From the issue dated April 6, 2001
THE FACULTY
A NEW OPTION IN SCIENCE
Master's programs are being designed for students who want graduate training but don't aspire to academic careers.
BUSINESS OR PERSONAL?
In trying to divide her office telephone bill into those categories, Barbara Katz Rothman, a medical sociologist at the City University of New York, finds the boundary pretty blurry.
SPEAKING MINDS, MINDING SPEECH
When a class discussion on demonstrators was interrupted by demonstrators, students found out just how thorny a concept free speech can be, writes David L. Kirp, a public-policy professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
GUTLESS ON GRADE INFLATION
Flimsy official denials that it is a problem indicate only how serious an epidemic it has become, writes Harvey C. Mansfield, a professor of government at Harvard University.
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- THE RIGHT TO OFFEND: Criticism of a professor's poem led the president of the University of Alaska to issue a strong defense of free speech.
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- TEACHING THE PROFESSORS: Training new faculty members was a key topic at the annual meeting of the American Association for Higher Education.
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- PEER REVIEW: David Noble accuses Simon Fraser University of blocking his appointment to an endowed chair because of his strident attacks on distance education. ... A schism between literature and composition camps is leading to an exodus from the English department at New Mexico State University.
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- SYLLABUS: In "Law and the Holocaust," a course at the University of Pennsylvania, students explore the legal underpinnings of the Nazi regime and the use of courts to punish war criminals.
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- A BEAUTIFUL MIND: Filming got under way at Princeton University for a movie, starring the Oscar-winning Russell Crowe, about a researcher who won a 1994 Nobel Prize.
RESEARCH & PUBLISHING
FORGOTTEN PATHBREAKER
Two new books tell the story of Laura Bridgman, who was the first deaf-blind person known to have learned language.
GENERATIONAL WARFARE
A provocative theory posits that fetal cells, which sometimes persist in women's bodies even decades after pregnancy, may be the cause of autoimmune diseases in those women.
SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE
A struggle at the University of Nebraska over fetal-tissue research pits the promise of scientific progress against the reality of abortion politics.
RECOVERED NOTES
When a music major at the University of Virginia came upon works banned by the Nazis, he found a way to share his fascination.
FLIGHTS OF FANCY
Forty years and 40 books after he came to the University of Nebraska, the ornithologist Paul A. Johnsgard is still dazzled by bird migration on the Great Plains, writes Malcolm G. Scully, The Chronicle's editor at large.
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- VERBATIM: Medical professionals don't understand that there's no such thing as race, argues Joseph L. Graves Jr., a professor of evolutionary biology at Arizona State University West, in a new book.
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- HOT TYPE: In the March issue of PS: Political Science & Politics, two political scientists argue that it was indeed the economy, stupid, that led to Al Gore's defeat in the presidential election.
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- NOTA BENE: In a new book, Thomas Dormandy explores what accounts for the flowering of genius in some artists' old age.
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- SHARING INFORMATION: Prominent scholars called for a boycott of journals that won't make articles free online six months after publication.
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- SOME CRUST: A British physicist is using three million slices of buttered toast to test the validity of Murphy's Law.
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- PUTTING FIZZ IN ELSIE: Cornell University food scientists have developed a carbonated, flavored, milk-based beverage that they say kids will drink.
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE
A struggle at the University of Nebraska over fetal-tissue research pits the promise of scientific progress against the reality of abortion politics.
DEFEAT FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
A federal judge ruled that the University of Michigan Law School's admissions system is unconstitutional because of its emphasis on applicants' race.
HONEST BROKERS
Universities can play a key role in mediating between government and the private sector to develop sound public policies, writes Raymond L. Orbach, a physics professor and chancellor at the University of California at Riverside.
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- NAME NO NAMES: Florida legislators are considering a bill that would make it a misdemeanor to reveal the identity of a candidate for the presidency of a university or community college.
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- TRANSITION WATCH: President Bush's nomination of a Harvard scholar to lead a government office that reviews federal regulations has come under fire.
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- NEW LEADER IN CUNY SYSTEM: Over student objections, the governing board chose Ohio State University's law dean to lead City College.
