a top job within the group. Torey McCleskey, a first year student at University of North Florida, was handed the coveted assistant director role, after a unanimous decision from the institution's Senate. However AASU members argue that Mr McCleskey, an athletic training and sports medicine student, has never actually set foot in the AASU's office.

Even though barrels of ink have been affectionately spilled about all of those House members sleeping in their Capitol offices in order to save money, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is none too happy about the trend. CREW has asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to look into whether the office sleepovers violate tax laws by not being reported as a taxable fringe benefit. “House office buildings are not dorms or frat houses,” said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan. “If members didn’t want to find housing in Washington, they shouldn’t have run for Congress in the first place.”...

Republicans have a choice. Are we going to be the party of political expediency or are we going to be the party driven by principle? Many have argued that if Republicans pacify the Democrats and their liberal ways, Independents will naturally flow to the Republican side of the aisle. This was in part the John McCain strategy. It failed because it demonstrated that the party was rudderless on principle and had nothing unique to offer voters. Sen. McCain’s effort to join Barack Obama in supporting the $700 billion bailout further demonstrated to America and the Republican base that there was...

Three IU football players were named in a probable cause affidavit stemming from a robbery Dec. 17, resulting in IU freshman cornerback Cortez Smith's arrest. Freshmen IU football players Dennis Zeigler, Darius Johnson and Jarrell Drane were all named in the probable cause affidavit filed Dec. 19. According to the probable cause affidavit, Smith and the other suspect, Lazell C. McClellon, knocked on the victims' house and stole IDs, wallets, an iPod, marijuana and an Xbox game system.

MONACA, Pa.— As Rep. Jason Altmire walked into the Beaver County Sportsmens Conservation League Awards Dinner at the Monaca Turners lodge, he was pretty sure that between the handshakes and the backslaps someone might ask him about immigration. “I hear about it everywhere I go,” the freshman Democrat said of his talks with constituents in western Pennsylvania’s 4th District. “People want to see Congress move a bill.” Across the state, fellow Democratic freshman Christopher Carney faces similar concerns from his constituents in the 10th District. “People say, ‘We don’t want any kind of amnesty,’ ” Carney said. “People want us...

AUBURN, Ala. — An Auburn University student was murdered Tuesday night near campus. The victim, identified by Auburn police as 18-year-old Lauren A. Burk of Marietta, Ga., was shot to death. She was a freshman pledge with the school's Delta Gamma sorority, sources told FOX News.

Sen. Barack Obama said President Bush should admit mistakes in waging the Iraq war and reduce the number of troops stationed there in the next year. "Straight answers to critical questions. That's what we don't have right now," the high-profile freshman senator told the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. "Members of both parties and the American people have now made clear that it is simply not enough for the president to simply say 'We know best' and 'Stay the course.' " As other Democrats are finding their voice against Iraq policy, Obama took an approach closer to one taken by...