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Quick Takes: Regents to Vote July 24 on Ward Churchill, U. of California Board Can't Agree on Tobacco Funds, Costs of a Cover-Up, Picking Next Leader for American U., Uninsured Graduates, Greeks and Booze, More Scrutiny for Nonprofit Lender

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Quick Takes: Regents to Vote July 24 on Ward Churchill, U. of California Board Can't Agree on Tobacco Funds, Costs of a Cover-Up, Picking Next Leader for American U., Uninsured Graduates, Greeks and Booze, More Scrutiny for Nonprofit Lender
July 19, 2007 - 4:00am

By

Scott Jaschik
  • The University of Colorado Board of Regents will hold a special meeting July 24 to consider a proposal to fire Ward Churchill, the controversial ethnic studies professor who has been found by faculty committees and the president of the university system to have committed research misconduct. On Wednesday, several Web sites that have backed Churchill posted announcements of the meeting that reiterated Churchill's view that he is being punished for his political views, and that called for students and others to protest at the meeting. A university spokeswoman confirmed late Wednesday that the meeting had been scheduled for July 24. She said that Churchill, the university's lawyer, and a faculty committee will meet with the board, which will hear from those groups and deliberate in private, but vote in public on the proposal to fire Churchill, who has tenure. If the board votes to fire Churchill, he has vowed to sue to keep his job.
  • The University of California of Board of Regents on Wednesday again discussed -- and again failed to agree on -- proposals to bar professors from accepting research support from the tobacco industry, the Los Angeles Times reported. The board has been considering the issue at the request of anti-tobacco activists who argue that the clear health damage caused by tobacco and the tactics used by the industry make it unethical to accept its funds. But many academic leaders -- including plenty who personally abhor the tobacco industry -- have said that a blanket ban on a source of research funds would limit academic freedom.
  • Eastern Michigan University faces expenses of more than $1 million in the fallout from its cover-up of a student's murder last year, The Detroit News reported. That sum includes $470,000 in payments to the president and two other senior administrators who lost their jobs this week.
  • American University, which has been conducting a national search for a president to permanently succeed Benjamin Ladner, may end up going with its interim leader, The Washington Post reported. Ladner was forced out in 2005 amid investigations into his compensation and lavish expenses -- and his ouster has led to much scrutiny of nonprofit governance. Cornelius Kerwin, the provost turned interim president, has been praised by many on campus for providing solid and calming leadership after the disputes over Ladner. The Post reported that while the board was initially looking for an outside candidate, several potential presidents took other jobs, leading to serious consideration of Kerwin.
  • Only 60.5 percent of recent college graduates (those between 23 and 27) in 2004-5 had employer-provided health insurance, down from 69.6 percent in 1999-2000, according to a new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute. The trend has prompted some colleges to get involved in helping new graduates obtain insurance.
  • A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research is unlikely to shock many: It found that fraternity membership correlates with higher levels of drinking -- measured by intensity, frequency and recency. The study may be purchased online.
  • A leading Democrat in the House of Representatives on Wednesday asked the Government Accountability Office to examine whether nonprofit student loan providers are abusing their tax-exempt status by heavily compensating their chief executives. In a news release and a letter to Congress's investigative arm, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, cited a Washington Post article Monday that documented how Educap, which does business under the name Loan to Learn, has given its top official, Catherine B. Reynolds, a Gulfstream jet on top of her $1 million annual salary and its large donations to charities on her behalf. "Tax-exempt organizations enjoy special tax treatment under the law, a benefit that exempts certain lenders from paying taxes on the interest income earned on its loans," Miller wrote. "Moreover, tax-exempt organizations are not subject to all of the same oversight required of banks and other financial institutions, and may also be involved in deceptive marketing practices."

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