South Korean officials announced Monday that the government is shutting down two universities -- Myungshin University and Sungwha College -- that were found to have violated the law through "serious corruption and irregularities," including embezzlement and creating fake documents, The Korea Herald reported. The government will help students current enrolled at the two institutions transfer elsewhere.
In today’s Academic Minute, Barry Albright of the University of North Florida introduces and describes a new species of dinosaur recently discovered in southern Utah. Find out more about the Academic Minute here.
Faculty members at two California State University campuses -- East Bay and Dominguez Hills -- will strike for a day on Nov. 17 to protest a decision to withhold negotiated pay raises, according to the California Faculty Association. The association’s board of directors voted Monday to approve the strike. The raises, for the previous two academic years, were withheld after the state cut funding, according to the Associated Press. Informational picketing is being organized today and Wednesday on all Cal State campuses in the state.
Outrage is growing at leaders of Pennsylvania State University -- and not only at those who are facing criminal charges over allegations of the sex abuse of young boys, and of university officials lying about it (charges denied by all involved). Petitions have appeared calling for the resignation of Graham Spanier as president of the university. This Wednesday, Spanier and his wife were to be honored at a Penn State fund-raising dinner, and organizers announced Monday that the Spaniers had requested that the event be postponed in light of the events of the last week, StateCollege.com reported.
Even as officials said that Joe Paterno, the legendary football coach, was not a target of a criminal investigation, calls came for his resignation or firing. A photograph sent on Twitter shows a sign -- since removed, according to other reports -- around a statute of Paterno outside the Penn State football stadium. The sign features a line from the Penn State alma mater -- "may no act of ours bring shame."
In today's Academic Minute, Melissa Libertus of Johns Hopkins University reveals that a student’s math ability may be well established before formal math education ever begins. Find out more about the Academic Minute here.
Federal officials on Monday froze expansion of the J-1 visa program that allows foreign college students to take summer jobs in the United States, the Associated Press reported. The freeze followed reports by the AP on complaints that many of those who come to the United States through the program have been exploited by employers.
The University of Colorado Board of Regents plans to reconsider a policy that generally allows tenured faculty members who are fired to remain on payroll for a year, The Boulder Daily Camera reported. It is rare for tenured faculty members to be fired, so the policy is rarely invoked, but the pay rule attracted attention when Ward Churchill was fired as an ethnic studies professor at the Boulder campus and he collected about $96,000 in salary after his dismissal. Under the shift being proposed, the board could determine whether a fired professor should be paid, and the board would consider recommendations on the issue from a faculty committee.
The presidents of public universities in Illinois have issued a joint letter opposing a pension reform plan that would give their faculty members -- and other state employees -- the option of paying more for current benefit levels, or of receiving smaller payments at various points in the future, The Pantagraph reported. "Reducing (faculty) benefits or forcing them to pay significantly more for benefits that were promised to them is likely to cause a significant migration of talented people out of this state," said the letter from the presidents. A spokeswoman for the legislator who came up with the plan said that "we encourage the university presidents and chancellors to tap into the talent at their universities and offer solutions, not just resistance."
A ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court last week seems likely to hurt the fight by some student newspapers in Virginia to keep running alcohol advertisements, the Associated Press reported. The newspapers are fighting state regulations banning such ads, arguing that that many of the papers' readers are in fact of legal drinking age. A federal judge considering the case asked the Virginia Supreme Court to consider the definition in the state of a college newspaper. The court ruled that newspapers can still be considered college publications, even if a majority of readers are 21 and older, if the primary intended audience is younger.
Pennsylvania State University, its football program and two senior administrators are facing a growing scandal over allegations of sex abuse by the former defensive coordinator of the team. On Sunday night, the university announced the resignations of two senior officials implicated for allegedly not reporting the sex abuse and charged with lying about what they knew.
Pennsylvania authorities have charged Gerald Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator, with 40 counts related to alleged sexual abuse of young boys, including incidents that are said to have taken place on university grounds. Two other officials -- Tim Curley, the athletics director, and Gary Schultz, the senior vice president for finance and business -- were charged with perjury (for allegedly lying about what they know about Sandusky) and for failing to report to authorities an incident that was reported to them. All three officials have denied wrongdoing.
A statement from Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly said: "This is a case about a sexual predator who used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys. It is also a case about high-ranking university officials who allegedly failed to report the sexual assault of a young boy after the information was brought to their attention, and later made false statements to a grand jury that was investigating a series of assaults on young boys."
On Saturday, Graham Spanier, president of Penn State, issued a statement that did not offer a view of the charges against Sandusky, but that strongly supported Curley and Schultz. "The allegations about a former coach are troubling, and it is appropriate that they be investigated thoroughly. Protecting children requires the utmost vigilance," Spanier said. "With regard to the other presentments, I wish to say that Tim Curley and Gary Schultz have my unconditional support. I have known and worked daily with Tim and Gary for more than 16 years. I have complete confidence in how they have handled the allegations about a former university employee. Tim Curley and Gary Schultz operate at the highest levels of honesty, integrity and compassion. I am confident the record will show that these charges are groundless and that they conducted themselves professionally and appropriately."
But on Sunday night, Penn State's board announced that Curley and Schultz would leave their positions to focus on defending themselves. Further, the board announced plans for an investigation into the university's policies and procedures for the protection of children. Steve Garban, chair of the board, released this statement: "The board, along with the entire Penn State family, is shocked and saddened by the allegations involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. Under no circumstances does the university tolerate behavior that would put children at risk, and we are deeply troubled."
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