Newton
Newton is the place to go for an education in the Southern Republic.
Four major universities can be found within the city’s limits. Sir Isaac Newton University (Sin U.) is a huge sprawling complex with a poor academic reputation, but an otherwise excellent social life. The newly established Republican University at Newton (RUN) is known to provide its students with a good, but uninspired, curriculum. Rajnapurtha College is a 60-cycle old, small, liberal arts school with an outstanding performing arts program. Garamond University is a mid-sized private school that caters to the Republic’s wealthy elite. Its legal, medical and business schools all provide exceptional training for the future rulers of the South.
Newton is a nexus for student activism. The city’s law enforcement authorities are extremely lenient with student activists for many reasons, not the least of which is that a significant fraction of the protesters are rich brats from Garamond. The present sheriff is known to find the student protests amusing and is rumored to have a pin-up board with the “causes of the week” written on little scraps of paper.
Newton is dominated by the student counter-culture to the point that the real underground culture in the city is normal Republican culture. Cafés, shock music clubs and bookshops form the bulk of the small businesses in the city. Other than student-related enterprises, the most important industry in Newton is publishing. About half of the Southern Republic’s publishing houses are located here.
Everything from bigoted Republican cultural superiority propaganda to best-selling romance novels eminate from Newton. Unfortunately, not all of Newton’s student activities are peaceful. The most common source of conflict is foreign student policy. Each of the four universities has a different policy regarding foreign students. Sir Isaac Newton University has an open door policy. RUN will accept any citizen of the AST. Rajnapurtha will accept Republican and Mekong citizens, middle or upper class Emirates citizens and preceptor-caste citizens of the Humanist Alliance. Garamond will only accept “well-bred” SR citizens.
Student riots over civil liberties are very common, with students from the more liberal schools quarreling with students from the more conservative institutions. Due to the huge numbers of people involved, Newton’s police prefer to contain rather than break up these disputes. If significant property damage occurs, the police will normally enter the fray with riot gear and tear gas.