A Guide to the September 8, 1995, Issue
of The Chronicle of Higher Education
Items relevant to more than one category
may appear more than once in this guide.
To read the complete text of the article, click on the highlighted words.
INTERNATIONAL
IN RUSSIA,
TROUBLED TIMES FOR SCIENCE ACADEMY
The Russian Academy of Sciences and its 300 affiliated research
institutes are in the grip of a financial crisis that has
crippled their work. Experiments have come to a halt as
scientists seek to make ends meet with other jobs.
IN
ESTONIA, NEW EDUCATION REFORMS
The Baltic nation discarded a Soviet-style higher-education
system five years ago and adopted an American-style university
structure, but the latest changes are more sweeping than those
enacted recently in many Western European countries.
AT
BEIJING MEETING, WOMEN FOCUS ON EDUCATION
The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women and the
accompanying Non-Governmental Forum, now under way in China,
are giving women from all over the world the opportunity to
advance the cause of women's education.
IN THE
UNITED STATES, NEW TAX RULES ON GRANTS
Foreign scholars and students who receive grants from American
organizations for study or research outside the United States
will no longer be subject to income tax on the funds, according
to rules issued by the Internal Revenue Service.
- ALSO IN
THE UNITED STATES, Secretary of State Warren
Christopher has extended for six months a ban on travel to
Lebanon, frustrating students and scholars who want to do
academic work in that formerly war-torn country.
- IN
MINNESOTA, officials at the University of Minnesota at
Twin Cities are seeking programs from other U.S.
institutions to include in their Online Study Abroad
Directory.
- IN
WASHINGTON, D.C., Amideast, formally known as
America-Mideast Educational and Training Services, has a new
address.
RESEARCH & PUBLISHING
THE
CONTINUING DILEMMA OF RACE
As if proof were needed that race remains a key problem in
American society, a host of new scholarly books on the subject
will be published this fall. The authors question the problem's
sources and solutions from across the political spectrum.
- A growing
number of scholars are working in the new field
of "whiteness studies," which seeks to understand what it
means to be white and how white identity emerged.
STOCKING
A NEW NOAH'S ARK
Scientists at Texas A&M University are storing eggs, semen, and
embryos from endangered species in tanks of liquid nitrogen.
Years from now, the samples could be thawed, implanted in host
animals, and then reintroduced into suitable habitats.
PRESERVING DIGITAL
DATA FOR POSTERITY
The United States needs an archiving system that would capture
computerized information for use by future generations, a panel
of librarians, scholars, and publishers has concluded. Changing
technologies and changing on-line data are obstacles.
NEW
RULES ON ELECTRONIC FEDERAL RECORDS
The National Archives and Records Administration has issued
final rules affirming that government records that are created
or received as electronic mail should be preserved under the
same standards that apply to paper documents.
- PALEONTOLOGISTS
from Spain and France have uncovered a
dinosaur rookery in the French Pyrenees. The site contains
the remains of as many as 300,000 eggs of an unknown
species.
- THOMAS
CSORDAS, an anthropologist at Case Western Reserve
University, is using a $1-million grant from the National
Institute of Mental Health to study spiritual healing
among the Navajo.
- HOT TYPE:
- In a session
on "performative writing" at a conference
last spring, Carol Mavor, an assistant professor of art
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, wowed
her audience with an erotically charged reading. Her text
was from a book just published by Duke University Press.
- Indiana
University Press will publish next month Rachel
Calof's Story: Jewish Homesteader on the Northern
Plains, a memoir translated from the original Yiddish.
- 88 NEW SCHOLARLY BOOKS, briefly described:
- Nota
Bene: The New Ecological Order, by Luc Ferry, a
philosophy professor at the Sorbonne and at the
University of Caen. The translation is published by the
University of Chicago Press.
- 266 SCHOLARS have been honored with fellowships; all of
them are listed in this issue of The Chronicle:
- The American Council of Learned Societies has announced
the names of 166 recipients of postdoctoral fellowships.
- The National Research Council has named 100 graduate
students and recent Ph.D. recipients who have won
fellowships designed to increase the number of faculty
members from underrepresented minority groups.
PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS
WHOSE
RIGHTS NEED TO BE PROTECTED?
The case of James B. Maas, an acclaimed psychology professor at
Cornell University, has raised questions about how colleges
handle charges of sexual harassment. Mr. Maas says the system
for judging such cases is stacked against the accused.
