NO LAUGHING MATTER: Two Arizona State University professors are set to publish what they call the first “Encyclopedia of 20^th Century American Humor.” In the book’s preface, ASU English professors Alleen Pace Nilsen and Don L.F. Nilsen say they began incorporating satire, irony, jokes and puns into their grammar classes 25 years ago.

DOING BUSINESS ON THE WEB: Lured by the prospect of reaching out to the corporate world without spending a lot of money, four of the world’s top business schools have entered into a joint venture on the Internet. The University of Chicago teamed up with Columbia University, Stanford University and the London School of Economics and Political Science to offer an online business curriculum to corporate clients through UNext.com ((http://www.UNext.com/), a privately held Internet education company.

JUST SAYING NO: The percentage of students binge drinking may be lower than we think. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recently released the results of a Breathalyzer study it conducted on 1,800 students in fall of 1997. Based on the results of interviews and voluntary Breathalyzer tests, the study revealed that on the traditional party nights, Thursday through Saturday, an average of 66 percent of students had a 0.00 blood-alcohol level; on the other nights that average rose to 86 percent.

For links to the original articles summarized here, visit Peer Portfolio online via the University Week homepage at http://depts.washington.edu/uweek/.