A Guide to the March 17, 1995, Issue
of The Chronicle of Higher Education
You may read the complete text of any article by
clicking on the highlighted headlines or phrases
below.
RESEARCH & PUBLISHING
SCIENTISTS ASK: WHAT IS A SUBSPECIES?
New genetic techniques are enabling biologists to discern
subspecies that may not otherwise be evident. But in hopes of
preserving endangered tigers and other species, many subspecies
have been permitted to interbreed in zoos. Now officials who
would prevent such interbreeding to save subspecies are being
criticized for treating the hybrids as "second class": Page A8
NEW VIEW OF MINIMUM WAGES
The conventional wisdom is that a rise in the minimum wage will
lead to a decline in the number of low-paying jobs. But two
professors from Princeton University suggest that the reverse
is true: Higher labor costs could mean more jobs: Page A10
- SCIENTISTS AT ALFRED UNIVERSITY are studying polar-bear fur,
whose energy-conducting and ultraviolet-light-absorbing
properties could lead to better surgical instruments: A7
- THREE-THOUSAND-YEAR-OLD "TO-DO" LISTS are among the informal
writings of an ancient Egyptian village that a Johns Hopkins
University scholar is deciphering. The writings, on 30,000
limestone flakes, tell of everyday life in the village: A8
- A CONFERENCE ON WOMEN, SEXUALITY, AND VIOLENCE is expected
to draw scholars and activists to the University of
Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center this month: A8
- THE ABE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM has announced the names of its 16
fellows for 1994-95: A11
- THE WOODROW WILSON NATIONAL FELLOWSHIP FOUNDATION has
announced the 15 winners of its 1994-95 Dissertation Grants
in Women's Studies: A11
- THE CAMILLE AND HENRY DREYFUS FOUNDATION has announced the
eight recipients of its 1995-96 Scholar/Fellow Awards for
Undergraduate Institutions: A11
- HOT TYPE: A12
- Sandra M. Gilbert, an English professor at the University
of California at Davis, is best known for her studies with
Susan Gubar of women writers. Now she has written
Wrongful Death, an account of how her husband, also an
English professor, underwent routine surgery one day in
1991 and died, mysteriously, in the recovery room.
- John Wilson peddled his counterblast at "the anti-P.C.
crusade" to 50 or 60 publishers before Duke University
Press accepted The Myth of Political Correctness: The
Conservative Attack on Higher Education. Mr. Wilson, a
graduate student at the University of Chicago, is the
editor of the newsletter Democratic Culture.
- 61 NEW SCHOLARLY BOOKS, briefly described: A12-14
- Nota Bene: Slide Mountain, or, The Folly of Owning
Nature, by Theodore Steinberg, who teaches history at the
New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University
at Newark. The publisher is the University of California
Press.
PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS
BIG TURNOVER AT BRIDGEPORT
Three years after top officials at the failing university made
a deal to save it with a group founded by the Rev. Sun Myung
Moon, most of the officials have stepped down or been forced to
resign: Page A16
LECTURE PROMPTS SEXUAL-HARASSMENT COMPLAINT
A male student at California State University at Sacramento has
filed a $2.5-million sexual-harassment lawsuit against the
institution and a professor for a lecture on female
masturbation and other topics that offended him: Page A18
PRESIDENT RESIGNS ABRUPTLY IN TEXAS
The president of the University of Texas at Arlington, Ryan C.
Amacher, quit last week, saying that he was tired of having his
reputation attacked and his property vandalized: Page A18
THEY SHOE HORSES, DON'T THEY?
Doug Butler, an associate professor of animal sciences at
Colorado State University, wrote the standard American textbook
on horseshoeing and is the only American fellow of the
Worshipful Company of Farriers, a British guild: Page A7
- WOMEN WHO WORK, STUDY, AND TEACH at Michigan State
University held a three-hour teach-in this month to protest
the treatment of women on the campus: A6
- A COMPUTERIZED MANNEQUIN at the University of North Carolina
Hospital can "suffer" up to 60 different medical ailments
and "respond" to medical students' treatments exactly as
would a human being: A7
- ON 60 MINUTES LAST MONTH, a University of Arizona
professor said that, to earn tenure there, you don't have to
"teach very well"; all you have to do is get grants and
publish. Now his comments have landed him in hot water: A16
- THE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE COALITION has changed its name to the
Coalition for Christian Colleges and Universities, to
reflect its growing membership and to distinguish it from
the Christian Coalition, a political group: A16
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SOLVING AN ON-LINE PUZZLE
Researchers at the University of Southern California have made
available to Internet users a remotely controllable robot with
which they can unearth a series of clues and attempt to
decipher their meaning: Page A19
- Among the clues unearthed are a lantern, a cork, and a
runic text, but thus far no one has solved the mystery.