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- UP IN THE AIR: Astronomers have mixed reactions to a proposal to move the National Science Foundation's astronomy program to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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- HAVING HIS SAY: The playwright Arthur Miller used a lecture in Washington to attack President Bush, Al Gore, the Supreme Court, and reporters who covered last year's presidential election.
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- STUDENT-FEE DISPUTE: The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case involving an Oregon community college's mandatory system.
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- BORROWERS' BURDEN: College students are going more deeply into debt each year, and most of them don't realize how much they will owe, according to a report from a group that wants Congress to increase spending on Pell Grants.
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- PRESIDENTS URGE THE PRESIDENT: The leaders of more than 100 universities released a letter asking the Bush administration to continue financing research on embryonic stem cells.
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- THE DEMOCRATS' PLAN: Legislation would raise the maximum Pell Grant to $7,000 over a three-year period and double federal financing for institutions with large minority enrollments.
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- NEW NOMINEE: President Bush said he would name an administrator at Ivy Tech State College-Central Indiana to the job of assistant secretary of education for vocational and adult education.
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- NEW BILLS IN CONGRESS
MONEY & MANAGEMENT
LEADERSHIP CRISIS
Community colleges face a major challenge: Some 80 percent of their presidents are expected to retire in the next decade, and the well of replacements is running dry.
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- HOW THEY GOT THE GIFT: A connoisseur of African-American art is donating his large collection to the University of Delaware.
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- GIVING BACK: Queens College of the City University of New York is returning a $3-million donation intended for a research center.
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- STILL WAITING: A donor who promised major gifts to four colleges for their poetry programs hasn't come through with the money.
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- STAYING ALIVE: Mount Senario College, placed on probation by an accreditor, has put its president on leave and eliminated two top posts.
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- RISKY BUSINESS: A surprising 23 percent of the holdings in education endowments are in investments like hedge funds and venture capital, according to a survey.
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- CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK: Southwestern Michigan College has chosen as its new president its vice president for instruction, who happens to be the son of the chairman of its Board of Trustees.
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- NAME NO NAMES: Florida legislators are considering a bill that would make it a misdemeanor to reveal the identity of a candidate for the presidency of a university or community college.
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- NEW LEADER IN CUNY SYSTEM: Over student objections, the governing board chose Ohio State University's law dean to lead City College.
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- LARGE-SCALE OUTSOURCING: The California State University System has hired Unisys to run its PeopleSoft software.
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- OUT OF BUSINESS: Colleges were left scrambling by the sudden closure of a company that managed their student-health centers.
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- FOUNDATION
GRANTS; GIFTS AND
BEQUESTS
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
NO LONGER INVISIBLE
An aggressive move online by South Korea's universities may benefit the country's women, who historically have had little access to higher education.
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- ANOTHER BENEFIT OF HARVARD: The university now offers free digital minicourses to alumni.
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- ACCESS ANYWHERE: The Oberlin Review has gone wireless.
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- SHARING INFORMATION: Prominent scholars called for a boycott of journals that won't make articles free online six months after publication.
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- FALL OF THE DOT-COMS: Two distance-education companies announced layoffs amid uncertainty in the industry.
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- CALL WAITING: A Canadian university is creating a system to carry voice conversations using a basic Internet networking standard.
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- ASSESSING ONLINE PROGRAMS: Regional accreditors have completed a set of recommendations for evaluating distance education.
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- LOGGING IN: Michael Kirschenheiter, an associate professor of accounting at Columbia University's business school and a pioneer in putting courses online, talks about the advantages of electronic interactivity in teaching.
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- LARGE-SCALE OUTSOURCING: The California State University System has hired Unisys to run its PeopleSoft software.
STUDENTS
ADJUSTING TO THE NEW ECONOMY
The collapse of many dot-coms has produced an increase in applications to business schools.
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- SMOKING GUN: A study found that colleges can curb students' tobacco use by offering smoke-free housing.
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- GOODBYE TO GREEKS: Santa Clara University put an end to sororities and fraternities.
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- OUT OF BUSINESS: Colleges were left scrambling by the sudden closure of a company that managed their student-health centers.
