Quick Takes: Decent Grades for Showing Up, BU's Push for Open Access, Columbia Debates Gaza, More Scrutiny for Brandeis President, Dallas Chaplain on Leave After Scam, Drunk Driving Arrest, Searching for Geronimo's Remains

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Quick Takes: Decent Grades for Showing Up, BU's Push for Open Access, Columbia Debates Gaza, More Scrutiny for Brandeis President, Dallas Chaplain on Leave After Scam, Drunk Driving Arrest, Searching for Geronimo's Remains

February 18, 2009 - 4:00am

By

Scott Jaschik

New research, which may not shock professors, suggests that the reason students protest over their grades is that they associate good grades with simply performing tasks, not achieving particular levels of excellence. The New York Times today reports on a study that found that about one third of students expect B's just for attending lectures, and 40 percent believe they earn B's by doing required reading.

Boston University on Tuesday announced a major campaign to promote open access to scholarship. All of the university's colleges and schools at the university have now endorsed a plan under which faculty members may place their papers online, where they would be free and available to anyone not trying to use the work for profit.

As of Tuesday evening, 121 Columbia University faculty members had signed an open letter asking President Lee C. Bollinger to take a public stand on Israeli actions limiting Palestinians' academic freedom, including the denial of exit visas to scholars, the system of barriers and checkpoints in the West Bank ("that make academic life unworkable") and the bombing of educational institutions during the recent war in Gaza. The letter cites President Bollinger's past public statements on issues pertaining to the Middle East (these include his fiery introduction of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech in 2007 and his leading role among college presidents in denouncing an academic boycott of Israel). "Not all of us agree that he should be making public statements in the name of the university," said Brinkley Messick, an anthropology professor involved with the letter. "But he has used that forum, he has spoken that way, we think with an unevenness that is really a real problem now." Columbia's public affairs office did not offer a response to the letter Tuesday.

The furor over plans by Brandeis University to close its art museum and sell off masterpieces -- widely seen as violating the ethics of art museum management -- has led to a broader debate at the university over its president, Jehuda Reinharz, The Boston Globe reported. Reinharz indicated that he has no plans to leave and the board appears to back him strongly, but critics say that he has repeatedly made blunders by not consulting with faculty members, and that those blunders are adding up.

The board of the Milwaukee Area Technical College has called a special meeting tomorrow to discuss the arrest of Darnell Cole, the college's president, on drunk driving charges, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Initially, board members said that there was no need for a special meeting, but they reconsidered. College officials told a local radio station that Cole is on the job and has written a letter of apology over the incident.

The priest who serves as the chaplain of the University of Dallas is on leave after falling victim to a scheme that led him to provide $100,000 in funds from the university church to a scam artist, The Dallas Morning News reported. The loans provided were not authorized, in violation of church procedures.

Relatives of Geronimo are suing the U.S. government, Yale University, and the Skull and Bones society to recover remains of the legendary Apache leader, The Washington Post reported. Geronimo's skull has long been rumored to have been stolen and taken to Skull and Bones, the secretive honorary society at Yale known for its ties to the Bush family. A Yale spokeswoman told Fox News Tuesday that the university has no knowledge of where Geronimo's skull may be. Skull and Bones has never commented on the alleged theft of Geronimo's skull, which was discussed at length in a 2000 essay by Ron Rosenbaum in The New York Observer.

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