COURT
REINSTATES REVERSE-BIAS LAWSUIT
A federal court has ruled that a suit brought by five male
professors against Virginia Commonwealth University should go
forward. They charge that V.C.U. discriminated against them
when it gave raises in 1992 to female professors only.
MASSACHUSETTS
TRUSTEES DENY TENURE
In an unusual step, trustees of the University of Massachusetts
system rejected tenure recommendations for three professors,
citing the high proportion of faculty members in the system who
hold tenured positions.
A
GUARDIAN OF THE ACADEMIC GATE CONFESSES
Jean H. Fetter, a former dean of undergraduate admissions at
Stanford University, has written a book, subtitled Reflections
on 100,000 Admissions Decisions at Stanford, on the ethical
and philosophical issues involved in admissions.
- JUDITH
ALBINO, whose rocky five-year term as president of
the University of Colorado is to end next August, is now
under consideration for the presidency of the University of
Iowa.
- WHEN
GALVESTON COLLEGE'S Board of Regents needed to hire a
new president, it turned to a search consultant -- the same
headhunter who had lured away their old president.
- A
MATHEMATICS PROFESSOR at Spartanburg Methodist and
Converse Colleges, David Gibson, won the Scrabble Superstars
Showdown last month for the second year in a row. Among his
winning words were qat, calypso, and mucoids.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
COMPUTER THIEVES ON
THE CAMPUS
A worldwide shortage of memory chips and growing demand for
computer memory have resulted in a boom in thefts from campus
computers. The thefts are unusual because the thieves often
ignore more valuable components alongside the chips.
DELAYS
IN COMPUTER DELIVERIES
Manufacturing problems at most of the major computer companies
are pushing back delivery dates and creating headaches for
computer administrators on campuses -- particularly those where
students are required to own and use computers.
PRESERVING DIGITAL
DATA FOR POSTERITY
The United States needs an archiving system that would capture
computerized information for use by future generations, a panel
of librarians, scholars, and publishers has concluded. Changing
technologies and changing on-line data are obstacles.
NEW
RULES ON ELECTRONIC FEDERAL RECORDS
The National Archives and Records Administration has issued
final rules affirming that government records that are created
or received as electronic mail should be preserved under the
same standards that apply to paper documents.
- A SUMMER
PROJECT by a Brown University junior earned her a
free ticket to this month's conference in Beijing on women.
Sarah Hirshman's project is a CD-ROM with data and exercises
on how third-world women use technology.
- KNIGHT-RIDDER
INFORMATION INC. has purchased for an
undisclosed sum two electronic-information companies created
by the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries.
- A NEW
JOURNAL ON DISTANCE EDUCATION, the International
Journal of Educational Telecommunications, has been
published by the Association for the Advancement of
Computing in Education.
- A
WORLD-WIDE WEB PAGE created at the University of Tennessee
at Knoxville provides users with a centralized place for
locating electronic files related to the Civil War.
- THE
GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT at California State University at
Northridge has developed an electronic archive of atlases
and socio-economic data related to the Golden State.
- A
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT HUNTSVILLE student has created a
World-Wide Web page that gives users quick access to
information about 653 universities across the country.
- THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS has made at least $2.7-million,
and could make $800,000 more, from its agreement with
Netscape Communications Corp., which produces a tool for
browsing the Internet based on one designed at Illinois.
- UNIVERSITY OF
MINNESOTA AT TWIN CITIES officials are seeking
programs from other U.S. institutions to include in their
Online Study Abroad Directory.
- INFORMATION-TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES: a new feature of The
Chronicle lists 16 new software programs, 11 new videos, 11
new Internet mailing lists, 9 new books, and 9 other
Internet resources.
FEDERAL & STATE GOVERNMENTS (U.S.A.)
CONGRESS TRIMS
ACADEMIC PORK IN 1995
For the second straight year, Congress earmarked less money for
projects at specific universities than in the previous year.
The Chronicle's annual tally of academic pork shows that such
earmarks totaled $600-million, an 8-per-cent drop.
THE
CITADEL CASE CONTINUES
Shannon Faulkner's withdrawal from the public military college
will not affect the battle over the men-only admission policies
of the Citadel or of the Virginia Military Institute, a similar
institution, legal experts say.
VIRGINIA
COMPLIES WITH SUPREME COURT ORDER
The University of Virginia has changed its policies so that
students' religious publications can receive financial support.
