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Tri-Valley University, located in Pleasanton, California, was recently shut down by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to investigate fraud allegations against its founder, Susan Su. Federal prosecutors suspect the university is serving as a front, providing illegal immigration status to foreign nationals. As a part of the investigation, many students are being forced to wear GPS tracking devices around their ankles.

The illegal immigration status is believed to have been granted to some of the student population from India. Indian students make up over 90 percent of Tri-Valley University’s students, although many of those students attend classes online. Not only is Ms. Su being accused of defrauding these students, the ICE has also filed a motion to forfeit her property because she is accused of purchasing real estate with student tuition.

The Indian media is very upset about the ICE’s decision to force the Indian students to wear GPS tracking devices. They have gone as far as to demand action against US authorities who ordered the tracking. Forcing students to wear tracking devices is a violation of privacy and was called, “inhuman” by S M Krishna, Indian external affairs minister.

US officials have responded to accusations of injustice by stressing that the GPS tracking devices are used all over the country in a variety of investigations. P J Crowley, State Department spokesman, explains, “Those who are involved in this investigation have been issued GPS tracking ankle monitors. This is widespread across the United States and standard procedure for a variety of investigations. It does not necessarily imply guilt or suspicion of criminal activity.”

These words offer little comfort to students, not only forced to wear ankle monitors, but whose university was shut down due to fraud charges. Students who are affected by the university closure are encouraged to contact the helpline available. The helpline was set up for these students by the ICE, according to P J Crowley.

Article Written by Marisa O’Connor

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At Winthrop University, South Carolina, bike theft has been on the rise for quite some time. This is partly to do with the fact that it is a University town, and partly to do with the struggling economy; bike theft has been on the rise over the past three years nationwide. Often, bike thieves simply dismantle the bikes they steal and sell individual parts, as this can provide them with greater “profit” margins.

The theft at Winthrop University was becoming unbearable to students, as many students enjoy riding their bikes across campus. Therefore, Winthrop University campus police have begun to catch thieves with GPS tracking devices.

Here’s how it works:

• Police place bait bicycles across campus. These bicycles are mixed in amongst students’ bikes, and are equipped with GPS tracking technology.
• Once the bait bikes are stolen, their movements are tracked by police.
• Police find the thief of the bait bike using GPS tracking information.

So far, every theif caught by the program so far has been an adult — a fact that is surprising to Winthrop Police Chief Frank Zebedis.

The program, which has cost less than $1,500.00, has been judged a “low-cost success” by Zebedis. He believes that the program will be preventative, as it increases the element of risk for thieves stealing bikes on campus. In addition, the Winthrop, South Carolina GPS security program educates students on how to protect themselves and their properties.

For these two benefits, $1,500.00 is a small price to pay.

Article Written by Greg Minton

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By Greg Bartlett

Several colleges, including Harvard, MIT, and Tufts University, are adding GPS vehicle tracking to their campus shuttles so that students can make better use of their time and still catch the buses to get from one side of campus to another.

Students waiting for the bus

In all of these cases, the buses are supposed to run on some sort of schedule. Yet, students often end up waiting an extended period of time for a bus to arrive for pickup and drop off at another area. Extended wait times often lead to overcrowding on some shuttle buses and not enough passengers to justify the running of others.

If students are able to look at a web site and learn where the shuttle buses are located at any given time, along with the average speed of travel, the students can time their leaving of their dorm rooms to coincide with them arriving at the shuttle stop as or just before the bus arrives. This can provide students with a few extra minutes of study time that they would not have if waiting at a crowded bus stop for the next shuttle.

Transportation problems have been one of the foremost difficulties faced by college students, especially those attending larger universities for many years. In many cases, where a candidate for student government stood on the issue of GPS vehicle tracking to improve the transportation has been the deciding factor that won or lost the election.

Tufts was one of the first to install GPS vehicle tracking device on their campus transportation buses. Other universities are looking at the system they have in place and modeling their own systems based on this one because it has been shown to work. Students are not showing up late for class and blaming it on the shuttle system nearly as often, because anyone can check the location of shuttles and arrange to meet the last one that will ensure timely arrival at the building where the class is located. There are really no excuses for tardiness based on the transportation system at these universities anymore.

Other colleges and universities that operate shuttle buses to carry students from one part of campus to another could do well looking at the models established by these universities for GPS vehicle tracking of these buses. Steady improvements in the transport system can lead to steady improvements in student grades and attendance records throughout the campus.

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