Higher Education Quick Takes

In the wake of allegations swirling around Cam Newton, the Auburn University quarterback and Heisman Trophy frontrunner, the National Collegiate Athletic Association is considering whether to form a group to examine football recruiting infractions, Bloomberg reported. Julie Roe Lach, the NCAA's vice president for enforcement, said that such a panel would resemble one that was created two years ago to deal with recruiting issues in men’s basketball. Lach expressed concern about more recruits seeking money to attend top football programs and “the rise in seven-on-seven football tournaments funded by apparel companies,” calling them “a breeding ground for potential recruiting violations.”

Lisa Howe, former women's soccer coach at Belmont University, initially did not speak out in public after reports surfaced that she was pressured to resign once the institution learned that she was a lesbian and that Howe and her partner are planning to have a baby. But after the university's board chair spoke out, she is responding. The board chair, Marty Dickens, told The Tennessean, in regard to the treatment of Howe: "We expect people to commit themselves to high moral and ethical standards within a Christian context." On Monday evening, through a lawyer, Howe issued a statement in which she said: “No one wants their private family life made public or likes to think that people are talking about them, but I feel like I need to explain just a little about myself, for I have always held my head high and will continue to do so. I believe I am a good, moral person, who cares for others. Those and other basic Christian tenets are important to me, to how I live my life, including as a coach, and to what I want to teach my child as he or she grows up. I have never intentionally detracted from the goodness or holiness inherent in any person or institution, and I do my best not to judge people based on personal characteristics such as race, gender, religion, ability, or sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Michael Rao, the president of Virginia Commonwealth University, has withdrawn confidentiality agreements that he had required some university employees to sign, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. "The confidentiality agreements have been the subject of recent scrutiny and criticism and, unfortunately, have been misinterpreted in terms of what I sought to be accomplished by these agreements," he said in a statement. "I sincerely regret any undue burden or ill will that these agreements may have caused. Therefore, I have decided to withdraw all such confidentiality agreements."

Princeton University students last week rejected, by a vote of 1,014 to 699, a proposal to ask dining services to stock an additional brand of hummus beyond the Sabra that is currently offered. Pro-Palestinian students had pushed the idea of adding a new hummus choice, saying that they did not like their only hummus option to be from an Israeli company that the students accused of having ties to the Israeli military.