Inside Higher Ed

Sociologists Get Religion

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

In significant shift over time, issues related to faith get more play in top journals, more scholars make religious issues central to their work, and more are getting outside funds.

J.D. Salinger: An Un-Appreciation

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

By rejecting anthologies and rebuffing biographers, a great author limited his future readership, writes Leonard Cassuto.

12 Arrested at Irvine for Disrupting Israeli Ambassador's Talk

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Authorities arrested 12 people Monday at the University of California at Irvine for repeatedly disrupting a lecture by Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, The Orange County Register reported. Oren was interrupted 10 times by shouting from the audience, at one point taking a break and asking the audience for hospitality. Michael Drake, chancellor at Irvine, told the audience he was embarrassed -- and he was booed by many and applauded by others, the Register said. The newspaper reported that the university's Muslim Student Union sent an e-mail earlier Monday to members, urging them to "condemn and oppose" Oren's visit. The Associated Press reported that those arrested included nine Irvine students and two students from the University of California at Riverside.

Instructor Accused of Pro-Religion, Anti-Gay Bias

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a complaint with Fresno City College, charging that a health instructor is giving religious instruction with an anti-gay bias, in violation of the separation of church and state, the Associated Press reported. The instructor could not be reached for comment and the college says only that it is investigating. The ACLU's letter says that the instructor, Bradley Lopez, regularly uses the Bible as a text on health issues, called homosexuality an illness for which recommended treatments include counseling and hormones, cited the Bible to explain why abortion should be viewed as murder, and told students that abortion is the leading cause of death in the United States.

Dartmouth Drops 'No Loans'

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Shift, a week after similar move by Williams, suggests more institutions will restore borrowing to students' aid packages.

Inadequate Information Seen on College Choices

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Many prospective students and their families lack the information they need to make informed choices about colleges, according to a report being issued today, "Planning for College: A Consumer Approach to the Higher Education Marketplace." The report examines the kinds of decisions families make and the information they need. The report notes that there are 118 different "529" plans, which promote saving for colleges by offering tax advantages to families, and that many do not know how to compare the plans; that information about the actual prices families pay (as opposed to sticker price) remains hard to figure out; and that there is relatively little information about such factors as price based on student-faculty ratios or graduation rates. The report was produced by MassINC, a think tank in Massachusetts.

Win for Women Who Wrestled

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Federal appeals court sides sweepingly with female former athletes who sued U. of California-Davis.

Georgia Fires Official Accused of File-Sharing Shakedown

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

The University of Georgia has fired an employee whose job was to monitor and report students and faculty members who violate university policy to illegally download copyrighted material. The Athens Banner-Herald reported that the official has been charged with extortion for telling a student he caught downloading that he would not report her in return for cash.

Anything But Studying

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Survey of U. of California students shows emphasis on socializing, leisure that may change with recession.

California Community Colleges and Kaplan Collaborate

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Kaplan University and the California Community Colleges system have entered into an arrangement that will allow students at the two-year institutions to take individual online courses through Kaplan at a steep discount to help them finish their associate degrees. Under the deal, which is designed in part to help students at the two-year colleges deal with reduced course availability because of budget cuts, Kaplan will offer individual courses at a 42 percent discount from what they would normally cost as part of a degree program. Students will receive textbooks and other instructional materials at no charge.

Commencement Speakers Announced: Beloit, Harvard, Ohio Wesleyan, St. Joseph

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Canada's First Nations U. Is Likely to Close

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

First Nations University is likely to close next month, now that Canada's government has followed the provincial government in Saskatchewan in withdrawing funds, The Globe and Mail reported. The university was once "considered a beacon for aboriginal education worldwide," the newspaper reported, but it has faced a series of financial and management scandals.

Thoughts on Louis Menand's 'A Marketplace of Ideas'

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:46:41 GMT

Dean Dad

Mothering at Mid-Career: Balance

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:07:47 GMT

Libby Gruner

Daemon and Freedom: Reading with IT

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:57:04 GMT

Joshua Kim

Watch more commercials

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:57:57 GMT

G. Rendell

Principles for 'One Faculty'

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Coalition of academic groups issues standards for how colleges should treat those off the tenure track. AAUP declines to join statement.

It's More Than High Jinks

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

A recent report on a break-in at a senator's office by student activists raises questions about the state of political discourse both on campus and off, writes Nancy Thomas.

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Think you can reform your institution before earning tenure? Think again, suggests Kerry Ann Rockquemore.

Decline in College Art Positions

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

The College Art Association is the latest academic association to report significant declines in available faculty jobs. The association's career center (which doesn't have all art faculty jobs, but which is a good tool for measuring the job market) listed 1,263 positions in the 2009 fiscal year, a decline of 28 percent from the year before. Studio art positions declined by 31 percent and art history positions by 14 percent -- with the first six months of the 2010 fiscal year showing further shrinkage of the academic job market.

Finances First

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Amid complaints that faculty and others were excluded from search for new president -- an accountant with no advanced degree -- trustees at private college say fiscal concerns trumped all.

