News
Quick Takes: Ward Churchill's Defense, Gustavus Adolphus Drops ACT/SAT, Presque Isle Professors Vote No Confidence, Stanford's Semi-Secret $100M, Indiana Students' Grants Shrink, Wire Fraud by Coach
May 25, 2006
- Ward Churchill, the controversial University of Colorado professor found guilty by a faculty panel of multiple forms of academic misconduct, has released a detailed defense. In a six-page reply, he questioned the process under which he was investigated, the standards the committee applied, and its conclusions. He characterized the process as "the latest step in CU's ongoing attempt to fire me for political speech and, more fundamentally, for scholarship which challenges the orthodox 'canon' of historical truth."
- Gustavus Adolphus College, in Minnesota, has announced that it will no longer require applicants to submit ACT or SAT scores. College officials said that they had studied the experience of other liberal arts colleges that have dropped the requirement, and found that other measures -- particularly high school grades and coursework -- were better ways to predict college success.
- Faculty members at the University of Maine at Presque Isle have voted no confidence in President Karl E. Burgher, citing his failure to communicate well with students or professors and allegations that he wanted to ignore an incident where athletes on a road trip hired a stripper to perform for them in a hotel, The Bangor Daily News reported. Student leaders joined faculty members in calling for the president's ouster. Burgher told the newspaper that he did not want to discuss details, but that he was working with faculty members to "resolve" issues in ways that would satisfy everyone.
- A major donor to Stanford University athletics has just made a gift of $100 million, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. The gift has not been announced formally and is not entirely for athletics, the newspaper said. It identified the donor as John Arrillaga, a developer.
- Thousands of students in Indiana are finding their state grants for the next academic year significantly smaller than they expected, The Indianapolis Star reported. Officials blamed a number of factors, including a larger-than-expected applicant pool and a tight state budget.
- Ryan Cross, a former basketball coach at Barton County Community College, in Kansas, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in falsifying the records of athletes, The Hutchinson News reported. Barton County Community Collegte has been facing one of the largest scandals in two-year college athletics, with multiple indictments of former officials.
