Quick Takes: Another Link Between Colleges and Lenders Questioned, Ohio U. Revokes Degree, Private Effort to Recruit Black Students to UCLA, Ousted Sorority Sues DePauw, British Universities Told to Fight Anti-Semitism, Helicopter Parent With Ice Pick?

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Some colleges are using lenders to staff call centers for students with questions about financial aid, The New York Times reported. The growing investigation into lender-college ties by the New York State attorney general's office has found that some contracts for such services require the people working in the call center to identify themselves as being part of the college or university, the Times reported.
Ohio University announced Wednesday that it has revoked the master's degree of a former student in mechanical engineering, having concluded that the student's thesis contained plagiarism. The action is the first degree revocation coming out of an investigation into numerous theses, which was prompted by another former student's charges of widespread plagiarism in the department.
The University of California at Los Angeles is trying a number of strategies this year in the wake of a drop in black enrollment, but the institution is limited by a measure voters put in the California Constitution barring the use of racial preferences by public institutions. That ban does not limit private efforts, however, and the Los Angeles Times reported that several prominent alumni have raised $1.75 million for new scholarships -- and plan to give $1,000 to every black applicant who is admitted this year and enrolls.
Delta Zeta sorority on Wednesday sued DePauw University in federal court -- in the latest escalation of a conflict over the sorority's treatment of some of its members at the university. The sorority is charging the university with defaming it and backing out of contractual obligations. The university announced plans this month to sever ties to the sorority, which asked a number of its DePauw members -- particularly those not fitting certain ideals of female beauty -- to leave its house. DePauw issued a statement Wednesday in which it said that it acted to protect its students and that the suit "completely lacks merit."
British universities are being urged by the government to step up efforts to fight anti-Semitism on campus, and to keep records of student complaints. but the government is backing away from proposals to ask university officials to spy on students involved in some radical Muslim groups, The Guardian reported.
Judy Moore Smith was arrested Wednesday at Texas College after she allegedly attacked one student with an ice pick and bit another student, The Tyler Morning Telegraph reported. Smith, 44, was on the campus because she was upset about how her daughter was being treated by other students. Smith's attacks on students came as she was approaching one of the students with whom her daughter had disagreements and other students tried to break up the confrontation, college officials told the Morning Telegraph.