Quick Takes: Pomona and Swarthmore Eliminate Loans, 12 Colleges in Genomics Experiment, Stanford Seeks Young Scholars of Race, No Confidence at Modesto, Tighter Oversight at Chicago State, President's Private Shower Nixed

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Pomona and Swarthmore Colleges on Wednesday became the latest institutions to eliminate loans as part of students' financial aid packages.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has chosen 12 colleges and universities to participate in a previously announced collaborative effort to create a national genomics course directed toward freshmen. The institute is setting up a network of colleges and universities that teach from a centralized set of materials with a common goal: to encourage students to pursue research as early as possible, to immerse them in the tools of basic scientific inquiry and to allow collaborations between the network’s members. The initial participating institutions are: Carnegie Mellon, James Madison and Oregon State Universities; the College of William and Mary; Hope and Spelman Colleges; the Universities of California at San Diego and Santa Cruz, Louisiana at Monroe, Mary Washington and Maryland-Baltimore County; and Washington University in St. Louis.
Stanford University has announced a new program in which it will create 10 new faculty slots with the goal of hiring rising stars in the humanities and social sciences who conduct research on issues of race and ethnicity.
Faculty members at Modesto Junior College have overwhelmingly voted no confidence in the leadership of Richard Rose, the new president, The Modesto Bee reported. Professors say that the president does not include them in key decisions, while Rose says that he is trying to create needed procedures and rules where they have not existed.
Trustees of Chicago State University promised Wednesday to provide closer oversight of the institution's business practices in the wake of a Chicago Tribune report that the institution purchased two high-priced copy machines from a company owned by an employee of the university. Trustees also said they would investigate how the no-bid purchase was allowed to take place.
A plan to add a shower to the private restroom in the president's office of Santa Ana College has been halted. The Orange County Register reported that trustees of the Rancho Santiago Community College District put a stop to the project, which had already started, after word of it leaked to them. Erlinda Martinez, president at Santa Ana, said she needed the private shower because she must frequently change from business attire to cocktail attire when she leaves her office to go directly to receptions in the evening. But trustees said that the spending sent the wrong message. The Register reported that private showers are common for corporate CEO's, but not for college presidents, many of whom manage with the same bathrooms used by other employees in their buildings.