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Florida State Will Review Deal With Koch Foundation
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 - 3:00am

Eric Barron, president of Florida State University, has asked the Faculty Senate to review the terms of a grant from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation "to ensure that the integrity of Florida State University was protected," The Miami Herald reported. The terms include provisions giving foundation-appointed committee members the right to review candidates for faculty positions and effectively veto power over hires, and academics at Florida State and elsewhere have criticized these terms as giving the foundation inappropriate control over academic decision-making. To date, however, Barron has strongly defended the grant agreement (which was made before he became president). The Faculty Senate currently has no formal role in reviewing gifts or grants that relate to academic decisions, and the body is considering whether it needs to review such arrangements.

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Upcoming Events in Higher Ed: Affirmative Action, Campus Law Enforcement, College Housing, Computer Law, Engineering Education, Psychology, University Professors
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 - 3:00am

  • AAUP 97th Annual Meeting, American Association of University Professors, June 9-12, Washington, D.C.
  • Annual Conference, International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, June 17-20, Charlotte, N.C.
  • 118th Annual Conference & Exposition, American Society for Engineering Education, June 26-29, Vancouver, B.C.
  • Access, Equity and Diversity Summit and Annual Meeting, American Association for Affirmative Action and the New Jersey Affirmative Action Officers' Council, June 28-30, Atlantic City, N.J.
  • Annual Conference & Exposition, Association of College and University Housing Officers-International (ACUHO-I), July 9-12, New Orleans.
  • Institute for Computer Policy and Law, Cornell University and EDUCAUSE, July 18-21, Ithaca, N.Y.
  • 119th Annual Convention, American Psychological Association, August 4-7, Washington, D.C.

    • These meetings, conferences, seminars and other events will be held in the coming weeks in and around higher education. They are among the many such that appear in our calendar on The Lists on Inside Higher Ed, which also includes a comprehensive catalog of job changes in higher education. This listing will appear as a regular feature in this space.

    To submit a listing, click here.

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    Education Dept. Calls Off New Fulbright-Hays Grants
    Monday, May 23, 2011 - 3:00am

    The U.S. Education Department, citing a diminished budget, has called off the competition for new awards in the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Award program, which supports dissertation research abroad. In September, the department invited applications for the program, expressing the hope that it might have $5.8 million, but last week the department announced that no funds would be available for new grants.

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    Jerry Brown Wants to Kill Coordinating Commission
    Monday, May 23, 2011 - 3:00am

    California Governor Jerry Brown last week proposed -- as part of a new round of state budget cuts -- that the California Postsecondary Education Commission be eliminated. The governor's budget proposal states that the elimination "would have little programmatic impact as the functions it performs are either advisory in nature or can be performed by other agencies." California Watch, a project of the Center for Investigative Reporting, noted concerns by some analysts that California's three massive higher education systems can't be expected to coordinate among themselves without some additional body charged with reviewing new campuses or major programs, and analyzing statewide trends.

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    State Department Loosens Visa Rules for Iranian Students
    Monday, May 23, 2011 - 3:00am

    The U.S. State Department announced Friday that it was changing the visa rules for Iranian students that have limited them to "single entry" visas, which have forced any Iranian student who travels outside the United States to reapply for a new visa. The multiple-entry visas for which Iranian students can now apply will allow them to travel abroad and return to their studies in the United States. "This change will allow Iranian students and exchange visitors to travel more easily, furthering our goal of promoting the free flow of information and ideas. This important decision is being taken as the global community witnesses the Iranian government’s increasing censorship and isolation of its own people," said a statement from the State Department.

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    Campaign Against Israeli Hummus Misses Goal at DePaul
    Monday, May 23, 2011 - 3:00am

    A move to get DePaul University students to call for the institution to stop selling the Sabra brand of hummus, which is owned in part by an Israeli company, failed to get enough votes. A large majority of students who voted in the referendum backed the idea of kicking Sabra off campus, but DePaul requires referendums to have 1,500 voters to be considered valid, and not enough students voted to reach that threshold. DePaul's administration never said that the results of the vote would be followed, even if 1,500 students voted. Students for Justice in Palestine, which pushed for the vote, issued an open letter arguing that it had won a "landslide victory" -- even if the election lacked enough voters to count. The Chicago office of the American Jewish Committee issued a statement noting that "too few of DePaul’s 25,000 students cared enough even to vote."

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    Syrian Studies Association Responds to Unrest
    Monday, May 23, 2011 - 3:00am

    The Syrian Studies Association last week issued a statement noting that its members are "deeply saddened by the violence that is occurring throughout the country" and "are particularly distressed by reports of deliberate shootings and mass arrests." The statement also noted the "disappointment of the many researchers who are unable to conduct their work under existing circumstances." The association is recommending that scholars who were planning fieldwork in Syria this summer "cautiously evaluate developments inside Syria before traveling." Members of the association are also being urged to "do everything they can to provide informed and accurate background and commentary regarding events in Syria, so that policy-makers and the general public alike benefit from the insights of scholars who have devoted time and energy to understanding the subtleties of Syria's internal and regional affairs."

    Finally the association appeals to any members with connections to Syrian authorities to "impress upon them the importance of unrestricted channels of news and information, which offer the only viable foundation for an appreciation of the objectives and motivations of all sides in any dispute."

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    Are Pajama-Clad Women Enticing Students to For-Profit Higher Ed?
    Monday, May 23, 2011 - 3:00am

    Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who has become a leading critic of for-profit higher education, took to the Senate floor Thursday night to criticize ads that he said were encouraging students to enroll at such institutions, The Hill reported. "The ad that just really troubles me shows a lovely young woman who says you can go to college in your pajamas.... You don't even have to get out of bed to go to college, and she's got a computer on her bed there." He added that "I don't believe anybody should fall for that, but some must, and they end up signing up for these for-profit schools, getting deep in debt with a worthless diploma when it's all over."

    The Hill identified this ad -- in which the actress playing a student starts by saying "I love learning new things in my pajamas" -- as the one that concerned Durbin:

    The ad is for EducationConnection.com, which promotes online higher education. While many of the colleges it promotes are for-profit, others are not.

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    Commencement Typo
    Monday, May 23, 2011 - 3:00am

    Georgetown University's commencement ceremonies were smooth except for one problem -- a typo on the program cover -- The Washington Post reported. Georgetown University appeared as Georgetown Univeristy. Georgetown plans to make corrected programs available.

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    UMass Amherst Chancellor Appears on Way Out
    Monday, May 23, 2011 - 3:00am

    A review committee has recommended that the University of Massachusetts at Amherst not renew the contract of Chancellor Robert Holub, setting the stage for the flagship to have had four chancellors in a decade, The Boston Globe reported. Holub declined to comment on his job status, but defended his record to the Globe, saying that various academic indicators were all headed in the right direction. But people familiar with the deliberations about Holub's future said that he was faulted for, among other things, poor political instincts and insufficient concern over declines in black enrollment.

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