Academe Today: Chronicle Archives

A Guide to the December 15, 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 THE UNITED STATES, OPENING BORDERS
Mexican citizens who are too poor to afford most colleges are able to attend some Texas universities because of a student-aid program that lets them pay in-state tuition rates.

IN CANADA, A FRUSTRATING JOB HUNT
Diana Cooper-Clark, an instructor at Toronto's York University, was named Canada's "Professor of the Year" in 1995 and has won other teaching awards, but she cannot get a full-time job.

IN AUSTRALIA, A FOREIGN-STUDENT INFLUX
A study predicts that the country's colleges will see a fivefold increase in overseas-student enrollment over the next 15 years.

IN FRANCE, STAYING ON STRIKE
Despite offers of additional government funds, French students and faculty unions have vowed to continue their protests.

IN THE UNITED STATES, the National Security Education Program is pondering a troubling legislative change to its service requirement.
IN CHINA, works by the country's "paramount leader," Deng Xiaoping, are now required reading for students.
IN ISRAEL, hundreds of university students honored the memory of Yitzhak Rabin by participating in a day-long program on tolerance and pluralism.

RESEARCH & PUBLISHING

MAKING SENSE OF MOVIE MAGIC
A growing number of historians are examining how films mingle fact and fantasy to shape public perceptions of the past.

Film reviews from Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies reveal some of the ways in which movies have reinterpreted the past.

STORMY WEATHER
Next year should bring fewer hurricanes to the East Coast than 1995, which saw the most such storms since 1933. But experts say that one of the intense storms may come ashore in 1996.

A FREUDIAN SLIP-UP
In the wake of mounting criticism from scholarly detractors of psychoanalysis, the Library of Congress decided last week to postpone an exhibit on Sigmund Freud scheduled for 1996.

THE FICKLE UNIVERSE OF PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS
For political scientists, the study of Presidential nominations demonstrates how hard it is to identify durable patterns of political behavior, writes John J. Pitney, Jr., an associate professor of government at Claremont McKenna College.

AIDS RESEARCHERS in the United States and Germany have discovered proteins that inhibit the ability of the human immunodeficiency virus to infect cells.
A UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA RESEARCHER says listeners can usually tell whether a speaker is black or white by the sound of the person's voice.
HOT TYPE.
- American Poetry in the Face of Violence, an anthology published by the University of Alabama Press, explores domestic abuse, racial violence, and the violence of war.
- Two books due out soon, Not Out of Africa and "Black Athena" Revisited, take issue with recent theories of Afrocentrism.
38 NEW SCHOLARLY BOOKS, briefly described.

PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS

DEGREES THAT ARE TAILOR-MADE
As competition among them heats up, business schools are trying to lure students by offering customized graduate programs.

LIFE AFTER THE SEMINARY
Raymond W. Hedin, an English professor at Indiana University and a former Roman Catholic seminarian, examines the lives and concerns of his onetime classmates.

AN AFFINITY FOR POETRY AND SALMON FLIES
John Engels, an English professor at St. Michael's College, has been a poet almost as long as he has been a fly fisherman.

CANADIAN JOB HUNTING
Diana Cooper-Clark, an instructor at Toronto's York University, was named Canada's "Professor of the Year" in 1995 and has won other teaching awards, but she cannot get a full-time job.

TURNING DOWN TENURE
Colleges and scholars can flourish without the crutch of lifetime employment for professors, writes David Helfand, who chairs the astronomy department at Columbia University and has refused to accept offers of tenure.

PRACTICING WHAT THEY PREACH
Academic associations that condemn the exploitation of adjuncts should deny membership to individuals and institutions that violate their policies, argues P.D. Lesko, the executive director of the National Adjunct Faculty Guild.

THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S STUDIES ASSOCIATION has been criticized by a group of "grrls," teen-age girls who feel the organization is ignoring their views.
CHANGES TO THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACT that were enacted three years ago are still puzzling regional accreditors.
THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA'S PRESIDENT, John Lombardi, withdrew from consideration for the presidency of the Johns Hopkins University after Florida politicians threw their support behind him in his current post.
CHEFS AT CULINARY INSTITUTES are whipping up edible ornaments for the White House's Christmas trees.
FOUR SCHOLARS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN debated whether latkes or hamentaschen are the superior Jewish holiday food.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

COLLEGES WITHOUT CAMPUSES
The Western Governors Association has agreed to consider opening a "virtual university" to cut costs, meet growing enrollment needs, and improve access to education.

DIGITAL CANVAS
An on-line art exhibit at the University of Maryland at College Park explores how technology can bring people and communities closer together.

INDECENT PROPOSAL?
Universities fear that legislation banning "indecent" material from the Internet could limit free speech on the campus and could impose new burdens on managers of campus networks.

HIGHER-EDUCATION OFFICIALS must understand the impact that pending telecommunications legislation could have on their institutions, says a report from the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.
ADMINISTRATORS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA at Chapel Hill have attributed a racist electronic-mail message sent via a campus computer to an unidentified hacker.
CORNELL UNIVERSITY IS THE RECIPIENT of the 1996 CAUSE Award for Excellence in Campus Networking.
THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN PUBLISHERS has balked at a key provision of the proposed guidelines for the "fair use" of copyrighted materials in digital form.
EIGHT SOFTWARE PROGRAMS, 17 Internet mailing lists, and 14 other Internet resources.

FEDERAL & STATE GOVERNMENTS (U.S.A.)

REMOVING THE VESTIGES OF JIM CROW
A court-ordered merger of black and white land-grant programs in Alabama has prompted a debate over equity, practicality, and history.

FLAWED DATA ON LOAN DEFAULTS
The Education Department has said it will not punish colleges for high student-loan default rates because many of the government's figures were incorrect.

REMEDIATION SURVIVES
The California State University System has softened its proposal to end all remedial classes in five years.

STANDING FIRM ON DIRECT LENDING
Despite Republican opposition, the Clinton Administration's new budget proposal calls for preserving the program of giving federal loan funds directly to colleges.

PROPOSED REGULATIONS
Federal agencies have released a list of 59 rules they plan to propose or complete work on in coming months. The regulations are summarized in this issue of The Chronicle.

A NEW COMPLAINT OVER AIDS RESEARCH
A report from Gay Men's Health Crisis Inc. criticizes the way the National Cancer Institute allocates its funds.

OFFENSIVE TO SOME, YET LEGAL
The Education Department has ruled that the University of Illinois's use of the mascot "Chief Illiniwek" does not constitute illegal discrimination against American Indians.

FOUR UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA REGENTS plan to discuss issues of system governance in the wake of the decision to eliminate affirmative action systemwide. Another regent is pushing to end racial preferences in all state agencies.
GOV. GEORGE PATAKI of New York wants to require college students who receive financial aid from the state to maintain at least a C average.
THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA'S PRESIDENT, John Lombardi, withdrew from consideration for the presidency of the Johns Hopkins University after Florida politicians threw their support behind him in his current post.
THE ALABAMA ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS wants to redirect state support for private colleges to public schools.
CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS WANT TO INVESTIGATE the 1948 report by Alfred C. Kinsey on sexual behavior to determine if any children were abused in the course of the research.
SCIENTISTS ARE PROTESTING a proposed revision of the Endangered Species Act. They claim it is riddled with "scientific fallacies and mistakes."
THE NATIONAL SECURITY EDUCATION PROGRAM is pondering a troubling legislative change to its service requirement.
10 NEW FEDERAL REGULATIONS.

BUSINESS & PHILANTHROPY

FOREIGN EXCHANGE
American colleges are overcoming cultural differences as they expand their fund-raising efforts overseas.

COLLEGES WITHOUT CAMPUSES
The Western Governors Association has agreed to consider opening a "virtual university" to cut costs, meet growing enrollment needs, and improve access to education.

