Quick Takes
Coming Soon: Direct Feed for IRS Data into FAFSA
Students and parents will be able to import their tax information directly from the IRS website to the online FAFSA in a pilot program beginning early next year, a representative of the Education Department's Federal Student Aid program revealed during Wednesday's negotiated rulemaking session on the verification of information on student aid applications. Stephanie Gross, team leader for FAFSA on the Web, said the department will offer the option for first-time and renewal applicants beginning January 24. By next summer, it will be open to all applicants from the start of the 2010-11 application process.
Flu Status
During October, 43 percent of the 274 colleges being tracked on H1N1 and related illnesses by the American College Health Association said that they had the H1N1 vaccine on hand. Meanwhile, 97 percent of the colleges reported new flu cases. Details on the association's study may be found here.
NCAA Punishes Miles College
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has levied a weighty set of punishments against Miles College for major violations in all 10 of its sports. Wednesday, in a public report, the Division II Committee on Infractions said that “from the 2004-05 though 2008-09 academic years, Miles allowed 124 athletes in all 10 of its sports to practice, compete, receive travel expenses and/or receive athletically related aid while ineligible.” These students were ineligible for numerous reasons, but most did not meet the NCAA’s initial or continuing academic requirements to play. The committee discovered that Miles “did not have written procedures for certifying the eligibility of initial enrollees, continuing student-athletes and transfers.” During the investigation of this violation, the committee noted that the former director of athletics “provided false and misleading information to the NCAA enforcement staff.” In another violation, the committee reported that the former head track coach “knowingly allowed six student-athletes to participate under assumed names during the 2006-7 academic year.” Also, the committee found that the track coach at the time “worked with an administrator at another institution to fabricate results from two women’s outdoor track meets to make it appear that Miles College had enough participants to meet NCAA sport sponsorship minimums." As punishment, Miles will serve a four-year probation, all of its sports are banned from the postseason this year and all games during which ineligible athletes competed must be vacated. The former athletics director and track coach, whom the report did not identify by name but who could be identified through news reports as Augustus James and Marcus Dowdell, also have four- and three-year show-cause orders, respectively -- meaning any institution that hires them during that period must report to the NCAA how it will monitor their behavior.
Son's Loyalty Costs Central Florida a Sports Apparel Deal
The University of Central Florida's $3 million, five-year contract with adidas isn't the biggest sports apparel deal for a college athletics department, but it is nothing to sneeze at, either. Or "was" nothing to sneeze at, it might be more appropriate to say. The sneaker manufacturer reportedly ended its relationship with Central Florida Wednesday night -- a decision announced via an e-mail message to the Orlando Sentinel -- because one of its men's basketball players, who happens to be Michael Jordan's son, insisted on wearing Nike shoes named for his father in the team's opening game. Marcus Jordan's decision to wear his Air Jordan shoes instead of the team's contracted adidas sneakers prompted this missive from an adidas spokeswoman: "The University of Central Florida has chosen not to deliver on their contractual commitment to adidas. As a result we have chosen not to continue our relationship with them moving forward."
History Group Seeks Younger Members
The American Historical Association, which like some other scholarly association has struggled to recruit younger members, has announced a new membership category designed to attract them. "For years now, younger members of the association have chafed at the doubling of dues when they switch from student to regular member, and quite a few have indicated they had dropped their memberships as a result. To encourage sustained membership in the association, the new category will provide an incremental step on the path toward sustained membership — rising from the student rate of $39 to the transitional rate of $50 for the first three years after leaving the student membership category," said the announcement, on the association's blog.
A Female President Vows to Encourage Men -- and Faces Backlash
Some students at the University of Alberta are angry that Indira Samarasekera, the president, has expressed concern about the declining numbers of men on Canadian university campuses. In an October interview, Samarasekera cited figures showing that women make up 58 percent of Canadian university students and said that she worried that 20 years from now, "we will not have the benefit of enough male talent at the heads of companies and elsewhere." Further, she said she would be an "advocate" for young white men because, as a minority woman, she "can be." The Edmonton Sun reported that her comments irked some students, who felt she was suggesting that female students were somehow a problem, and for not focusing on disadvantaged students -- as opposed to men -- who may need help. Some of the students created posters showing a giant, King Kong-like woman walking over a university building. The caption: "Women are attacking campus! Only white men can save our university! Stop the femimenace."
