News
Quick Takes: Michigan Universities Seek Delay on Prop 2, Clarion Drops 3 Men's Teams, Fraternity Arsenal, What Students Want, Sudden Exit at Riverside City College, Beating the Regulators, Spellings Trips in Dance Assessment
December 12, 2006
- Three Michigan universities are seeking a federal court order to allow them to complete the current cycle for admissions decisions without having to change their policies to comply with Proposition 2, a measure approved by Michigan voters last month to bar the consideration of race and ethnicity in admissions decisions. "It would be extremely difficult, and unfair to prospective students, to change our admissions and financial aid processes in mid-stream," said Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan, in a statement. Michigan State University and Wayne State University also joined in seeking the legal ruling. A lawyer for the Pacific Legal Foundation, which has pledged to oppose moves to water down Proposition 2, said that the group would "most likely" challenge the universities' request.
- Clarion University of Pennsylvania on Monday announced that it would be eliminating three men's teams -- cross country, indoor track and outdoor track -- to move toward compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Using the "proportionality" test for measuring compliance, Clarion's statistics indicate a serious gender imbalance. Female students make up 61 percent of undergraduates and 41 percent of the university's athletes.
- Oregon police investigating the shooting of a man outside an Oregon State University fraternity reported finding more than two dozen guns in the Alpha Gamma Rho house, The Corvallis Gazette-Times reported. The newspaper said that authorities were investigating reports that fraternity members periodically shot at transients searching the alley behind the fraternity for cans to redeem for money. One of the guns found was identified as the one used in the shooting and one fraternity member was arrested in the shooting. A national spokesman for the fraternity said that it "doesn't stand for that sort of behavior."
- A national survey of freshmen has found that what they most value in a college education is professional preparation, followed by academic quality and affordability. The survey was conducted by Eduventures, a consulting company.
- Daniel Castro resigned Friday, effective immediately, as president of Riverside City College, after only 15 months on the job. An e-mail message he sent to employees wished the college well, but offered no reason, The Press-Enterprise reported. Faculty members at the institution -- the largest campus in the Riverside Community College District -- are demanding an explanation.
- How does a for-profit college stay operating after repeated warnings of problems by various regulators and numerous complaints? An article in The Tacoma News Tribune illustrates how the Business Computer Training Institute did so -- until it finally closed last year amid new investigations and a lawsuit.
- Education Secretary Margaret M. Spellings is among the stars of a White House video to celebrate Christmas. The video portrays Barney, one of the president's dogs, organizing a pageant involving various administration officials. Spellings is shown devastated, post-audition, after being rejected for a dance part. It's hard not to feel her pain when Karl Rove then gloats about winning a dancing part. We trust that Spellings appreciated that Barney did not award parts for just showing up, but insisted on assessing performance.