DEALING WITH FISCAL WOES
The University of Rochester is trying a bold plan to save money and make itself more attractive to top applicants. The plan calls for cuts in programs, the faculty, and the student body.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HAS EXTENDED its successful fund-raising campaign until 2000 and nearly doubled its goal.
YESHIVA UNIVERSITY HAS RECEIVED a $22-million bequest for scholarships for female Jewish students.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY HAS DROPPED a public-relations plan that was ridiculed for its choice of words.
A FORMER SECURITY GUARD AT DREXEL UNIVERSITY has been convicted of the murder of a female student 11 years ago.
SANTA CLAUS WILL BE WEARING ORANGE -- the University of Texas at Austin's colors -- at a campus charity that gives food and toys to needy families.
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY WAS CRITICIZED by students for its decision not to set up a Christmas tree in the rotunda of the main administration building.
30 FOUNDATION GRANTS; 30 gifts and bequests.

STUDENTS

KEEPING THE FAITH?
Duke University students have voted against officially recognizing a religious group, triggering a discussion about diversity and tolerance.

OPENING BORDERS
Mexican citizens who are too poor to afford most colleges are able to attend some Texas universities because of a student-aid program that lets them pay in-state tuition rates.

STAYING ON STRIKE
Despite offers of additional government funds, French students and faculty unions have vowed to continue their protests.

BLOOMSBURG UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER, The Voice, has been told by The Village Voice to change its name.
THE COLLEGIATE EMPLOYMENT RESEARCH INSTITUTE reports that graduating seniors are entering an improved job market for the third year in a row.
BROWN UNIVERSITY SAYS THAT CONDOM USERS on the campus are not paying the health center for the prophylactics.
A STUDENT WHO SUED THE EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE after it accused him of cheating on the Scholastic Assessment Test was vindicated in court after a four-year legal battle.
A FORMER SECURITY GUARD AT DREXEL UNIVERSITY has been convicted of the murder of a female student 11 years ago.
STUDENTS AT THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK at Fredonia participated in a forum against racism to show their feelings about a cross-burning on the campus last month.
A UNIVERSITY OF UTAH DOCTORAL STUDENT has been charged with threatening to kill professors and administrators at the institution.
A STUDENT AT THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK College of Technology was arrested after an arsenal of firearms and explosives was found in his dormitory room.
STUDENTS AT EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY interrupted a men's basketball game against San Francisco State University to protest alleged racism and brutality by campus police.

ATHLETICS

CHANGING HOW THE NCAA DOES BUSINESS
A plan to overhaul the National Collegiate Athletic Association's governance is likely to dominate its annual meeting in January.

Summaries of 133 proposed rules changes on the agenda at next month's N.C.A.A. convention.
A UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOOTBALL STAR, Lawrence Phillips, was sentenced to one year of probation for assaulting a fellow student.
BLACK SPORTS AGENTS gathered at a meeting sponsored by the National Rainbow Coalition to discuss ways to encourage black athletes to choose them as representatives.
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY'S CHANCELLOR, Kenneth Shaw, wants Otto the Orange to remain the institution's mascot, despite suggestions that a wolf might be more effective.
THE NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION has put the University of Miami on three years' probation and has cut its football scholarships because of rules violations.
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY IS SUING a former men's basketball coach on the grounds that he breached his employment contract by breaking a variety of rules.
TENNESSEE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY'S women's basketball team has been told by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to stop distributing posters and guidebooks that feature a corporate logo.
STUDENTS AT EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY interrupted a men's basketball game against San Francisco State University to protest alleged racism and brutality by campus police.

OPINION & LETTERS

MARGINALIA.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE ARTS

SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT SCROOGE
Memorabilia associated with Charles Dickens's difficult creation of A Christmas Carol are on display at New York's Pierpont Morgan Library through January 7.