News
Quick Takes: Purdue Renews Investigation, NCAA Punishes Temple, Yale Press Sued, Tufts Magazine Sanctioned, Medical Schools Get Poor Grades, New Reason for Newspaper Theft, Community Colleges and Teacher Ed, Gender Gap Narrows for UK Faculty
May 11, 2007
- Purdue University announced Thursday that -- in part because of a request from a Congressional leader -- the institution was continuing its investigation into concerns about the research on "bubble fusion" conducted by Rusi P. Taleyarkhan, one of its professors. The findings have been questioned by others, but an earlier Purdue probe found no misconduct. Thursday's announcement stated that the university actually started an investigation into new allegations shortly after a faculty panel in February concluded that there was no evidence of misconduct. Based on conversations with Rep. Brad Miller, chair of the House Committee on Science and Technology's investigations subcommittee, Purdue will now take additional steps, such as adding one or more outside scientists to the review.
- The National Collegiate Athletic Association on Thursday announced that Temple University would be on probation for two years and would have to vacate certain tennis game scores because of a series of violations by the former coach. During the 2004-5 academic year, according to the NCAA, the former coach permitted an ineligible student to practice and play, and during the spring 2005 season, the former coach directed an athlete to compete under the name of another athlete. Ann Weaver Hart, president of Temple, issued a statement agreeing with the NCAA's action and noting that the university had fired the coach and instituted other reforms when it became aware of the situation.
- Yale University Press is being sued for libel in connection with the publication of Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad, according to The New Haven Independent. KinderUSA says that it is a legitimate charity and was unfairly discussed in the book. The group's suit charges, among other things, that the Yale press did not do any fact-checking for the book -- a charge denied by Yale officials.
- A judicial panel at Tufts University has found that The Primary Source, a conservative magazine at the university, harassed black students with the publication of a parody Christmas carol titled "O Come all Ye Black Folk," the Associated Press reported. An editor must now sign off on all published work, and the student government was urged to consider the magazine's conduct in allocating future funds. The parody led to protests -- and an apology -- in December, but some supporters of the magazine have also said that the incident raises issues of free expression.
- Very few medical schools have adopted policies to adequately limit the influence of pharmaceutical companies in encouraging the use of certain drugs or treatments, according to a new report from the American Medical Student Association.
- You've heard of the theft of student newspapers by those offended over various kinds of news coverage, but here's a new one: Nearly 1,000 copies of the newspaper at Framingham State College, in Massachusetts, were stolen, apparently because of a photograph showing female students in tank tops cheering at a lacrosse game. The MetroWest Daily News reported that some of the students were apparently upset because they believed the photo made them look fat.
- The Education Commission of the States has released a new report on issues related to teacher education at community colleges. Because teacher education programs are four years, the report calls for better coordination between the programs at community colleges, four-year institutions, and the schools hiring teachers.
- Male faculty members at British universities earned an average of 14.1 percent more than female faculty members in comparable positions in 2005-6, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points in a year, according to research covered in The Guardian. Generally, the gaps were smaller at younger universities than at the older, more research-oriented universities. At only one institution -- the University of Arts -- did female pay on average exceed male pay for comparable positions.
