Higher Education Quick Takes

Scores of students protested at Bethune-Cookman University Tuesday after a sprinkler system went off in a dormitory and the students weren't allowed back in, The Orlando Sentinel reported. Some television stations called the incident a riot, but other reports said that was a stretch. But the Sentinel did report that at one point, students were charging toward a dean's office, and that someone threw a chair through a window. A statement from the university said that the sprinkler system went off after a student placed clothing on a sprinkler. The statement said that the incidents were being investigated. A student blog -- Cookman Rebels -- offers a more critical look at the day's events.

An adjunct at the State University of New York at Binghamton, who in February was quoted in The New York Times as saying she received pressure to go easy in grading basketball players, has lost her position at the university, the newspaper reported. Sally Dear has taught human development at Binghamton for 11 years and said that this week she received notice that she would have no courses to teach, effective next semester. "I'm fired for being ethical," Dear told the Times. The Binghamton basketball team has achieved unprecedented (for the university) athletic success, but many have questioned whether the program was advancing in ways that hurt the university's strong academic reputation. The university dismissed six athletes last week. A university spokeswoman, noting that the SUNY system is facing deep budget cuts, denied any link between Dear's statements about the athletic program and the loss of her position.

Raymond Vance Fulkerson, facing 15 counts of sexual misconduct involving 13 alleged victims, has resigned his tenured position as theater professor at the University of Northern Colorado, The Denver Post reported. University officials said that they did not pay Fulkerson to quit, and that he will receive only the standard benefits, such as retirement accounts, to which he would normally be entitled. The university is also investigating Fulkerson. As reported earlier by the Post, a number of students filed complaints about Fulkerson, a theater professor, over what they considered inappropriate sexual advances, and some believe that the university did nothing to stop the pattern. The former students described incidents involving Fulkerson -- and one former professor confirmed that complaints were filed and nothing happened -- in the wake of his arrest in July, based on a complaint that he had a video monitoring system set up in the bathroom at his home. The Post reported that Fulkerson told police the video system was for use with paid models. But former students reported that Fulkerson would -- during private voice lessons at his house -- encourage them to go to the bathroom to urinate while singing (allegedly claiming that this would help their singing) and that he filmed them there without their knowledge. Others reported that he took them on trips to events that then didn't take place, promising separate hotel rooms that became one room, and made advances, frequently after drinking with the students. Fulkerson is expected to enter a plea in the case in November.

Seminole Community College has become the latest Florida community colleges to rename itself as part of a shift to adding four-year programs. But as The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported, the college invited submissions from the public on possible name changes. While the college ended up going with a fairly modest name change, becoming Seminole State College of Florida, some proposals were more dramatic. Among the ideas submitted: Obama State College, Ronald Reagan State College, Zora Hurston College, Tebow College, Michael Jackson State College and Bob Saget State College.