The change was in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that
found Virginia's ban on such support unconstitutional.
A
TWO-TIERED SYSTEM OF REGULATION?
The U.S. Education Department is proposing to create rules and
procedures for proprietary schools different from those for
non-profit colleges. The aim is to curb the fraud that has
plagued student-aid programs for more than a decade.
SCIENCE
GROUP WARNS OF HARMFUL CUTS
Bills passed by the House of Representatives would give the
National Institutes of Health more funds, but research not
related to the military would suffer big cuts, according to the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
NIH
CRACKS DOWN ON MINNESOTA
The National Institutes of Health will increase its oversight
of the University of Minnesota's management of research funds,
to stem further financial abuses. An investigation earlier this
year revealed $2.5-million in misspent grants.
NEW LIFE
FOR MICHIGAN'S PREPAID-TUITION PLAN
Michigan is expected to resurrect its prepaid-tuition program
this fall, but the plan's new incarnation is likely to promise
much less to purchasers than did its earlier version.
- THE U.S.
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT has accused the Student Loan
Marketing Association of improperly inducing colleges to
steer student loans to itself.
- WASHINGTON STATE
RESIDENTS told pollsters this summer that
they would rather have their state shift money away from
prisons than limit the enrollments at public colleges.
- THE
AMERICORPS NATIONAL-SERVICE PROGRAM is meeting many of
its goals, but some of its efforts cost much more than
expected, according to a new report by the General
Accounting Office.
- SAMUEL L.
MYERS RETIRED last week as president of the
National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher
Education, the lobbying group for historically black
colleges and universities.
- THE
PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE'S Office of Research Integrity has
found Oscar R. Rosales, an assistant professor of medicine
at Yale University, guilty of scientific misconduct.
- THE
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION has begun a year-long study
of undergraduate science education.
- A NEW
TRUSTEE of the State University of New York System has
urged other board members to consider radical changes for
its 64 campuses, including closing some of them.
- THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA REGENT who first proposed the
end of racial and gender preferences in the system is
stirring another controversy -- this time over comments he
has made about his critics on the university faculty.
- THE
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM'S Board of Regents voted
last week to eliminate 500 jobs to make up for state budget
cuts. Students and faculty members expressed concern over
the effect on quality at the universities.
- SIX NEW
BILLS IN CONGRESS, three new federal regulations,
and one Congressional hearing.
- EIGHT
NOMINATIONS AND APPOINTMENTS in the federal
government.
BUSINESS & PHILANTHROPY
AMERICAN INDIANS FIND
NEW LEADERS
The American Indian College Fund, which raises scholarship
money for the nation's 29 tribal colleges, is now staffed by
the people it was designed to serve. The changes are part of a
plan by the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.
CONCERN
OVER NEW ACCOUNTING GUIDELINES
The Financial Accounting Standards Board is implementing new
rules for private colleges and other non-profit organizations.
College business officers say the rules make comparisons
between public and private institutions difficult.
NEW TAX
RULES ON GRANTS TO FOREIGNERS
Foreign scholars and students who receive grants from American
organizations for study or research outside the United States
will no longer be subject to income tax on the funds, according
to rules issued by the Internal Revenue Service.
TRUSTEES
STEP DOWN AT BARBER-SCOTIA COLLEGE
The board chairman and three other well-connected trustees of
the historically black institution have resigned and
recommended that the financially strapped college close its
doors.
- THE NEW
PRESIDENT OF Pennsylvania State University, Graham
B. Spanier, pledged $100,000 to his employer and made public
his $250,000 salary, fulfilling promises he had made shortly
after he was hired for the post.
- WHEN
GALVESTON COLLEGE'S Board of Regents needed to hire a new president, it turned to a
search consultant -- the same
headhunter who had lured away their old president.
- WHEN CAL
RIPKEN, JR., breaks Lou Gehrig's record for
consecutive baseball games played, the Baltimore Orioles
will make a large donation to the Johns Hopkins University
for research into the disease that killed Gehrig.
- THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS has made at least $2.7-million,
and could make $800,000 more, from its agreement with
Netscape Communications Corp., which produces a tool for
browsing the Internet based on one designed at Illinois.
- UNIVERSITY OF
ARKANSAS LAWYERS are threatening legal action
against the brewer of Hogs Breath Lager, whose logo bears a
resemblance, they say, to the Razorbacks' mascot.
