Higher Education Quick Takes

The University System of Maryland Board of Regents on Friday approved a continuation of Salisbury University's policy -- first adopted five years ago as a pilot -- of letting students who graduate from high school with a 3.5 or higher grade point average opt out of submitting an SAT or ACT score. A study done by the university found that students who enrolled without submitting test scores outperformed those who submitted them in course completion and graduation rates, while the two groups were similar in grade-point averages at the university.

The board that governs the Oregon University System has extended the contract of the president of the University of Oregon -- but only for a year, and after telling him that he needed to be more of a team player, The Oregonian reported. Richard W. Lariviere has pushed a controversial plan designed to limit state support for the institution in exchange for significantly more independence -- and that plan, like others in Wisconsin and elsewhere, has caused friction with other public higher education leaders. (The University of Wisconsin at Madison's chancellor, Carolyn A. (Biddy) Martin, announced Tuesday that she would leave to become president of Amherst College, though she said she had not been urged to leave.) "We want his participation as a member of the team," Paul Kelly, president of the State Board of Higher Education, said of Lariviere during a telephone meeting Tuesday. In extending Lariviere's contract for one year instead of the usual two or three, board members specifically mandated that he attend meetings of his peers and participate in continuing discussions about changes in Oregon's higher education structure.

Advocates for Maryland's historically black colleges and representatives of the state have agreed to settlement discussions in a suit charging Maryland with bias against the colleges, The Baltimore Sun reported. The suit -- charging unfair treatment of the black colleges -- is five years old. Key issues in the settlement talks will be whether state funding formulas hurt black colleges, and the status of "duplicative" programs that the black colleges say the state should not have authorized at nearby predominantly white institutions.

A survey of graduate program directors by the American Sociological Association has found that 17 percent believe their master's programs are very or somewhat likely to close, and another 21 percent said that their programs were "somewhat unlikely" to close. While a majority sees no immediate concern about closure, the significant minority that sees the possibility prompted analysis on funding patterns and curriculums in the master's programs.