Inside Higher Ed

Connotation update

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:53:45 GMT

G. Rendell

Sorry, Mark.

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:39:05 GMT

G. Rendell

Empty Chair No More

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Closely watched, lengthy search for a military historian at Wisconsin ends with a hire, perhaps suggesting the field is healthier than critics charge.

Dear Plagiarist

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

G. Thomas Couser explains to a student why excuses for academic dishonesty won't fly with him.

Testimony on Ward Churchill's Bid to Get Job Back

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Ward Churchill and the University of Colorado each had a chance Wednesday to debate before a state judge the question of whether Churchill should regain his teaching position at the university's Boulder campus. A jury in April found that the university illegally fired him, following accusations of research misconduct, but under Colorado law, the judge decides whether he gets to return to the Boulder faculty. The Daily Camera ran an account all day on the testimony. Emma Perez, chair of ethnic studies, said that the department wanted Churchill back and that students would flock to his courses. She said it was "ridiculous" to say that Churchill would tarnish the department's reputation. Phil DiStefano, chancellor of the campus, testified against Churchill's reinstatement, saying that it would be more difficult to enforce academic integrity rules for violations by students or faculty members with Churchill back on the faculty. A ruling is expected next week.

Non-Black College Joins Black College Athletic League

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Chowan University, in North Carolina, has become the first college that is not historically black to join the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the nation's oldest athletic league for historically black colleges. The move follows a year in which Chowan joined the conference for football only. Chowan is located near many of the conference's members, and shares values about the role of athletics in higher education, officials said.

Baptist University Disinvites Youth From Church Not Seen as Sufficiently Anti-Gay

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

The University of the Cumberlands, a Baptist university in Kentucky, has told a youth group from the Broadway Baptist Church, in Fort Worth, Texas, that it has revoked an invitation for the students to stay at the university while working to help the disadvantaged in Appalachia. The Associated Baptist Press reported that the move followed criticism of the church for not being sufficiently anti-gay, as evidenced by its admission that it has a few gay members and that they have served on search committees. The university declined to talk to the wire service about its decision. In 2006, the university expelled a student for being gay.

Go Ask Arne

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Penn State has long distanced itself from state control. But when the governor sought to withhold federal stimulus money, questioning its public status, the university asked the U.S. to step in.

All for Wearing a Hijab

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

After filing a racism complaint about a professor, a Georgia State student claims she was subjected to even more discrimination -- this time by the university.

Does NBC Still Think a Professor Is War Criminal?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Last December, NBC News producers approached officials at Goucher College, in Baltimore, asking serious questions about Leopold Munyakazi, a visiting French professor from Rwanda. The producers, accompanied by Rwandan prosecutors, claimed Munyakazi is wanted on charges that he was directly involved in the 1994 genocide in his home country and noted they were working together on a television “series about international war criminals who are living and working in the United States.” In response to the charges, Goucher suspended Munyakazi for the remainder of his time at the college -- without any evidence of wrongdoing. Many human rights officials and Munyakazi himself maintain his innocence, asserting that he is probably wanted because of controversial statements he has made about the 1994 conflict instead. The New York Observer reports that NBC is going ahead with the series on war criminals, entitled “The Wanted,” and it will debut July 20. An NBC press release notes the series will feature "an elite team with backgrounds in intelligence, unconventional warfare and investigative journalism" and that it will focus "on real operators, in search of real targets -- all in an effort to see individuals brought to justice." The press release makes no mention of Munyakazi in a list of suspects to be featured in the series. The Observer muses, “Presumably, NBC News is no longer working with Rwandan prosecutors to possibly arrest Mr. Munyakazi." An NBC spokeswoman did not return a request for comment about whether the series still had an interest in Munyakazi. Kristin Keener, Goucher spokeswoman, said NBC had not told the college if the series would run beyond the two episodes that have been publicly promoted, neither of which will supposedly investigate Munyakazi.

A Global Agenda

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Attendees at Unesco World Conference on Higher Education, the second such gathering, will discuss "new dynamics" and persistent challenges -- including expanding access and combating degree mills.

Sociology Turns Up Assessment

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

More and more departments in the discipline are using external exams to measure student learning, a new report says.

Senate Confirms Top Obama Education and Labor Aides

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Two high-ranking nominees in the Obama administration have been confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Martha J. Kanter, under secretary of education, and Jane Oates, assistant secretary of labor for employment and training, gained the Senate's stamp of approval on June 19, giving them formal authority to dive into their duties. Oates, a longtime aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, was most recently New Jersey's commissioner of higher education; Kanter, who was chancellor of California's Foothill-De Anza Community College District, was sworn in Wednesday morning.