Using Spanish to Court Latino Students

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Eastern colleges seeking to increase their Latino enrollments are starting to add admissions materials and programs in Spanish, the Associated Press reported. Bryn Mawr College started a Spanish version of its Web site. And the University of Pennsylvania is conducting some college admissions sessions in Spanish. Officials said that these efforts are in large part about reaching the families of prospective students, who play an important part in students' college decisions.

Frenemies of Facebook -- II

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

A new viral marketing campaign rubs some college officials the wrong way.

Blizzard Disrupts a Meeting and Prompts Snowball Fights

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Whether the great blizzard of 2010 was a fun adventure, a distracting annoyance or some of each all depends on where in mid-Atlantic higher education you sit.

For the Association of Community College Trustees, the timing could not have been worse. Its National Legislative Summit was scheduled to start today in Washington, with many attendees scheduled to arrive over the weekend on flights that never took off. For much of the weekend, the ACCT tried to encourage attendance, even posting photos on its Web site of association leaders shoveling snow outside the meeting hotel. But late Sunday, the association called off plans to meet this week and said it would try to reschedule for March. A majority of attendees would be unable to make it to Washington this week. Further, the announcement noted, a major goal of the meeting is for community college leaders to meet with members of Congress and government officials, many of whom will not be working in their offices today or tomorrow.

Many students in the Washington-Baltimore area got some time off from later Friday through (in some cases) today, and many weekend classes and other events were called off. Colleges generally used Web sites to let students know where they could find dining services operating. As these photographs from The Diamondback show, students at the University of Maryland at College Park held a massive snowball fight. At Shenandoah University, students built this 10-foot-plus snowman, and also volunteered in the dining halls at the cooking and cleaning jobs of employees who lived too far away to get to campus. While many students worried about finding provisions for Super Bowl parties, St. John's College announced that a ban by Annapolis authorities on vehicular travel made it impossible to get food delivered for the scheduled party to honor the completion of senior essays, and so the event planned for Sunday would need to be postponed. (All the seniors did get their essays in, however, the college reported.)

Saturday was a big standardized testing day, but many testing centers were unable to open for scheduled administrations of the ACT and the LSAT -- new dates for the exams are expected soon.

Backing for Christian Group in Supreme Court Case

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

The Christian Legal Society is attracting wide support -- particularly from religious organizations -- in its U.S. Supreme Court battle over whether public colleges and universities can enforce their anti-bias rules against religious groups. In December, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case involving the society's chapter at the Hastings College of Law of the University of California. Hastings maintains that it is within its rights to deny recognition to groups, like the society, that engage in forms of discrimination (against gay people, for example) that the university bars. But the society maintains that enforcing such rules violates its freedom of speech and religion.

Among the religious groups that filed briefs backing the society last week are the American Islamic Congress, the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Others filing briefs on behalf of the Christian Legal Society include the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, the College Republican National Committee, and 14 states. The briefs may be found here.

The deadline for groups backing Hastings to file briefs is next month.

Secular Club Fights for Recognition at Lutheran College

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Organizers of the Secular Students of Concordia are trying to get officials of the Minnesota college to reconsider their refusal to recognize the organization, The Fargo-Moorhead Forum reported. College officials said that they could not recognize a group committed to ideals that conflict with those of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with which the college is affiliated. On the organization's Facebook group, the club says its goals are to "to organize and gather students with interest and/or belief in the secular ways of thinking," "to inform and encourage the campus community about secularism, secular values and theories, and seeing these as adequate alternatives to religion" and to "enforce a greater tolerance towards secular beliefs, both on and off campus."

An Ousted President Who 'Lived Large'

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

An article in The Kansas City Star details questions about Karen Pletz, who was ousted as president of the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in December, stunning many at the university and civic leaders in Kansas City. Pletz continues to decline to comment on why she left. Over the last decade, the Star found, the budget for educating medical students increased by 59 percent while administration expenses grew by 384 percent. Further, Pletz’s compensation rose from $261,000 to nearly $1.2 million, which the Star noted was about $250,000 more than that of the president of Johns Hopkins University. Pletz’s daughter and an associate’s daughter-in-law were added to the payroll in administrative positions as well.

Still Banned at Saint Louis U.

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Six months after university nixes David Horowitz event, it resists Horowitz debate with head of AAUP.

Cheating Cases on Rise at Stanford

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

In the last decade, the number of cheating cases considered by Stanford University's judicial board has more than doubled, to 123 from 52, The San Jose Mercury News reported. Stanford officials attributed the increase both to more cheating and more reporting by faculty members. University analysis found that although computer science students make up 6.5 percent of Stanford's students, they accounted for 23 percent of violations of the university's honors code.

Considering the Future of U. of California

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT

A special commission to study the future of the University of California is hearing a wide range of ideas, but not all observers believe the commission is the best approach to finding the right ideas, the Los Angeles Times reported. The commission has been hearing ideas such as offering three-year undergraduate degrees, increasing the use of online education, and replacing tuition with post-graduation fees based on income. Critics, however, say that California needs a broader look at all of higher education in the state, and how it is financed.