Higher Education Quick Takes

The board of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology voted unanimously Thursday to reject a boycott of Israeli higher education. Some faculty members had proposed the boycott, while others opposed it. Many American groups urged the university not to adopt the measure. A statement from the board said: "As an academic institution, NTNU's mission is to stimulate the study of the causes of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and how it can be resolved. This means that the university is also dependent on being able to cooperate with Israeli academics, and hear their views on the conflict."

Fairfield University is considering harassment charges against its student newspaper over a controversial column on campus sex, the Associated Press reported. The column -- which led some female students to charge harassment -- focused on one-night stands. The essay advised male students on how to navigate "the road to pleasure town" and to share details with friends to make sure "her walk of shame is an induction into your hall of fame."

Maine officials blocked Raymond Luc Levasseur from leaving the state to give a lecture scheduled for Thursday at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, although 200 people held a protest anyway, MassLive reported. The talk was scheduled, called off, and rescheduled -- with politicians criticizing the university for the invitation, and university officials saying that blocking Levasseur would have violated principles of free expression.

The American Association of University Professors has lifted its censure of Tulane University, following an agreement that Tulane would not cite the move in defending itself in lawsuits from former faculty members. Tulane was censured in 2007 for the way it eliminated departments and made decisions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The university maintained at the time -- and has maintained since -- that it had no choice but to act quickly to shift priorities in light of the severe situation presented by Katrina. But the AAUP investigation into the situation questioned the extent to which the university needed to take those specific steps, particularly without appropriate levels (to the AAUP) of faculty input. The university has adopted policies -- developed by faculty members and with AAUP backing -- that specify more explicit faculty roles in decision making in a financial crisis, and that stress the protections that should be offered to tenured faculty members. The final issue to be resolved concerned fears that the lifting of censure could hurt lawsuits against the university, and Tulane's pledge not to cite the lifting of censure led to the latest decision.