For three freshmen, a service-learning project did not just end with a grade for class; it spurred the creation of an on-campus AIDS awareness organization.Freshmen Ellen Munsterman, Susan Harz and Ellie Neuhaus brought the AIDS Outreach Center on campus to coordinate free HIV testing last semester as part of a class project.

The event was more successful than they expected, said Munsterman, a nursing major, as they had to turn people away due to the lack of supplies.

After a relaxing Spring Break in Bermuda, you're ready to hop back on the plane before school starts again. Just one problem ... you can't board the plane.Due to a new travel regulation, people re-entering the United States by air are required to present proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a passport.

To help students, faculty and staff prepare for this change, Mailing Services and the Brown-Lupton Student Center are hosting a passport fair Feb. 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Student Center Lounge, said Glen Hulme, post office manager.

In an effort to increase funding for the Texas Tuition Exchange Grant, 11 students spent the past two days lobbying at the state Capitol in Austin.The TEG gives money to private institutions to use for student financial aid and scholarships.

According to a 2007 report from the Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas, there are 40 independent - nonprofit and tax-exempt - colleges and universities in the state. These institutions award more than 22 percent of all bachelor's degrees in Texas.

Valentine's Day is upon us. It's a day for love and chocolates, flowers and romance, teddy bears, hearts and jewelry.It's also a day for mass marketing and consumerism.

Each year, around Feb. 14, people desperately scramble to pick out the perfect present for the one they adore. According to Hallmark research, more than 180 million cards are exchanged for Valentine's Day (second only to Christmas when about 20 billion cards are exchanged).

Eleanor Roosevelt said absence makes the heart grow fonder, and college students in long-distance relationships hope she was right. According to research conducted at Ohio State University, about 75 percent of students have been, are, or will be in a long-distance relationship at some point in their college career, said Laura Stafford, associate professor at OSU and author of the book "Maintaining Long-Distance and Cross-Residential Relationships."

A communication plan is now in place in case of an outbreak of an airborne virus or disease. Campus Life has implemented a pandemic plan that includes ways of trafficking information to the public with extra phone lines and Web sites.

Laura Crawley, assistant dean of campus life and health promotion, said the university is trying to be proactive by coordinating plans for an outbreak on campus.

She said a pandemic could be the avian flu or even something the public doesn't know about yet.

Every year, one day comes around where candy, flowers, cards and gifts are exchanged in the name of love. It is the inevitable Valentine's Day. There is some skepticism about how Valentine's Day came to be or why we celebrate it.

In one legend, St. Valentine wrote a letter to a girl he liked during his confinement in prison expressing his love for her before he was sentenced to death, according to history.com. After his death, Feb. 14 became a day for lovers to celebrate their love for one another.

Ah, Valentine's Day. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and sweethearts walk hand-in-hand down the sidewalk whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears. Flowers, candies, dates and greeting cards. Love is in the air.However, for the single people (myself included), Valentine's Day arouses a much different, less euphoric set of emotions.

Loneliness. Despair. Jealousy. Sound familiar? Maybe these feelings rise as the couple at the table across share a romantic kiss. I know, I despise them as well.

To comply with an NCAA rule, the Diamond Darlings, a group that supports the baseball team, has moved from an arm of the athletic department to a part of the marketing department in its fifth year of operation.Associate Athletic Director for NCAA Compliance Andrea Nordmann said the rule that facilitated the move from athletics to marketing pertained to an October 2004 regulation regarding "student hosts" for perspective student athletes, although Diamond Darlings President Carey Ellison, a junior movement science major, said the group has never been involved in any recruiting activities.