Enrollment at Norfolk State University has dropped 10%, the Virginian Pilot breathlessly reports. Why? They were asked to actually pay their tuition.

Last month, the university ejected nearly 500 students who had either not paid last year’s bills or had failed to make arrangements to pay tuition this fall.

So, who's fault is that? Implicitly, according to the political scientists, it's President Bush's:

Rudolph Wilson, the chairman of the political science department, said the problem is not Norfolk State’s policies, but the economy.

“Surely, the disadvantage of having students unable to attend classes because of their inability to pay tuition is a reflection of the general status of poverty in society,” he said.

A thorough reading of the article, however, notes some problems at NSU are not economically related.

He also pointed to bad publicity in the past year, principally the killing of a nonstudent by another nonstudent outside the student center last November.

Nothing like a little on-campus murder to dampen student spirit.