Higher Education Quick Takes

Quick Takes

Higher Bar for Fee Waiver in California
January 14, 2014

By 2016 California community college students will need to maintain certain academic performance standards to remain eligible for fee waivers, according to a policy approved this week by the community college system's Board of Governors. The fee waivers eliminate the relatively affordable tuition of $46 per credit that the system's 112 colleges charge. But to remain eligible under the change, students will be required to maintain a 2.0 GPA for two consecutive terms. They will also lose access to the state subsidy if they fail to complete half of the credits they attempt in a semester.

The new standard is a part of a broad array of changes the system made in response to the recommendations of a state task force, which the board approved in 2012. System officials said the colleges are also planning to offer more academic counseling and support to students.

"We will do everything in our power to help students on financial aid succeed, but students need to know that they have a responsibility to keep up their end of the bargain,” Brice W. Harris, the system's chancellor, said in a written statement.

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$50 Million Gift for Bioscience at Southern Cal
January 13, 2014

The University of Southern California is today announcing a $50 million gift to create a center for "convergent bioscience." The center will be a collaborative effort of USC's arts and sciences and engineering colleges.

 

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Professor Arrested in Attack on His Fiancée/Student
January 13, 2014

Robby Burleigh, a professor at Baton Rouge Community College, has been arrested on charges that he attacked his fiancée, who also is one of his students, The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reported. Police records state that the fiancée is pregnant and that a fight started over her desire to keep the baby. Burleigh teaches philosophy of religion, biomedical ethics, introduction to ethics and introduction to logic at the college. He faces charges of domestic abuse battery, false imprisonment and simple criminal damage to property. He told authorities that he did pin down his fiancée, but only to try to "calm her down."

 

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Gross Details of Alleged SUNY Canton Hazing
January 13, 2014

Seven fraternity members at the State University of New York at Canton have been charged by authorities with hazing, and The Watertown Daily News detailed some of the acts they are alleged to have orchestrated in November's pledging process:

  • Pledges were branded with a metal hanger, with the branding done by the father of a fraternity member.
  • Removing excrement from a toilet by hand and being told to eat it. (The pledge who reported this said he declined to actually eat.)
  • Rubbing hot sauce onto their crotches for 15 minutes.
  • Cracking raw eggs into the mouth of a pledge, who would then be told to spit the egg into another pledge's mouth.

The students who were charged will appear in court later this month to respond to the charges.

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Academic Minute: The Human Brain and Empathy
January 13, 2014

In today’s Academic Minute, James Coan of the University of Virginia reveals evidence that our brains are wired for empathy. Learn more about the Academic Minute here.

 

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Managing the Student Lifecycle
January 13, 2014

"Managing the Student Lifecycle" is a collection of news articles -- in print-on-demand format -- about issues facing students as they progress through higher education. The articles aim to put recent developments into long-term context. The goal is to provide some of Inside Higher Ed's best recent material in one easy-to-read place. Download the booklet here.

This is the fifth in a series of such compilations that Inside Higher Ed is publishing on a range of topics, such as retention, online learning and accreditation. On January 28, 2014, Inside Higher Ed will offer a free webinar in which Editors Scott Jaschik and Doug Lederman will discuss these issues. You can register for the webinar here.
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Paper: Universities Lose Money on Research
January 13, 2014

Most universities lose money on research, according to an analysis published in the journal Technology and Innovation - Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors. The study notes that universities seek (and receive) research grants from the federal government and other sources. But the study says that these grants cover such a small share of "indirect costs" of research -- such as staffing, equipment and facilities -- that typically institutions lose money. The authors of the paper are Karen Holbrook, former president of Ohio State University, and Paul R. Sanberg, senior vice president for research and innovation at the University of South Florida.

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Administrator Who Ran Phone Sex Line Won't Be Fired
January 13, 2014

The University of Colorado at Denver does not plan to seek the dismissal of an administrator who was placed on leave after the revelation that she was running a phone sex service, CBS Denver 4 reported. The TV network has also found that she ran an escort service. The administrator -- Resa Cooper-Morning, cultural diversity coordinator in the university's ethnic studies department -- has declined to comment, and her lawyer has denied any wrongdoing.

A spokesman for the university said: "We’ve been unable to establish that Ms. Cooper-Morning engaged in criminal activity nor have we been able to determine that she operated her outside businesses while on the job. The university does not condone Ms. Cooper-Morning's activities, but under the law, there are limits on actions that employers can take regarding off-duty conduct of employees. In the absence of additional information, Ms. Cooper-Morning remains employed by the university."

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Penn State's Credit Card Royalties
January 13, 2014

Pennsylvania State University earned more ($2.7 million) on credit card royalties and fees than did any other college or university, according to an analysis by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The newspaper used reports required by a new federal law. But the analysis also found that the number of accounts on which Penn State is paid is going down -- from 65,955 in December 2011 to 60,490 in December 2012.

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U. of Wisconsin System Selects One of Its Own as President
January 10, 2014

The University of Wisconsin System has a new president -- and like his two most recent predecessors, he was an internal candidate. The system's Board of Regents on Thursday selected Raymond W. Cross, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Colleges and University of Wisconsin-Extension, as the system's new leader. Cross, who has been in Wisconsin since 2011, replaces Kevin C. Reilly, who resigned to take a leadership position at the American Council on Education after months of rocky relations with legislators over the system's finances.

Reilly had the same job -- as chancellor of the system's network of two-year colleges, online programs and community services -- before he became UW's president. His predecessor, Katherine C. Lyall, was the system's chief academic officer before she became president.

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