Quick Takes

Ward Churchill and the University of Colorado each had a chance Wednesday to debate before a state judge the question of whether Churchill should regain his teaching position at the university's Boulder campus. A jury in April found that the university illegally fired him, following accusations of research misconduct, but under Colorado law, the judge decides whether he gets to return to the Boulder faculty. The Daily Camera ran an account all day on the testimony. Emma Perez, chair of ethnic studies, said that the department wanted Churchill back and that students would flock to his courses. She said it was "ridiculous" to say that Churchill would tarnish the department's reputation. Phil DiStefano, chancellor of the campus, testified against Churchill's reinstatement, saying that it would be more difficult to enforce academic integrity rules for violations by students or faculty members with Churchill back on the faculty. A ruling is expected next week.

Chowan University, in North Carolina, has become the first college that is not historically black to join the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the nation's oldest athletic league for historically black colleges. The move follows a year in which Chowan joined the conference for football only. Chowan is located near many of the conference's members, and shares values about the role of athletics in higher education, officials said.

The University of the Cumberlands, a Baptist university in Kentucky, has told a youth group from the Broadway Baptist Church, in Fort Worth, Texas, that it has revoked an invitation for the students to stay at the university while working to help the disadvantaged in Appalachia. The Associated Baptist Press reported that the move followed criticism of the church for not being sufficiently anti-gay, as evidenced by its admission that it has a few gay members and that they have served on search committees. The university declined to talk to the wire service about its decision. In 2006, the university expelled a student for being gay.

Last December, NBC News producers approached officials at Goucher College, in Baltimore, asking serious questions about Leopold Munyakazi, a visiting French professor from Rwanda. The producers, accompanied by Rwandan prosecutors, claimed Munyakazi is wanted on charges that he was directly involved in the 1994 genocide in his home country and noted they were working together on a television “series about international war criminals who are living and working in the United States.” In response to the charges, Goucher suspended Munyakazi for the remainder of his time at the college -- without any evidence of wrongdoing. Many human rights officials and Munyakazi himself maintain his innocence, asserting that he is probably wanted because of controversial statements he has made about the 1994 conflict instead. The New York Observer reports that NBC is going ahead with the series on war criminals, entitled “The Wanted,” and it will debut July 20. An NBC press release notes the series will feature "an elite team with backgrounds in intelligence, unconventional warfare and investigative journalism" and that it will focus "on real operators, in search of real targets -- all in an effort to see individuals brought to justice." The press release makes no mention of Munyakazi in a list of suspects to be featured in the series. The Observer muses, “Presumably, NBC News is no longer working with Rwandan prosecutors to possibly arrest Mr. Munyakazi." An NBC spokeswoman did not return a request for comment about whether the series still had an interest in Munyakazi. Kristin Keener, Goucher spokeswoman, said NBC had not told the college if the series would run beyond the two episodes that have been publicly promoted, neither of which will supposedly investigate Munyakazi.

Two high-ranking nominees in the Obama administration have been confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Martha J. Kanter, under secretary of education, and Jane Oates, assistant secretary of labor for employment and training, gained the Senate's stamp of approval on June 19, giving them formal authority to dive into their duties. Oates, a longtime aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, was most recently New Jersey's commissioner of higher education; Kanter, who was chancellor of California's Foothill-De Anza Community College District, was sworn in Wednesday morning.

The leaders of some British universities found themselves sharing a little more information than expected when a journal published their views -- prior to the chance they had been promised to clear quotes and use of their names, The Times Higher reported. The journal Higher Education Quarterly has since removed the article from its Web site, but not before the Times Higher saved a copy. The newspaper quoted one vice chancellor as fearful of "the faintest hint of revolution." Further, this vice chancellor said: "We all know that education is a commodity that can be bought and sold, often at a very high price.... So universities are busy doing that - charging students a large amount of money to study in England because it is a popular destination. Branding and marketing take the front seat, and education is in the back."