Higher Education Quick Takes

Two Brown University basketball players have sued the Ivy League over its prohibition on athletic scholarships, alleging the policy amounts to price fixing and denies athletes proper compensation for their services, the Associated Press reported.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut by lawyers representing Grace Kirk, a member of the Brown women’s basketball team, and Tamenang Choh, who played on the men’s team from 2017 to 2022. They are seeking class action status so the suit would cover all current athletes at the eight Ivy League institutions as well as former athletes recruited since March 2019.

The lawsuit argues that Brown, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Cornell Universities, Dartmouth College, and the University of Pennsylvania have illegally conspired to limit financial aid by banning athletic scholarships.

“Regardless of whether considered as a restraint on the price of education, the value of financial aid, the price of athletic services, or the level of compensation to Ivy League athletes, the Ivy League Agreement is per se illegal,” the lawsuit states.

Robin Harris, the Ivy League executive director, defended the no-scholarship policy.

“The Ivy League athletics model is built upon the foundational principle that student-athletes should be representative of the wider student body, including the opportunity to receive need-based financial aid,” she told the AP in a statement. “In turn, choosing and embracing that principle then provides each Ivy League student-athlete a journey that balances a world-class academic experience with the opportunity to compete in Division I athletics and ultimately paves a path for lifelong success.”

Lawyers for the basketball players noted that other elite higher ed institutions—including Stanford and Duke—offer athletic scholarships without compromising academic quality.

“These schools are not part of the Ivy League, but they demonstrate they can maintain stellar academic standards while competing for excellent athletes, and without agreed upon limits on price,” the lawsuit said.

A student pilot at Polk State College and his flight instructor were killed Tuesday when their plane collided with another small plane.

Killed were Zachary Mace, the student, and Faith Irene Baker, his instructor. Baker worked for Sunrise Aviation, which provided planes and instructors to Polk State.

“Our Polk State College family is devastated by this tragedy,” Polk State president Angela Garcia Falconetti said. “We extend our deepest condolences to their families, friends and colleagues.”

The union that says it includes nearly 2,500 Temple University faculty members, professional librarians and academic professionals is still discussing whether to hold a no-confidence vote in Temple’s “central administration.”

The Temple Association of University Professionals (TAUP) is separate from the currently striking graduate student workers’ union but likewise affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers.

On Friday, TAUP announced in a news release that 580 of its members had gathered virtually to discuss a possible no-confidence vote.

The release said there have been layoffs, decreases in tenured positions and class size increases. At the end of the release, TAUP also mentioned the graduate student workers union’s continued lack of a contract and ongoing public safety concerns—a campus police officer was killed last month.

On Tuesday, TAUP announced that in its executive committee emergency meeting Monday, “the union’s elected leadership decided that the serious concerns raised by our members and others across the university community necessitated a public vote by the union on whether to authorize a vote of no confidence.” 

The Tuesday announcement said there will be another meeting, on March 17, where “union members will have the chance to speak for or against the motion, and the meeting will end with a public vote. If the motion is successful, TAUP will initiate an official vote of no confidence the following week.”

Temple said negotiations with the graduate student workers’ union resumed Tuesday, for the first time in a week.

“We are aware of the prospect of a no-confidence vote in our senior university leaders,” a Temple spokesman said. “We are hopeful that the outcome of the discussions is that faculty members will continue to work with us to address the serious issues facing the university.”

Nick Swayne is again the president of North Idaho College.

The board, which placed him on administrative leave without cause in December, on Monday acted on the orders of State Judge Cynthia Meyer. In her ruling, Meyer said, “The board’s majority has wrongfully locked its captain in the brig while steering NIC toward an iceberg. The board’s decision to keep him on leave without cause is hostile and arbitrary.” She added, “It appears that the investigation [into Swayne] is a sham and a pretext for Dr. Swayne’s removal from his position as president.” She granted a preliminary injunction ordering the reinstatement.

“The majority of the board members don’t necessarily agree with the court order, but the college will abide by the court’s ruling,” Chair Greg McKenzie said prior to the vote, reported by The Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Press.

A crowd of 90 people watched the meeting, and most of them broke into applause after the vote.

North Idaho College is facing a show cause letter from its accreditor and widespread anger over Swayne’s dismissal and other issues.