The latest trend in college football recruiting is in the air: helicopters. The New York Times reported that helicopters, which tend to cause an intended commition when they touch down near a high school football field on a Friday night, are now being used by at least eight major football programs to impress high school players: Louisiana State and Rutgers Universities, and the Universities of California at Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri.
Higher Education Quick Takes
Quick Takes
Monday, October 19, 2009 - 3:00am
While the admissions cycle for next fall's enrollments is just getting started, there are signs that public institutions may again be flooded with applications. The California State University System, which on October 1 opened applications for fall 2010 enrollment, reported that it received 111,140 applications through October 15, compared to 62,520 during the similar time period a year ago. All 23 campuses are accepting applications through November 30; at least 12 may stop accepting applications for some or all programs after that date.
Monday, October 19, 2009 - 3:00am
A gesture from the new leader of a South African university is sparking a new debate over an ugly incident. Jonathan Jansen, the new rector of the University of the Free State, is the first black leader of the institution, which is in an Afrikaner dominated area. AFP reported that in his inaugural speech Friday, Jansen announced that the university would drop disciplinary charges against four white students who were found to have produced a video last year in which black workers were humiliated by being given food on which students had urinated. In his speech, Jansen said that letting the students return to the university would be "a model of racial reconciliation." But the African National Congress and other groups have denounced that stance.
Monday, October 19, 2009 - 3:00am
More colleges are making portions smaller and adding nutritious ingredients (sometimes without telling) in efforts to encourage healthier eating habits in students, The Boston Globe reported. Among the changes: Smaller portions at Wellesley College, Tufts University, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, vegetables that are added to plates at Merrimack College when students ask for meat entrees, a reduction in the size of ice cream servings at Babson College, and a secret switch in the chocolate chip cookie recipe at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to one based on whole wheat.
Monday, October 19, 2009 - 3:00am
Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday announced that the government will develop plans for an endowment to be used to supplement the salaries of top academics, many of whom in recent years have left Israel for the United States, Haaretz reported. He said that the goal was both to prevent further losses and to lure back to Israel some who have already left.
Monday, October 19, 2009 - 3:00am
Following an intense lobbying drive by colleges and students in Illinois, a new law will authorize about 137,000 low-income students to receive their state grants for the spring semester. The grants were endangered because the state -- facing a budget crisis -- cut $200 million from the program. But the Chicago Tribune reported that Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation allowing the state to borrow money for the grants from other state funds.
Monday, October 19, 2009 - 3:00am
Harding University announced Friday that it will consider the new state lottery in Arkansas to be off limits to students, the Associated Press reported. The new lottery supports college scholarships, and Harding officials earlier said that the university's ban on gambling did not apply to the lottery. David Burks, president of the university, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, said: "My intention [in the original policy] was to express in our policy the reality that it will be very difficult to enforce any prohibition against the lottery. In an attempt to avoid one appearance of hypocrisy, I made a decision that has itself come to be viewed as hypocritical." While several public universities in the state ban gambling on campus, their policies do not apply to student conduct off campus. Religious colleges in the state, however, typically have student codes of conduct that extend off campus. The AP said that Ouachita Baptist University considers the lottery to be included in its ban against gambling. John Brown University, a nondenominational Christian college, has a policy discouraging gambling by students, but officials told the AP that there would likely be little punishment for students who play the lottery.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 3:00am
Wheeling Jesuit University has refused the request of a group that represents survivors of victims of sexual abuse by clergy to investigate one of its board members, the Associated Press reported. The Rev. Thomas Gleeson, the board member, was accused in a lawsuit in the 1990s of being among priests at the Jesuit School of Theology, in California, who sexually harassed a seminarian. The suit was settled out of court with no admission of wrongdoing. But the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests argues that new standards by the Roman Catholic Church require full and public investigations of such charges before the accused should be in positions of power. J. Davitt McAteer, Wheeling Jesuit's interim president, issued a statement indicating that the institution sees no need to investigate. "We at Wheeling Jesuit University, and I personally, am happy to have Father Gleeson serving as a valuable member of our Board of Trustees and Board of Directors.... We have no plans to suspend Father Gleeson, nor conduct any investigation."
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 3:00am
A freshman at the University of New Hampshire has set off a debate there over the American flag. The student was ordered to remove one he was flying outside his dormitory window, Foster's Daily Democrat reported. The university says its ban is not on the flag, but on flying or hanging anything out of windows -- a rule needed for safety reasons. The student says there should be an exception for the flag.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - 3:00am
Students at the University of Western Ontario are expressing anger and concern about the arrest of a student Wednesday, based on a YouTube video of the arrest that appears to show officers kneeing and punching the student, CBC News reported. University officials said that they were responding to complaints about the student, and were using appropriate measures to restrain an uncooperative student.
