Quick Takes

Madonna Constantine has sued Teachers College of Columbia University for $200 million. The New York Post reported that Constantine's suit charges that the findings of plagiarism that led to Constantine's dismissal as a professor were fabricated and that the proceedings against her amounted to an "academic lynching." The word lynching is an apparent reference to Constantine's claim that someone put a noose outside her office door. That claim -- made while the plagiarism allegations were being investigated but before they became public -- led to widespread sympathy for Constantine, but investigations of the noose incident never led to any findings.

A lawsuit has accused William Meehan, president of Jacksonville State University, of plagiarizing portions of his dissertation. The Associated Press reported that a Jacksonville State professor is suing Meehan in a dispute over ownership of a collection of plant samples, and included the plagiarism charges to establish a pattern in which Meehan is alleged to take work produced by others. The AP reviewed the dissertation and the work supposedly copied and found similarities. Meehan has denied wrongoing, and the University of Alabama -- which awarded Meehan's doctorate -- announced that it was satisfied that the doctorate was legitimate. Two years ago, Meehan admitted that newspaper columns published under his name in the local newspaper contained writing that was lifted from Web sites, but a former university staff member took responsibility for the copying.

Trinity College, in Connecticut, is facing scrutiny from the state attorney general over its use of an endowment that was created by a donor for one purpose but that apparently was used for other programs as well, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to the article, the funds were designated for use for a business professorship and the donor specifically stated that he didn't want to give general discretion to the college to use the endowment income for other areas. The professor in the chair reported to the Connecticut attorney general that the funds were being used for other purposes -- and he says that Trinity officials criticized him for speaking out. Adding to the dispute is a claim by the professor that the college isn't supportive of the original gift's purpose because it supports work that is focused on free enterprise economics.

Hundreds of scientists and their supporters held a rally at the University of California at Los Angeles to back the right of researchers to use animals in their studies and to oppose increasingly violent attacks on professors, the Los Angeles Times reported. While many scientists have been angry at the tactics of the more extreme parts of the animal rights movement, the UCLA protest was an unusually public response. About 40 critics of animal research held a rally on the same day.

Graduate schools need to recruit and graduate a more diverse student body, according to a report being issued today by the Council of Graduate Schools. "Our nation is becoming increasingly diverse, yet Hispanic and African American students are highly underrepresented in graduate schools, particularly in fields such as science and engineering, where each group makes up less than 10 percent of graduate enrollment and approximately 5 percent of new Ph.D.'s," the report says. "While women are the fastest-growing group in graduate education, they too remain underrepresented in some key fields. These demographic trends present long-term challenges that can be overcome only by a national commitment to developing all our country’s talent." The report reviews demographics of graduate enrollments, and describes programs that have helped some graduate schools recruit and educate in inclusive ways.

The University of North Dakota’s athletic teams will continue to be known as the “Fighting Sioux,” for the time being. Tuesday, during an election of tribal officials, members of the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe voted to approve the university’s current nickname. The state’s Board of Higher Education and the National Collegiate Athletic Association reached a settlement in 2007 that mandates that the university must receive the approval of the two major Sioux tribes – Spirit Lake and Standing Rock – by November 30, 2010 to maintain the nickname. The Associated Press reports that the Standing Rock tribe, whose members have publically opposed the nickname in the past, has no immediate plans to hold a similar vote.

French officials are demanding that university students and professors stop strikes and protests so that regular classes can resume, The Guardian reported. The protests aim to block President Nikolas Sarkozy's government from carrying out its planned higher education reforms, which critics say will give too much power to administrators and the government. At many universities, the protests have now gone on long enough that it will soon be impossible to complete the academic year, government officials warn.