Quick Takes: Democratic Senators Rally Around Upward Bound, Excelsior Wins Suit Against Test-Prep Company, Multiple Principal Investigators, Ruling Helps Xavier's Katrina Claims, Dartmouth Rally Condemns 'Review' Cover, Grawemeyer in Religion

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December 1, 2006

Six Democratic senators are calling on Congress to block the Education Department from making changes in the eligibility requirements for the Upward Bound program that helps prepare disadvantaged students for college. The Education Department's proposals have been opposed by many educators, who say that they would hinder a program that has been highly effective. The senators who are opposing the change are: Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Barack Obama of Illinois, and Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

Excelsior College, a nonprofit institution that specializes in adult distance education, announced Thursday that it has been awarded $7.8 million in a lawsuit filed against a California test-prep company that was found to have used the college's copyrighted material. The college reported that a U.S. district court jury in San Diego found that Professional Development Systems School of Heath Sciences and its owner misappropriated trade secrets and profited from the use of the institution's material. Charles M. Frye, owner of the company, said that no final judgment has been made and that no damages have been assessed. He declined to talk about other details. The company was found to have "willfully" infringed on Excelsior's copyrighted material in three exam content guides and on answers to several examinations, according to the college. Excelsior does not release the exam questions to the public and had registered the exams years ago because they considered them to be "valuable intellectual property," according to David P. Miranda, the lead counsel representing the college. "It was established at the trial that questions were substantially similar to our copyrighted exam questions; that was the crux of the case," Miranda said.

The National Institutes of Health has issued new guidelines that allow for more than one principal investigator on a grant.

A federal judge has ruled that insurance companies sued by Xavier University of Louisiana and many people who own homes and businesses in New Orleans are responsible for damage that can be traced to human error in managing the flood, not just for the hurricane itself, Tribune Wire Service reported. While the ruling could be a huge victory for Xavier, the decision is being appealed.

Hundreds of students, professors and administrators at Dartmouth College held a rally Wednesday to protest the cover and content of the latest issue of The Dartmouth Review, a conservative newspaper. The cover showed an Indian with a scalp and the headline "The Natives Are Getting Restless." The newspaper criticized college officials for recent statements in which they have criticized anti-Indian incidents at the college.

Timothy Tyson, a senior scholar in documentary studies at Duke University, will today be named the winner of the 2007 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion. Tyson was honored for his book Blood Done Sign My Name, the history of a racially motivated killing in 1970 in Oxford, N.C.