Beware: This article contains the answer: Page A20
SATELLITE COSTS THREATEN DISTANCE LEARNING
Sharp increases in the cost of satellite time could force
colleges that offer distance education to cancel some of their
courses, according to the National Education Telecommunications
Organization: Page A21
- THE OCLC ONLINE COMPUTER LIBRARY CENTER has begun work on a
catalogue of Internet-accessible resources and is asking
Internet users to contribute bibliographic records: A19
- PUBLISHERS SHOULD FRUSTRATE ILLICIT COPYING of their
electronic works not through encryption but by breaking them
into series of hypertext-linked documents, says a consultant
to the Association of American Publishers: A19
- THREE NEW COMPUTER PROGRAMS, four new optical discs: A22
FEDERAL & STATE GOVERNMENTS (U.S.A.)
RULING ON MISSISSIPPI DESEGREGATION
In a 20-year-old case, a federal district judge ruled last week
that there is no need to merge or close public colleges in the
state, that two historically black colleges should receive more
funds, and that admission standards should be raised: Page A23
AFFIRMATIVE-ACTION BATTLE GETS PERSONAL
The chancellor of the University of California at Los Angeles
has aroused criticism by suggesting that affirmative action is
needed to prevent violence and that some of U.C.L.A.'s past
admission policies might have violated the law: Page A26
ANTI-WHITE BIAS IS CHARGED IN ILLINOIS
The U.S. Justice Department has sued Illinois State University
for excluding white men from a janitorial job-training program:
Page A26
TECHNOLOGY POLICY VS. GOOD JOBS?
Research partnerships between universities and industries are
key elements of President Clinton's technology policy, but some
experts wonder if the new technologies that result are killing
jobs faster than new, well-paying jobs are created: Page A28
- A list of programs in five agencies of the U.S. government
that promote technology transfer: Page A28
- A professor who recently finished an assignment at one of
the federal technology programs is disappointed that all
his recommendations were rejected: Page A29
GINGRICH SAYS YES TO SOME RESEARCH SPENDING
House Speaker Newt Gingrich said last week that the federal
government should spend more on research and development but
much less on R.&D. partnerships with industry: Page A30
- CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS on the reauthorization of the
National Endowment for the Humanities have featured
criticism not only of the endowment, but of academe: A23
- THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION was not happy when it was
forced to move its headquarters from the District of
Columbia to Virginia in 1993 to save money. Now the agency
has rented prime space in the District for an off-site
office: A23
- A FEDERAL COURT HAS ORDERED the National Institutes of
Health to remove scientific-misconduct warnings that had
been placed on government listings of the work of Bernard
Fisher, a University of Pittsburgh professor: A29
- SEN. NANCY L. KASSEBAUM, chairwoman of the Labor and Human
Resources Committee, announced last week that she would
introduce a bill to reauthorize federal student-aid programs
for minority and disadvantaged medical-school students: A29
- DESPITE PROGRESS IN REDUCING DEFAULTS and improving
oversight, federal student-aid programs remain a "high-risk"
area, vulnerable to fraud and abuse, according to the
General Accounting Office: A29
- EDUCATION SECRETARY RICHARD W. RILEY has named 15 members to
the National Educational Research Policy and Priorities
Board: A29
- GOV. JOHN G. ROWLAND OF CONNECTICUT has proposed eliminating
the positions of 12 community- and technical-college
presidents and placing the institutions under the control of
the State University System: A30
- THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF GEORGIA'S CHANCELLOR dispatched a
team this month to investigate charges of "mismanagement and
potential unlawful activity" at Albany State College: A30
- FIVE NEW BILLS IN CONGRESS and five new federal
regulations: A30
BUSINESS & PHILANTHROPY
STRUGGLING TO REACH A FUND-RAISING GOAL
The United Negro College Fund, which raises money for 41
private, historically black colleges, sometimes finds itself
competing with those colleges for funds and has twice put off
the closing date of a $250-million campaign: Page A35
JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS TEAM UP
Hebrew College and Andover Newton Theological School have
announced plans to operate the two institutions on one campus,
saving money and making a positive interfaith statement at the
same time: Page A36
- BOSTON COLLEGE HAS CANCELED an award ceremony to honor
Margaret Thatcher, a former British Prime Minister, after
some Irish Americans complained about the event: A6
- COFFEE DRINKERS AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY are abuzz over
Cardinal Coffee, a new line of premium beans packaged in
university colors and on sale at campus stores: A6
- TWO ADMINISTRATORS at the University of California at Los
Angeles medical center's radiology department were indicted
last month for embezzling at least $500,000: A7
- THE TRUSTEES OF TRINITY COLLEGE in Washington, D.C., are
supporting the college president despite the wishes of a
group of alumnae who are withholding their donations until
the president resigns: A35
- WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY'S "tongue-in-cheek" newspaper
ads have offended some readers, but officials say the ads
have stirred interest in the university's fund drive: A35
- 67 FOUNDATION GRANTS; seven gifts and bequests: A37-38
STUDENTS
PARTYING DOWN WITHOUT BOOZING UP
Alpha Tau Omega, a fraternity at Indiana University, believes
it can be "substance free" -- no alcohol, no drugs, not even