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- CASE CLOSED: Kentucky State University settled a lawsuit brought by two former students over the confiscation of yearbooks in 1994.
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- STUDENT-FEE DISPUTE: The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case involving an Oregon community college's mandatory system.
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- ART OF EXPOSURE: A recent performance-art piece at the University of Iowa featured full and partial nudity and two juggled video cameras.
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- A SMEAR ON ASIAN STUDENTS? Some students at Harvard University were irate over a magazine article that said they purposely segregate themselves.
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- IN BOX: New research explores the effects of "self-enhancement," or the tendency to overestimate personal abilities, on students' academic performance.
ATHLETICS
ALL-AMERICANS?
As more coaches recruit foreign athletes for their teams, questions are raised about Americans' losing valuable opportunities.
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- DIVIDED DECISION: James Madison University decided not to eliminate nine teams, but its new tier system is leaving many athletes and coaches just as worried.
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- CONTROVERSIAL CHOICE: Texas Tech University hired Bob Knight as its head basketball coach six months after he was fired by Indiana University for misbehavior.
INTERNATIONAL
AFRICAN SUCCESS STORY
On a continent where much of higher education is in dismal shape, the University of Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania, has managed to improve its programs, increase enrollments, and attract financial support.
NO LONGER INVISIBLE
An aggressive move online by South Korea's universities may benefit the country's women, who historically have had little access to higher education.
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- WORLD BEAT: Tokyo may change a law to help alleviate a housing shortage for foreign students. ... Some British universities may have their accreditation period extended. ... The University of Tokyo will impose fixed-term contracts on some faculty members.
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- BEHIND BARS: The Chinese government has detained a Chinese-born scholar from American University on charges that she is a spy.
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- GRANTS MORATORIUM: The Open Society Institute in Russia has suspended payments to individuals to protest a new tax that it says punishes charitable activities.
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- PROMOTING MORE RESEARCH: The Japanese government has proposed raising the limit on the amount professors can receive for their patents.
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- 25-YEAR PLAN: The University of Cambridge plans to expand by enrolling 5,000 more students, hiring 3,000 more faculty members, and creating three new colleges.
THE CHRONICLE REVIEW
CAMPUS GREEN
Noel Perrin, an environmental-studies professor at Dartmouth College, offers an admittedly idiosyncratic list: the 11 most environmentally friendly colleges in the United States.
BUSINESS OR PERSONAL?
In trying to divide her office telephone bill into those categories, Barbara Katz Rothman, a medical sociologist at the City University of New York, finds the boundary pretty blurry.
SPEAKING MINDS, MINDING SPEECH
When a class discussion on demonstrators was interrupted by demonstrators, students found out just how thorny a concept free speech can be, writes David L. Kirp, a public-policy professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
HONEST BROKERS
Universities can play a key role in mediating between government and the private sector to develop sound public policies, writes Raymond L. Orbach, a physics professor and chancellor at the University of California at Riverside.
RHETORICAL AMMUNITION
Some liberal law scholars are recklessly bolstering the arguments of the gun lobby, writes Amitai Etzioni, a professor and director of the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies at George Washington University.
FLIGHTS OF FANCY
Forty years and 40 books after he came to the University of Nebraska, the ornithologist Paul A. Johnsgard is still dazzled by bird migration on the Great Plains, writes Malcolm G. Scully, The Chronicle's editor at large.
LEAPS WITHIN BOUNDS
The Dance on Camera Festival 2001 includes some exceptional works, but it could use a dose of experimental daring, writes Gus Solomons jr, who teaches dance at New York University.
ART TO HEART
A new book features poems inspired by 20th-century American artists.
GUTLESS ON GRADE INFLATION
Flimsy official denials that it is a problem indicate only how serious an epidemic it has become, writes Harvey C. Mansfield, a professor of government at Harvard University.
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- MELANGE: selections from recent books of interest to academe.
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- EX LIBRIS: an excerpt from In Therapy We Trust: America's Obsession With Self-Fulfillment, by Eva S. Moskowitz, a member of the New York City Council.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
GAZETTE
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DETAILS OF AVAILABLE POSTS,
including teaching and research positions in higher education, administrative and executive jobs, and openings outside academe
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