Premature Publication

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

The leaders of some British universities found themselves sharing a little more information than expected when a journal published their views -- prior to the chance they had been promised to clear quotes and use of their names, The Times Higher reported. The journal Higher Education Quarterly has since removed the article from its Web site, but not before the Times Higher saved a copy. The newspaper quoted one vice chancellor as fearful of "the faintest hint of revolution." Further, this vice chancellor said: "We all know that education is a commodity that can be bought and sold, often at a very high price.... So universities are busy doing that - charging students a large amount of money to study in England because it is a popular destination. Branding and marketing take the front seat, and education is in the back."

The Problems of Scholarship, Solved

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:28:35 GMT

Oronte

Staff Teaching

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:50:29 GMT

Dean Dad

Motherhood After Tenure: Finding Focus, Letting Things Go

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:46:51 GMT

Aeron Haynie

Connotation and quality

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:31:31 GMT

G. Rendell

Supreme Court Punts

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Justices opt -- for now -- not to resolve dispute over right of public universities to bar anti-gay bias and right of Christian groups to be recognized as student organizations.

Return of the Mark of Zotero

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

New digital tools help you manage your research files. Scott McLemee gazes into "the cloud."

Don't Stare at Blank Screen

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Peg Boyle Single introduces a new column for doctoral students.

Colleges, Granted Flexibility, Increase Endowment Payouts

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Colleges in most states have, since a national change made in 2006, been granted the authority to spend endowment money from individual funds whose value has fallen below what it was when originally made. A new survey suggests that institutions have taken advantage of that additional flexibility. The study, by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, and the Commonfund Institute, finds that as of the end of 2008, 38 percent of survey participants' total endowment funds were "underwater," or now valued below the value of the original gift. While colleges previously were barred from spending an endowment fund to a level below the value of the original gift, the 2006 change -- the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, which has been adopted in 38 states -- allows colleges to do so. Since the change, the survey found, 11.3 percent fewer colleges and universities have ceased discontinuing all distributions from "underwater" funds, and more are finding ways to use the money to support their institutions.

Colleges Make It More Expensive to Pay With Credit Cards

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Colleges are making it more expensive for families to pay tuition bills with credit cards. USA Today reported that a growing number of colleges are adding fees to such payments, to offset the fees colleges must pay the credit card companies. Among the colleges that have adopted or are starting fees, the newspaper said: George Mason, Northwestern, and Wichita State Universities, and the Universities of Southern Maine and Virginia.

NCAA Panel Backs Alabama State's Appeal, Rejects Former Indiana Coach's

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

The National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I Committee on Infractions erred when it imposed a five-year probation on Alabama State University in December for violations in its football program, the NCAA announced Tuesday. The association said that its Infraction Appeals Committee had found that the Division I panel abused its discretion by incorrectly asserting that Alabama State officials had dilly-dallied for more than two years in trying to bring the case to conclusion. In a rare rebuke to the infractions panel, the appeals committee reduced the probation to three years. In a related development, the appeals committee upheld penalties imposed last year on Kelvin Sampson, the former men's basketball coach at Indiana University.

Consortiums, Collaboration, Centralization ... Conflict?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

At business officers' meeting, economic pressure prompts more talk of cooperative arrangements among colleges -- with caveats about when they work and when they don't.

Assessing Accountability

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Most states have room for improvement when it comes to evaluating the performance of colleges and notifying the public of results, a new study finds.

Double Standard at Emory?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

University has been accused of looking the other way at professors with conflicts of interest with pharmaceuticals. But it told a professor who criticized the industry to stop using university ID on his blog.

A Deal to Revive Antioch

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Path-breaking liberal arts college, shut down by university, will gain full independence with a plan to enroll students again in 2 years.

5,500 Pound Slab of Fudge

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Lansing Community College appears to have set a new world record for the largest slab of fudge. The Lansing State Journal reported that the 5,500 pound slab created there beat the old record of 5,050 pounds. The Lansing fudge required 705 pounds of butter, 2,800 pounds of chocolate, and 305 gallons of sweetened, condensed milk. The fudge will now be sold, to benefit local charities, at $10 a pound.

Strong Basis in Confusion

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:36:32 GMT

Dean Dad