Quick Takes
Potsdam Moves Admissions Away From Formula
The State University of New York at Potsdam on Tuesday joined a growing number of colleges ending requirements that all applicants submit SAT or ACT scores, but the announcement was also part of a broader shift in admissions policy. Potsdam has evaluated applicants on a formula based only on test scores and high school grades. Under the new approach, the university will look at a broad range of factors -- including recommendations, essays, the rigor of courses taken -- in addition to grades and (for those who want to submit them) test scores. A statement from Tom Nesbitt, director of admissions, said: “Our research has shown that high school students who have taken a rigorous curriculum, regardless of test scores, have been some of our most successful at SUNY Potsdam."
Brigham Young Calls Off Production of Euripides Play
The University of Utah stages an ancient Greek play each year, and typically offers a performance at Brigham Young University as well. This year, there will be no performance at Brigham Young. The university's theater department called off the production of a modern adaptation of Bakkhai by Euripides (commonly spelled as Bacchae). Rodger Sorensen, chair of theater and media arts at BYU, said that as an institution that is part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the university "must take into consideration our particular audience." As he learned more about the production, he said, he became concerned that audience members would be "troubled" by the production. While there is not nudity, Sorensen said that the costumes show "more skin than our institution encourages us to have" visible and that there are portrayals of sexuality and violence. "We have no problem with the play, but feel it shouldn't be done here," he said.
James Svendsen, producer of the play and associate professor of languages and literature at Utah, said that the decision to call off the show at Brigham Young was mutual, and based in part on the view that the production "does not really fit the BYU proscenium arch theater nor their audience." He said that the production turns the classic work into a rock opera, with "much gender-bending in the casting" and "an abundance of phallic symbols and cleavage." Svendsen said some shock was appropriate for the play. "Yes, this ancient play is shocking, horrific and macabre and, I think, would have shocked the ancient Athenian audience," he said. "For me it's a parable for the Athenians in crisis, stuck in a 25 year old war against the Spartans, a parable against religious and political excess and a kind of insanity or tunnel vision. It's a play with an attitude."
While the production won't get to win fans in Provo, it received a strong review in The Salt Lake Tribune.
Probe of Maricopa Board
An outside panel is investigating the board of the Maricopa Community Colleges, following anonymous allegations sent to its accreditor about alleged micromanaging, The Arizona Republic reported. The complaint charged that the board makes decisions without adequately consulting the educators charged with daily management of the colleges. The outside committee has held individual meetings with board members and administrators and will also hold a public meeting.
Public, Then Private, Soon (Partially) Public Again
Education Management Corp., which three years ago went private in a sale to private equity investors, plans to re-enter the public markets by selling 20 million shares of stock in a bid to raise approximately $350 million, the higher education company announced Tuesday. Education Management, which operates Argosy University and the Art Institutes, among other career-oriented colleges, was purchased in 2006 by two private equity firms for $3.4 billion, one of numerous for-profit college entities making such a move. Education Management has significant debt, and the initial public offering announced this week is seen as a way to retire some of that debt and tap into a market for higher education companies that is heating up.
MBA Programs Report Application Increases
Two-thirds of full-time M.B.A. programs received more applications in 2009 than in the previous year, according to survey results released Tuesday by the Graduate Management Admission Council. But more than half of part-time or executive programs reported that application levels were decreasing or were flat. The latter programs have been hurt at some business schools by the inability of businesses to pay for degrees for employees.
Senior Official Tapped as NCAA's Interim Leader
The National Collegiate Athletic Association will have a veteran hand in charge while it searches for a permanent replacement for Myles Brand, who died last week after seven years as the sports association's president. The association announced Tuesday that James L. Isch, its senior vice president for administration and chief financial officer, would serve as interim president while the NCAA conducts a national search for its new chief. Isch, who has been a senior administrator at the NCAA and was part of a four-person team that led the association during Brand's nearly year-long illness, has been at the association since 1988. Before that, he was vice chancellor for finance and administration at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
U.S. Proposes Rules on Exchange Visitor Program
The U.S. Department of State on Tuesday proposed a set of regulatory changes in its Exchange Visitor program, which brings scholars, students and others to the United States for educational purposes. The proposed rules, which were published in the Federal Register and are open to public comment through November 23, amends the "general provisions" portion of federal regulations governing various visa programs for educational exchanges. Officials at NAFSA: Association of International Educators said they were reviewing the proposed regulations and would comment on them soon.
Purdue Limits Access to Ayers Talk
With protests planned for Thursday's lecture at Purdue University by William Ayers, the university has imposed limits on who may attend the talk, The Journal and Courier reported. The university will give seats first to student in fields that relate to Ayers' work -- sociology, women's studies, African-American studies, education and child development. Remaining seats will go to those in anthropology, philosophy, political science, communication, history, psychological sciences, foreign languages and literatures and English. University identification cards will be checked at the door. Ayers, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, lectures widely on education reform issues, but some of his campus appearances have been controversial due to his role as a leader of the Weather Underground in the 60s.
