Quick Takes: Yale Will Keep Early Admissions, U. of Louisville Aid for Low-Income Students, New Name for House Science Panel, Alabama Ups Ante for Coaches' Pay, 'Spaceship Earth' Crashes, Different Kind of Mascot Problem

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Quick Takes: Yale Will Keep Early Admissions, U. of Louisville Aid for Low-Income Students, New Name for House Science Panel, Alabama Ups Ante for Coaches' Pay, 'Spaceship Earth' Crashes, Different Kind of Mascot Problem

January 5, 2007 - 4:00am

By

Doug Lederman

When Harvard and Princeton Universities announced last year that they were eliminating their early admissions programs, many critics of the programs had high hopes for Yale University to follow. Years earlier, Richard Levin, Yale's president, had said that all colleges should eliminate such programs. But Yale only agreed last year to study the issue and in the new issue of the Yale Alumni Magazine, Levin revealed that Yale would keep the program (which unlike some, does not require a student commitment to enroll if accepted). Levin said that what he previously called for was action by every college, and that if Yale followed Harvard and Princeton, most colleges would keep their policies. Levin acknowledged in the interview that early admissions programs are more likely to admit students who don't need financial aid, but said Yale makes up for that in the rest of the admissions process.

The University of Louisville announced Thursday that it was joining the parade of colleges and universities altering their financial-aid policies to try to make a higher education more accessible to low-income students. The university said its program, Cardinal Covenant, was modeled on the Carolina Covenant program that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill introduced in 2003 and would cost about $250,000, serving 150 students, this year.

Rep. Bart J. Gordon (D-Tenn.) announced Thursday that he was renaming the House of Representatives panel that he will chair during the 110th Congress to better reflect its priorities and the country's needs: the House Committee on Science and Technology. Among the panel's goals, for the next two years, he said, were stabilizing funding for basic research and improving science and technology education at all levels.

The University of Alabama hired Nick Saban as its new football coach Thursday, at a reported salary of $4 million a year, a record high for college football coaches. The eye-popping pay, which could be supplemented by as much as $800,000 a year in bonuses, is likely to start another round of agitation over the commercialism of big-time college athletics, at a time when members of Congress and others are questioning whether the enterprise deserves to keep its tax-exempt status.

A $1 million sculpture designed to represent the fragility of Earth collapsed under its own weight overnight Wednesday on the Kennesaw State University campus, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The 175-ton sculpture by a Finnish artist was unveiled just three months ago, but campus officials cited faulty glue as a possible cause of its quick disintegration. The phrase "our fragile craft" had been engraved on the piece -- "kind of ironic," said one university employee.

Here's a mascot change that has nothing to do with the debate over Native American team names: Meredith College, a woman's institution in North Carolina, is looking for a new sports mascot and team name, to replace "the Angels," The Raleigh News and Observer reported. Officials believe that the team name doesn't encourage the kind of competitiveness one would want on the playing field. "What are you going to say? Kill 'em, Angels?" Greg Jarvis, sports information director, told the News and Observer.

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