cigarettes -- and still be socially successful: Page A31
HAMILTON CRACKS DOWN ON FRATERNITIES
The college has decreed that students live in dormitories on
the campus and that fraternity members not even meet at their
club buildings, which Hamilton may buy: Page A32
SLOWER GROWTH IN MINORITY ENROLLMENT
The number of minority students at U.S. colleges and
universities grew only 2.6 per cent from 1992 to 1993, in
contrast to a growth rate of 7 per cent in 1991-92, according
to a study by the American Council on Education: Page A34
- Fact File: state-by-state enrollments by racial and ethnic
groups in 1993: Page A34
- Cumulative enrollment statistics in 1993, by sex, by
racial and ethnic group, by type of institution, and more:
Page A34
- FRIENDS OF A UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA STUDENT accused of rape
have defended him, asserting that it is he who has been
raped -- by the system: A6
- STUDENTS AT THREE MINNESOTA COLLEGES were vaccinated for
bacterial meningitis this month, and students at Western
Washington University were inoculated against measles: A6
- CORNELL UNIVERSITY GOOFED in December, when it sent Betsy
Mikus a flyer suggesting she had been admitted. The
university had meant to defer a decision on her application,
but now her lawyer says she will sue if she's rejected: A31
- THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Board of Visitors says it hopes
changes can be made this spring in the institution's
honor-code procedures, which are complicated, ambiguous, and
subject to delays, according to the board: A31
- INDIANA UNIVERSITY SAYS IT WILL GUARANTEE that students can
graduate in four years and will absorb the cost of
additional courses for students who don't: A31
ATHLETICS
SUMMONING APOLLO TO TEMPLE
Temple University hopes a new, $85-million sports complex, to
be called the Apollo of Temple, will help revitalize it, but
critics say the project is a misguided attempt to use big-time
sports to rescue a cash-strapped, urban university: Page A39
SHE KNOWS POLITICS
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has chosen Doris
L. Dixon, a Congressional aide with no experience in college
sports, to head its new government-affairs office in
Washington, D.C.: Page A40
INTERNATIONAL
AN ON-LINE M.B.A. PROGRAM IN CANADA
Athabasca University, in Alberta, has no real campus or
classrooms, but its new approaches to distance education could
help redefine the delivery of postsecondary education in
Canada: Page A41
NEW THREATS TO STUDY-ABROAD PROGRAMS
With cuts in funds for higher education looming, study-abroad
and exchange programs may be pushed to the margins at U.S.
colleges, said people attending the annual meeting of the
Association of International Education Administrators: Page A42
- BULGARIA'S PARLIAMENT HAS OVERTURNED a law that prohibited
former communist officials from holding positions of
influence at the country's universities and research
institutes and on their governing boards: A41
- THE UNIVERSITY OF POTSDAM, in Germany, has opened an
interdisciplinary Center for Social Justice to study whether
Germans perceive as fair the many changes wrought by
unification: A41
- ONE ALBANIAN WAS KILLED and two dozen injured in protests
that followed the Macedonian government's shutdown of a new
Albanian-language university: A43
- CHINESE AUTHORITIES ARE TRYING TO SLOW the explosive growth
of university enrollments, which in one recent year rose
by 21 per cent nationwide: A43
- SOME CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES ARE OVERHAULING their programs
for teacher education in response to recent provincial
reforms aimed at making schools better: A43
OPINION & LETTERS
TAKING STUDY-ABROAD PROGRAMS SERIOUSLY
The foreign-study programs run by American universities often
lack academic rigor, and seem more like "vacations-for-credit,"
writes John Engle, an assistant professor of applied foreign
languages at the Universite de Toulon et du Var and president
of the American University Center of Provence: Page A56
THE DISTORTED LANDSCAPE OF COLLEGE SPORTS
Describing how an athletics conference recently threatened to
expel his institution, Eugene P. Trani, president of Virginia
Commonwealth University, writes that the National Collegiate
Athletic Association must take a larger role in such disputes,
to protect "the welfare of the rest of college sports" from
"the commercial interests of a few teams": Page B1
THE PEDAGOGICAL-IMPACT STATEMENT
Gerald Bakker, a professor of chemistry and associate academic
dean at Earlham College, proposes that universities and
colleges require each applicant for research funds to describe
the impact the research is likely to have on his or her
teaching: Page B3
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE ARTS
ART OF POETRY, POETRY OF ART
Some poems by Wallace Stevens were inspired by paintings, and
they in turn inspired other paintings. An exhibit at the City
University of New York's Baruch College through April 27 shows
the importance of modern art to Stevens's poetry and the extent
of his influence among modern American artists: Page B64
A HIGHER-EDUCATION GAZETTE: PAGES A44-55
- 71 APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS on U.S. campuses: A44-45
- DEATHS of 21 people in academe: A45
- 330 COMING EVENTS of interest to the men and women of
academe: A45-52
- 98 DEADLINES -- for fellowships, grants, institutes,
workshops, and the submission of papers: A52-55
"BULLETIN BOARD": 57 PAGES OF JOB OPENINGS
DETAILS OF MORE THAN 930 AVAILABLE POSTS, including
teaching and research positions in higher education,
administrative and executive jobs, and openings outside
academe: B7-63
ALSO IN "ACADEME THIS WEEK"
INFORMATION provided by a select group of companies
and organizations, this week including: