Quick Takes
Scrutiny of Salaries for Ex-Administrators in North Carolina
The University of North Carolina paid $8 million over the last five years in "retreat rights," salaries to help former administrators prepare to return to the classroom, The Raleigh News & Observer reported. In many cases, the salaries were what the officials earned in senior positions, far more than the faculty jobs for which they were preparing. The article noted that while some of these officials were well respected, others were paid "for a job poorly done," and that there is no requirement that those receiving the funds actually return to teaching. The article noted that one former provost in the system was paid $104,000 to prepare for a return to teaching, but after taking the funds, retired.
Senate Confirms Leaders for NEH and NIH
The Senate last week confirmed President Obama's nominees -- both popular with academics -- for two agencies that are key for supporting research: Francis Collins, a geneticist who led the Human Genome Project, will now lead the National Institutes of Health and James A. Leach, a former member of Congress, will now serve as chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Idaho State Moves to Fire Dissenting Faculty Member
Idaho State University has suspended, banned from campus, and moved to terminate Habib Sadid, an engineering professor who has been at the university for 22 years, the Associated Press reported. While the university has not said why it is taking this action, Sadid organized a 2005 no-confidence vote in the then-president, who quit a year later. The vote was in protest of large pay increases for some administrators.
Hotel Is Home for 500 Rutgers Students This Year
Rutgers University had to house hundreds of students temporarily in local hotels last year because of campus overcrowding. This year, about 500 students will call a nearby Crowne Plaza home for the entire academic year, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported, as enrollments and retention increase. Rutgers is one of many public universities seeing booms in enrollments, driven both by the economy and heightened price sensitivity by students and families.
Texas Tech Will Woo Children of Alumni Donors
Texas Tech University is starting a major campaign to attract applications from children of alumni donors -- and the effort will start at birth. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported that for alumni or others who contribute at least $100 annually, the university will send offspring a blanket for their cribs, birthday cards and other gifts, and create special scholarships at the point that students are ready to apply. Michael Shonrock, vice president for student affairs, said: "We want to make clear that at age 5, they get a piggy bank, and at age 18, we want it back."
Textbooks on the iPhone
The e-textbook company CourseSmart is making its books available on the iPhone through a deal with Apple, the Wall Street Journal reported. While company officials don't expect students to do heavy reading on their handheld devices, the application will make the full electronic texts and digital notes accessible when students are looking for answers in study groups, for example, they say.
Does Florida State Need a Rapper for President?
With T.K. Wetherell having announced his plans to retire as president of Florida State University, a search is getting started to replace him. Justin de la Cruz, a graduate student, has started a campaign to select a Tallahassee native -- the rapper T-Pain -- for the job. A Web site is selling T-shirts that proclaim "Give Pain a Chance." The Facebook group for the "T-Pain Killa Cam-Pain" offers the following platform for the candidate:
- "Widespread collaboration among the faculty of different departments: Guest spots on each other's papers and projects."
- "Complimentary Dranks for everyone (students and faculty) representing FSU at all academic conferences."
- "Annual Ice Cream Social to take place On A Boat."
- "Replacing the water in all campus fountains and water fountains with Cham-Pain."
- "The formation of the FSU College of Hip Hop, with a new Rap Concert Hall to break ground in Spring 2010."
While Florida's higher education politics are unpredictable, the campaign may need new strategies to gain the support of those older than rap fans. Wetherell, the outgoing president told The Tallahassee Democrat that he hadn't heard of the rapper. “I’m more a Toby Keith, Johnny Cash guy,” he told the newspaper. “I don’t know what a T-Pain is. Can he lobby the Legislature, that’s all I want to know.”
