A Guide to the February 23, 1996, 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 GERMANY, A TRANSFORMATION
The unified country has turned formerly Communist-controlled
universities into Western-style centers of learning, and in the
process has put more than 20,000 professors out of work.
IN NORTHERN IRELAND, HOPE STIRS
Educators are seeking final approval to build a new university
campus in a strife-torn district of Belfast.
- IN THE UNITED STATES, the Fulbright exchange program's 50th
anniversary will be marked by the issuance of a
commemorative stamp by the U.S. Postal Service.
- ALSO IN THE UNITED STATES, Mexican students enrolled in the
University of Texas System have won exemption from an
extensive and costly health-insurance requirement.
- IN BOSNIA, a history professor from Syracuse University,
William A. Hunt, is helping people use electronic mail to
reconnect with the outside world.
RESEARCH & PUBLISHING
FALLOUT FROM CHERNOBYL
Ten years after the nuclear disaster, scientists are traveling
to the site to study how the explosion has affected animals and
plants in the region.
A NEW HISTORY OF PSYCHIATRY
In her award-winning book, The Psychiatric Persuasion:
Knowledge, Gender, and Power in Modern America, Elizabeth
Lunbeck, a Princeton University historian, paints a sympathetic
portrait of America's early therapists.
- A PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN MUSCLE for human mastication has been
discovered by dentists at the University of Maryland.
- ROBERT H. FRANK, a Cornell University economist, says that
a progressive tax on consumption, instead of a flat tax on
income, is a sounder way to solve the country's economic
problems.
- HOT TYPE
- 90 NEW SCHOLARLY BOOKS, briefly described.
PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS
SOUL-SEARCHING AT BRIGHAM YOUNG U.
To keep their jobs, professors on the Mormon campus must now
have their spiritual worthiness certified annually.
RAISES FOR ADMINISTRATORS
Their salaries rose by 4.2 per cent in 1995-96, outpacing the
rate of inflation, according to a new survey.
- Fact File: Median Salaries of College and University Administrators, 1995-96
SHIFT IN COPYRIGHT LAW?
A federal court of appeals has ruled that a copy-shop owner did
not violate the law when he reproduced parts of books for
"course packs" without getting the publishers' permission.
AGREEMENT IN SAVANNAH
A controversial arts college has settled lawsuits against
several former trustees and employees whom it had accused of
conspiring to destroy the institution.
CRUSADER FOR WOMEN IN SPORTS
Marianne Stanley, an interim coach of women's basketball at
Stanford University, says her career has suffered ever since
she sued the University of Southern California for paying her
less than her male counterpart at the university.
THE POWER OF POETRY
June Jordan, a poet and professor of African-American and
women's studies at the University of California at Berkeley,
runs writing workshops that help students find self-confidence
and self-awareness through verse.
- THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN has named its first black leader,
Homer A. Neal, who will serve as interim president.
- THE NEW BOOK Careers in Science and Engineering: A Student
Planning Guide to Grad School and Beyond helps students
choose Ph.D. programs and find work afterward.
- THE HOLMES GROUP, a teacher-education reform organization,
is changing its name and its approach.
- THE PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY, Timothy
J. Sullivan, has been given official approval to serve
sherry at staff get-togethers on Friday afternoons.
- THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON has reinstated a graduate student
who was kicked out in 1993, after writing a poem that made
some history professors fear for their lives.
- A FEDERAL JUDGE HAS DROPPED six charges against a University
of Minnesota surgeon who is accused of illegally selling an
experimental drug; the doctor still faces 15 charges.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
REDEFINING CYBERSPACE
Virtual Reality Modeling Language, a new programming language,
lets people view images on the Internet from a
three-dimensional perspective.
INTERNET RESTRICTIONS
A federal judge has blocked the enforcement of part of a new
law that would make it illegal to send "indecent" material via
the Internet. But a provision on the transmission of "patently
offensive" material to minors still stands.
"APPROPRIATE USE" OF COMPUTERS
Controversy erupted at Winthrop University after officials
announced a new policy that would limit the use of electronic
mail and would permit inspections of campus computers.
- GOV. TOMMY THOMPSON of Wisconsin has proposed a bold plan to
increase the on-line access of public universities and high
schools.
- SOME OF MOREHEAD STATE UNIVERSITY'S distance-learning
courses at local high schools violate a Kentucky policy.
- A HISTORY PROFESSOR at Syracuse University, William A. Hunt,
is helping Bosnians use electronic mail to reconnect with
the outside world.
- AN ELECTRONIC ARCHIVE of jump-rope rhymes has been assembled
by Stan Kulikowski, a research scholar at the University of
West Florida.
- FOLLETT COLLEGE STORES has created a virtual bookstore,
enabling students to purchase textbooks on line.
- THE COMPUTER MARKETPLACE, a Pennsylvania company, has put
its sales catalogue on the World-Wide Web.
- A LAW PROFESSOR at the University of Pittsburgh, Bernard J.
Hibbitts, says legal scholars should publish articles on the
World-Wide Web instead of in student-run law reviews.
- THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA celebrated the 50th birthday
last week of the room-size ENIAC, the Electronic Numerical
Integrator and Computer.
- THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY publishes "factoids" on its
home page that provide Internet users with unusual tidbits
about the institution.
- EIGHT SOFTWARE PROGRAMS, 16 Internet mailing lists, and 12
other Internet resources.
