Higher Education Quick Takes

Faculty members from Marquette and Seattle Universities took out a full-page ad in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to condemn Marquette's recent decision to rescind a job offer as dean to a Seattle professor who is a lesbian and whose scholarship includes issues of lesbian sexuality, the Journal Sentinel reported. "We believe this action has caused significant harm to the reputation of Marquette University," the ad says. "It threatens our credibility and integrity as a university. It has caused suffering among students, alumni, staff, and faculty, and it will cost Marquette considerably in terms of community relationships, research, and recruiting and retaining students and faculty." University officials have denied that the rescinded job offer was discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Many higher education groups have been condemning the new Arizona immigration law and vowing to boycott the state. But many of those associations don't have anything currently scheduled in Arizona. One group that does is ACPA -- College Student Educators International. It announced Monday that it is moving a January meeting for mid-level managers, currently slated to be in Tucson, to a yet-to-be-determined location outside the state. Holding a meeting in a state "that could potentially create an atmosphere of exclusion, harassment, or an unwelcome environment for an ACPA member ... is problematic and goes against our fundamental values of inclusion," said a statement from the association.

Laramie County Community College went to a Wyoming judge last week and won an injunction to block The Wyoming Tribune Eagle from publishing an article about the conduct of Darrell Hammon, the college's president, on a 2008 student trip to Costa Rica, the newspaper reported. The Tribune Eagle has obtained a leaked copy of a college report on the trip, and is appealing the ruling. The college claims that publication of information based on the report would violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which is known as FERPA.

The board of the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District is promising tighter oversight of senior administrators after the release of a law firm's investigation of certain activities of Chancellor Rosa Perez, who is currently on sick leave and will be leaving her position in June, The San Jose Mercury News reported. The board is also asking the local district attorney to investigate whether Perez violated laws. The law firm's report concluded that Perez may have violated conflict of interest laws by buying a house and sharing expenses with her partner, whom she supervised as an administrator at the college. Further, the report cited numerous trips -- some of which her partner made as well -- as being "not cost effective" for the college district. The investigations were prompted by reports in the Mercury News and KGO-TV. Perez could not be reached for comment.