- HOWARD
UNIVERSITY has decided to close the financially
struggling Howard University Hotel, a 150-room facility that
it has operated for nearly 15 years.
- THE
COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY threw a 300th-birthday party
last month for its Sir Christopher Wren Building, said to be
the oldest academic structure in continuous use in the
country.
- OREGON
HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY has been fined $18,288 for
dumping several bags of garbage containing blood,
afterbirth, and other medical waste in the Portland landfill
last month.
- 35 FOUNDATION GRANTS; 29 gifts and bequests.
STUDENTS
EASING
THE PATH FOR THE FRESHMAN CLASS
A number of large state universities have started programs to
help first-year students adjust to academic, residential, and
social aspects of college life. Concern over freshman dropout
rates is fueling the new efforts.
TEST
SCORES SHOW POSITIVE TREND
Average scores on the Scholastic Assessment Test rose in 1995,
although some educators wondered if changes to the test were
more responsible than improved skills among students. Scores on
the 1995 A.C.T. Assessment were little changed.
SUMMERTIME
SHAKESPEARE
At Shakespeare Santa Cruz, a summer festival on the University
of California campus, students savor the exquisite language and
stirring drama of the Bard of Avon in internships that allow
them to put off thoughts of "tomorrow and tomorrow".
- A FEW
STUDENTS AT TUFTS UNIVERSITY protested the arrival on
the campus of Gina Grant, the student whom Harvard
University rejected after it learned that she had killed her
mother.
- THE U.S.
NAVAL ACADEMY has ended a policy that required
students who became parents to leave the institution
permanently.
- THE
ACADEMIC YEAR BEGAN, and students on certain campuses found their arrival greeted
with golf carts, trading cards,
white laboratory coats, or former Army barracks.
- EVELYN
BETHUNE, a doctoral student at the University of
Florida and a granddaughter of the founder of Bethune
Cookman College, has been accused of stealing $11,400 from
the university.
- WHAT
THEY'RE READING ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES: a list of
best-selling books.
ATHLETICS
ALABAMA
CASE RAISES MANY QUESTIONS
The National Collegiate Athletic Association imposed harsh
penalties last month on the University of Alabama for a series
of rules violations in football. Almost lost in the uproar was
its rejection of a "summary-disposition" agreement.
- Two top
sports officials at the University of Alabama
have quit their posts after being partially blamed for
violations of National Collegiate Athletic Association
rules.
TOUGHER
RULES FOR JUNIOR-COLLEGE ATHLETES
The National Collegiate Athletic Association's governing
council will sponsor proposals at the next N.C.A.A. convention
that would sharply reduce the flow of junior-college athletes
into Division I football and men's basketball.
CONVICTED ATHLETE
WON'T BE ALLOWED TO PLAY
Mesa Community College announced that Richie Parker, a
high-school basketball star, could enroll but would not be
permitted to play this year. The highly recruited Mr. Parker
was convicted in February of sexual assault.
- LIBERTY
UNIVERSITY, its football coach, and four players
sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association last week,
arguing that new rules aimed at curbing unsportsmanlike
conduct violate players' right to pray.
- THE STATE
UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ALBANY did not violate
federal sex-bias laws when it dropped four sports teams, a
state judge ruled last week.
- THE
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA last week settled a complaint
that accused it of violating federal sex-discrimination laws
in its sports program.
- BROWN
UNIVERSITY'S PLAN TO COMPLY with Title IX was rejected
by a federal district-court judge, clearing the way for the
university's appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
First Circuit.
OPINION & LETTERS
THE
THREAT TO AMERICAN SCIENCE
Proposed cuts in federal research spending show that scientists
must work harder to demonstrate to the public that theirs is
not an endeavor that can be "put on hold" and still be able to
produce "discoveries on demand," writes Richard S. Nicholson,
the publisher of Science and the executive officer of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
ACADEMIC LEADERS
FACE PAINFUL CHOICES
David W. Breneman, dean of the Curry School of Education at the
University of Virginia, writes that "the combination of growing
demand and limited state resources will not permit painless
solutions" to the problems public colleges confront.
- MARGINALIA: flubs
and fumbles from the groves of academe.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE ARTS
INSPIRATIONS FROM
MOBY-DICK
A new book published by the University Press of Kansas and two
current exhibits at the University of Kansas explore the impact
of Herman Melville's masterpiece on 20th-century American art
and the great artistry it has inspired in illustrated editions
of the novel.