FEDERAL & STATE GOVERNMENTS (U.S.A.)
THE ELECTION AND HIGHER EDUCATION
President Clinton and six Republican candidates -- Lamar
Alexander, Robert Dole, Robert Dornan, Alan Keyes, Richard
Lugar, and Morry Taylor -- respond to questions posed by The
Chronicle on issues affecting colleges and universities.
MERGERS AND AROUND-THE-CLOCK CLASSES
To meet increasing demands for higher education in Las Vegas,
the Community College of Southern Nevada has joined forces with
a local school district and tried other novel approaches.
CRITICISM OVER LOAN CONSOLIDATION
An inspector general's report says the U.S. Education
Department has let too many delinquent borrowers enter the
direct-lending program.
BILKING MEDICARE?
Investigators told a Senate panel last week that improper
billings by teaching hospitals are costing the government
millions of dollars.
- THE PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY, Timothy
J. Sullivan, has been given official approval to serve
sherry at staff get-togethers on Friday afternoons.
- A FEDERAL JUDGE last week rejected Alabama's bid for a stay
of his ruling that declared unconstitutional a state law
barring public colleges from helping gay-student groups.
- THE INCOME COLLEGES EARN from "affinity" credit cards is not
taxable, the U.S. Tax Court has ruled.
- REP. DAVID R. OBEY, a Wisconsin Democrat, wants to overhaul
federal student-aid programs to provide more help to
middle-income students.
- THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH has canceled a $58-million
study of the infant-death rate in Washington, D.C., because
of a disagreement with Georgetown University.
- THE FLORIDA BOARD OF REGENTS last week approved a tuition
surcharge on public-university students who take more
courses than are needed to graduate.
BUSINESS & PHILANTHROPY
CREATING A SAFER WORKPLACE
By means of fines and citations, the U.S. Occupational Safety
and Health Administration has forced many colleges to address
campus hazards. But the colleges insist that the penalties do
not automatically mean they are unsafe.
- A list of the 10 colleges that were fined the most for
health and safety violations in 1993 and 1994, and
descriptions of how the cases were resolved.
ALLEGATIONS OF ILLEGALITY
State investigators have concluded that the spending practices
of Richard C. Huseman, formerly a dean at the University of
Central Florida, violated the law.
A BAILOUT FOR WESTMAR
The Iowa city where the university is located plans to buy the
institution, which is facing severe financial problems and
risks losing its accreditation.
SHIFT IN COPYRIGHT LAW?
A federal court of appeals has ruled that a copy-shop owner did
not violate the law when he reproduced parts of books for
"course packs" without getting the publishers' permission.
A BLOW TO GIFT-GIVING?
Many college officials are afraid that the flat tax proposed by
Malcolm S. (Steve) Forbes, Jr., a Republican Presidential
candidate, would discourage charitable donations.
BILKING MEDICARE?
Investigators told a Senate panel last week that improper
billings by teaching hospitals are costing the government
millions of dollars.
STUDENTS
LEARNING ABOUT BIGOTRY
Students from Whitworth College took a cross-country trip last
month to study prejudice in all its forms.
CROSS-CULTURAL CLASSROOMS
An unusual graduate program at the University of Texas at El
Paso takes a bilingual approach to creative writing.
- A LAW PROFESSOR at the University of Pittsburgh, Bernard J.
Hibbitts, says legal scholars should publish articles on the
World-Wide Web instead of in student-run law reviews.
- GEORGIA SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE VOIDED a vote for homecoming
queen this month amid racial tension.
- A "DRAG" SHOW AT BOSTON COLLEGE drew criticism for both gay
and straight students.
- AN ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING at a Stanford University sorority
party injured two people this month.
- CHARLIE DANIELS, the well-known country-music writer and
performer, fired back in verse at students who thought he
was a poor choice as the commencement speaker at the
University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
ATHLETICS
CRUSADER FOR WOMEN IN SPORTS
Marianne Stanley, an interim coach of women's basketball at
Stanford University, says her career has suffered ever since
she sued the University of Southern California for paying her
less than her male counterpart at the university.
OPINION & LETTERS
PAPER VS. COMPUTER
Even in the on-line age, information delivered on dried-out
wood pulp remains superior in many ways. Yet paper receives
little acclaim for its convenience and durability.
PAYING ATTENTION TO ADOLESCENTS
Colleges need to take more interest in the development and
education of their future students, write Ruby Takanishi and
David Hamburg, two officials of the Carnegie Council on
Adolescent Development.
GREEN TEACHING
Universities must create a liberal-arts curriculum that teaches
students about the environmental crisis, say Jonathan Collett,
a professor at the State University of New York's Old Westbury
campus, and Stephen Karakashian, an official at the Rainforest
Alliance.
DELAYING THE INEVITABLE
Structured procrastination lets people excel by putting off
until tomorrow what they should have done today, according to
John Perry, a philosophy professor at Stanford University.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE ARTS
THE POWER OF POETRY
June Jordan, a poet and professor of African-American and
women's studies at the University of California at Berkeley,
runs writing workshops that help students find self-confidence
and self-awareness through verse.
ATTENTION TO DETAIL
Sixty photomicrographs taken by scientists and photographers
are on display at Ursinus College through March 10.
BUILDING MEDLEY
No city has been more important to the evolution of American architecture than Chicago. The city's rich architectural history is expressed in wood, stone, and steel, and ranges from classicism to modernism.