Quick Takes
AAUP Backs Notre Dame in Commencement Controversy
The Indiana Conference of the American Association of University Professors has weighed in on the controversy surrounding President Obama's upcoming commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame, which some Roman Catholics oppose due to the president's support for abortion rights. In its statement, the AAUP chapter expresses support for Notre Dame's president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins, for standing by the invitation, and expresses concern about "the efforts of external groups to prevent President Obama or any other invited guest from speaking on campus. ... Notre Dame has a worthy tradition of inviting new presidents to speak at commencement even though none agree with all aspects of Catholic dogma. To disinvite a commencement speaker over public policy disagreements is an anathema to open discourse." President Obama will be the ninth U.S. president to be awarded an honorary degree at Notre Dame, and the sixth to be commencement speaker.
Creationists Sue Texas Over Rejected Degree Program
The Institute for Creation Research is suing Texas for the right to award master's degrees in the state. The Dallas Morning News reported that the suit charges the state with discriminating against the institute based on its views of evolution (on which the institute differs from mainstream science). The institute wants to award master's degrees to people who plan to teach science, and says it will teach evolution even as it also teaches creationism. Texas has not authorized the degrees and many science groups have been alarmed at the prospect of the institute training science teachers.
Purdue Offers Bachelor's Degree in 2 Years
More colleges this year are talking about three-year bachelor's programs. Purdue University's College of Technology in Kokomo is starting a program that will award a bachelor's degree in two years. The program is designed for people who lost jobs in the auto industry and will provide them with a bachelor's degree in organizational leadership and supervision, with a concentration in industrial technology. Students will take one or two courses at a time, with several hours of class time per course each weekday and without summers off.
Oklahoma State, Following Donor's Objection, Stops Euthanizing Animals
Some animal rights supporters have more clout than others. Oklahoma State University on Monday announced that it would no longer euthanize animals after students perform surgeries on them at the institution's veterinary college, The Tulsa World reported. The university acted after Madeleine Pickens asked that a $5 million donation to the veterinary college be redirected because of her opposition to the practice. Pickens is the wife of T. Boone Pickens, a billionaire mega-donor to the university. Madeleine Pickens said that, because of the policy change, she'll leave her gift where it is at Oklahoma State.
2 Charged in Threats Against UCLA Scientists
A California grand jury on Monday unsealed indictments charging two animal rights activists with 10 counts of threatening scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported. UCLA has become a top target for vandalism and threats by radical animal rights groups. The two who were indicted pleaded not guilty and are being held in custody.
More 'No Confidence' Votes in Board That Killed Tenure
A handful of faculty and staff boards have passed votes of “no confidence” in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System’s Board of Regents following its controversial decision last month to eliminate tenure for all new faculty hires. April 16, the Executive Council of Kentucky Community College Faculty and Staff Alliance (KCCFSA) – a labor group associated with the American Federation of Teachers – unanimously censured the board. The next day, four faculty councils overwhelmingly passed “no confidence” votes in the Michael B. McCall, system president, and the regents. These votes took place at Mayville, Elizabethtown, Hopkinsville and Bluegrass Community Colleges. These votes follow a vote two weeks ago by the faculty of Southeast Kentucky Community College. Now, 5 of the system’s 16 colleges have passed “no confidence” resolutions. Faculty advocates say votes at even more institutions are planned for this Friday. Barbara Ashley, KCCFSA executive director, said these resolutions mark the first time since the founding of the Kentucky system that any votes of “no confidence” have been taken against the governing board or a system administrator. McCall and the regents have offered no response to these recent votes.
U. of Tennessee Reported Donations It Never Received
A state audit has found that the University of Tennessee reported receiving $6.4 million in donations last year that the university never in fact received, The Knoxville News Sentinel reported. The missing gifts -- most for athletics -- were in pledges that were never paid. University officials said that they have since made the necessary adjustments in accounting statements.
Lewis U. Students Charged in Noose Incident
Three students at Lewis University, in Illinois, have been charged with disorderly conduct in an incident in which they are alleged to have made racial slurs to students in the dormitory room below theirs, and to have then lowered a noose outside the dormitory window, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Pulitzer Winners in Academe
Three academics won Pulitzer Prizes in the arts on Monday. In fiction, the winner was Elizabeth Strout, who is on the M.F.A. faculty at Queens University in North Carolina. She won for Olive Kitteridge (Random House), a collection of short stories. In drama, the winner was Lynn Nottage, a visiting lecturer at the Yale School of Drama who was honored for the play Ruined. And in history, the winner was Annette Gordon-Reed, a professor of law at New York Law School, who won for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (W.W. Norton).
Recycled Regalia
What can you make with 23 plastic bottles? A graduation gown, it turns out. Tis the season (almost), and Oak Hall Cap & Gown, a company that counts more than 1,600 colleges as clients, has announced a new GreenWeaver line, featuring caps and gowns composed of 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottles.
