Quick Takes

A federal agency report expected to be issued today finds that most universities do not report their researchers' financial conflicts of interest to the government as required, The New York Times reported. The report by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services examines how National Institutes of Health grantees complied (or not) with federal rules governing researchers' financial conflicts, and concludes that most institutions do not report conflicts and that when they do, few require researchers to eliminate or manage the conflicts.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops held a closed-door meeting Wednesday to discuss, among other things, relationships between the bishops and Roman Catholic colleges and universities, the Associated Press reported. Plans for the discussion started in the wake of the controversy over the invitation to President Obama to be the commencement speaker at the University of Notre Dame.

As Democrats in the House of Representatives joined the Obama administration in urging college leaders to prepare for the government's seemingly likely switch to 100 percent direct student lending, Congressional Republicans issued a challenge of their own, introducing legislation (with the support of one key Democrat) that would extend a stopgap 2007 law that sustained the lender-based guaranteed loan program with a massive infusion of federal funds. That legislation, the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act, made the federal government the backstop for federal student loans issued by banks and other lenders. Education Department officials have cited the June 30 expiration of the law as a major reason why the administration's plan to shift all student lending to the direct loan program must proceed apace, and Reps. George Miller and Ruben Hinojosa sent a letter to college presidents Wednesday urging them to get their campuses ready for the switch, even though the legislation has passed only the House and faces a fight in the Senate. But by proposing an extension of ECASLA, Republicans are essentially giving lawmakers uneasy about pushing ahead with a massive change in federal policy a potential alternative.

Colleges and universities reported a 27 percent drop in the number of new cases of likely H1N1 flu, but the closely watched weekly survey by the American College Health Association included the first two deaths attributed to the outbreak. The ACHA survey of 263 campuses found 6,373 new cases of suspected swine flu, with 95 percent of campuses reporting new cases, down from 98 percent the week before. The institutions cumulatively reported 21.3 cases per 10,000 students, down 27 percent from the November 7. Five states -- New Jersey, Louisiana, Missouri, Idaho and the District of Columbia -- reported increasing numbers of cases, with the rest noting declines.

Jessica Goode, 23, a student at Ferrum College, was shot and killed Tuesday, and another student was shot in the hand, when a hunter mistook the students for deer, The Roanoke Times reported. The students were collecting specimens for a biology class. The hunter has been charged with manslaughter, reckless handling of a firearm and trespassing.

The board of Metropolitan State College of Denver has voted to fire Angelina De La Torre, a tenured professor of criminal justice and Chicana/o studies based on incorrect information submitted on her post-tenure review paperwork, INDenver Times reported. De La Torre submitted a report listing a paper as having been published in a journal in 2005, but an investigation found that the paper hadn't been published, and the college cited that in dismissing her. De La Torre, however, said that she never intended to misrepresent anything, and that she made a harmless mistake in not finding out if the article had appeared or in properly recording the issue in which she thought it had appeared. She said she plans to sue the college.

Using community colleges in Texas as models, a new report suggests that there are common features present at colleges that have success at promoting transfer to four-year institutions by low-income and first generation college students. The report, by the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, found that the common themes are a "structured" pathway to transfer, featuring clear articulation agreements; a "student centered culture," with a range of academic support services; and leadership that is sensitive to the challenges facing disadvantaged students.

China and the United States on Wednesday announced a series of steps to improve relations between the two countries. One part of the joint announcement was the statement that the United States would seek to send 100,000 students to China over the coming four years. While the statement suggested that this would be an increase over 20,000 Americans who currently study there, the increase could really be larger. Data released this week by the Institute for International Education placed the number of Americans currently studying in China at 13,165.

About 2,000 students at Israeli universities were admitted under affirmative action programs designed to diversify the student bodies, according to research released this week, Haaretz reported. The study found that these students -- once admitted -- performed nearly as well at their universities as did those admitted through traditional means.