UO E-clips, Jan. 6

Students to choose highest SAT scores (Daily Emerald): Students who enter college in 2010 or later will be allowed to choose which of their SAT scores universities see and don't see, thanks to a new rule taking effect in March. The College Board has developed a service called Score Choice, which allows students who have taken the test multiple times to hide poor scores. … Brian Henley, director of admissions at the University, said, "From our standpoint we only use the highest score, anyway. I don't see Score Choice as a particular issue." Because the University ignores a student's lower scores, Henley said, it doesn't matter whether the University sees them or not.

Diamond dust shows comets hit 12,900 years ago: study (AFP and National Geographic): Soil rich in diamond dust discovered across North America reinforces a theory that falling meteors caused the extinction of mammoths and other animals, said a study in the journal Science. "These discoveries provide strong evidence for a cosmic impact event at approximately 12,900 years ago that would have had enormous environmental consequences for plants, animals and humans across North America," said Douglas Kennett of the University of Oregon, who led the research.

Race: A Product of Environment (New University, University of California, Irvine): A recently released study by Andrew Penner, UC Irvine assistant sociology professor, and Alya Saperstein, sociologist from the University of Oregon, finds that racial divisions are not fixed at birth via biological differences. Rather, the study shows that races are created through social processes and are subject to economic and political calculation. Published in the Dec. 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), the study, entitled “How Social Status Shapes Race,” is a 19-year study of 12,686 individuals.

UO gives Theta Chi fraternity the boot (KVAL.com): Nearly 30 members of Theta Chi were forced to move out of their house over the weekend after the University of Oregon said it would no longer recognize the organization. The Greek leadership advisor Amy Long says the university no longer recognizes the organization because they broke too many conduct rules. She says most of the violations were because of alcohol. "We do have standards for our organizations and we will not tolerate this sort of behavior from any organization when we see it is doing detriment and harm to members of that organization and the rest of the community," Long said. A UO spokeswoman says the fraternity was on an extended probation period. Theta Chi has a long relationship with the university, and Long says they will try to work with alumni to have them return successfully in the future.