Academe Today: Complete Contents

A GUIDE to the February 14, 1997, Chronicle

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, DEFYING BURMA
Burmese students in the United States are torn between their opposition to the military regime back home and the harsh consequences they or their families will suffer if they speak out: A43

IN CANADA, EDUCATION REFORMS
A panel has recommended changes that would bring about greater differences among Ontarion universities' fees and programs, as well as increased competition: A44

IN EASTERN EUROPE, A TURNAROUND
After weeks of student protests, the governments of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia announced major reversals in their positions on several disputed elections: A45

  • IN MOROCCO, King Hassan has ordered the government to find jobs for 70 unemployed Ph.D.'s: A43

  • IN NEW ZEALAND, the government has returned confiscated lands, including the title to a university, to a Maori tribe: A43

  • IN THAILAND, Duke University is collaborating to open an English-language, U.S.-style university near Bangkok: A43

  • IN CHINA, the government will begin the long-planned phase-out of its job-assignment system for university graduates: A45

  • IN FRANCE, a bomb exploded near a dormitory for American students: A45

  • IN NIGERIA, the University of Benin was closed after the death of a student: A45

RESEARCH & PUBLISHING

DEBATE OVER POPULATION GENETICS
Richard C. Lewontin, a biologist at Harvard University and a leading scholar in the field, has presented a scathing review of it. He charges that it is too caught up in statistics: A13

DANGEROUS WOMEN
In his new book, Bram Dijkstra, a literature professor at the University of California at San Diego, explores how Western culture has exploited images of "demonic" females: A12

TREACHEROUS TERRAIN
Nicholas C. Crawford, a geologist at Western Kentucky University, has turned a childhood passion for caves into a tool for studying the underground effects of environmental disasters: A9

DEATH ON THE BATTLEFIELDS
A historian at the University of Pennsylvania, Drew Gilpin Faust, examines how the unprecedented carnage of the Civil War affected American culture: A56

NOTES FROM ACADEME
A group of fledgling ethnographers is using unusual tools in its fieldwork as a means of exploring the many layers of life in the small villages of the Yucatan: B2

THE FACULTY

REFORMING TENURE
With his work as a researcher and as a consultant, Richard Chait of Harvard University has become a key player in debates about tenure at many colleges: A10

RELIGIOUS RIVALRY
Some Kentucky Baptists, distressed by the conservative takeover of their denomination, are starting a new seminary that will open in the fall of 1998: A11

THE TEMPEST THAT ISN'T
A report that many colleges no longer require their English majors to study Shakespeare is based on false data and tainted by dubious motives, writes John K. Wilson, a graduate student at the University of Chicago: B6

  • CATHOLIC COLLEGES were urged by the new director of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities to come to terms with their faith: A10

  • TEN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES are participating in a project to incorporate women's studies into science: A10

  • STANFORD UNIVERSITY is taking flak for denying tenure to an anthropologist who is both popular and accomplished: A12

  • NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY'S lecturers have been granted some voting rights on academic issues: A12

  • A HARVARD UNIVERSITY medical professor resigned from a university center to protest an award to be given to President Clinton's top adviser on illegal drugs: A8

  • A GENETICIST RESIGNED from the Georgetown University faculty amid a controversy over his research on human embryos: A8

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

VIRTUAL ART HISTORY
Columbia University is using video technology to add to students' perspective on the masterpieces they study: A20

MUSEUMS WITHOUT WALLS
An on-line exhibition about the Great Chicago Fire illustrates how cyberspace can be used to advance the goals of scholarship and education, writes Carl Smith, the Northwestern University professor who created it: B8

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

CLINTON'S BUDGET PROPOSAL FOR 1998
The Chronicle provides detailed coverage of how President Clinton's proposed budget for the 1998 fiscal year would affect higher education if it were enacted: A25-31

  • If the President has his way, Pell Grants and other aid programs will see sharp increases, and student-loan programs will be overhauled: A25

  • The President used his State of the Union address to seek support for his budget plan and to show that education would be the top priority of his second term: A25

  • Under the Clinton budget, spending on academic research and development would increase by 2.2 per cent, less than the current rate of inflation: A26

  • Tables and charts show the Administration's budget requests for programs that affect students, faculty members, and institutions of higher education: A28-29

  • The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities would receive big increases under the President's plan: A30

  • Many financial-aid experts oppose the Administration's plan to link a tax credit for tuition expenses to the grades that students earn: A30
CUTTING BACK
After sweeping reviews, several states have decided that some academic programs at their public colleges and universities can be eliminated: A33

DOCUMENTING HISTORY
New priorities at the National Archives could jeopardize the scholarly editing of some of the United States' most important historical papers, says Raymond W. Smock, a former historian of the U.S. House of Representatives: B4

  • GOVERNOR DAVID M. BEASLEY of South Carolina is encouraging the growth of toxic-waste dumps in the state because of the money they pump into student scholarships: A25

  • FLORIDA RESIDENTS who invested in the state's prepaid-tuition program are nervous over its future: A25

  • THE AMOUNT OF FEDERAL MONEY used for direct loans is rising, reports the General Accounting Office: A32

  • FEARFUL OF LOSING FEDERAL FUNDS, California State University at Sacramento has lifted a two-year-old ban on campus units of the Reserve Officers Training Corps: A32

  • TEXAS COLLEGES have been ordered by the state Attorney General to stop considering race in all institutional policies: A32

  • THE NUMBER OF MINORITY applicants to the University of California system has declined sharply: A32

MONEY & MANAGEMENT

A GOOD YEAR FOR ENDOWMENTS
Colleges earned an average of 17.2 per cent on their investments in the 1996 fiscal year, according to an annual survey: A34

  • A table ranks the endowments of 466 colleges and universities in the United States: A35-36

STUDENTS

IN THE FIELD
Colleges are hiring admissions officers to live in regions distant from their campuses, with the goal of building ties with and attracting applicants from far-flung communities: A39

NO MORE EASY A'S AT DUKE?
The university is considering a system that would penalize students who enroll in less-challenging classes, and would reward those who seek out tough courses: A40

  • THE STUDENT-BODY PRESIDENT at the State University of New York at Oswego was not, it turned out, a student: A39

  • VETERINARY STUDENTS at University of Minnesota are no longer allowed to bring pets to class without permits: A39

  • AT THE CITADEL, two male cadets suspected of hazing quit and 24 female applicants have been accepted for the 1997-98 academic year: A8

  • THE COLLEGE BOARD is raising the SAT scores of 45,000 students because one of them discovered a flawed question in a test in October: A9

ATHLETICS

DIVERSITY ON NCAA COMMITTEES
Big-time football conferences tried to avoid nominating enough women to comply with a new rule on the composition of a key panel of the National Collegiate Athletic Association: A41

WORRIES OVER SOCCER
Some college coaches fear that a professional league's plan to improve the quality of the game in the United States may result in players' losing eligibility for scholarships: A42

  • TO NO ONE'S SURPRISE, the National Collegiate Athletic Association endorsed the principle of sportsmanship: A41

  • BELOIT COLLEGE has claimed victory in its fight with the National Football League over its Buccaneer logo: A41

OPINION & LETTERS

DEATH ON THE BATTLEFIELDS
A historian at the University of Pennsylvania, Drew Gilpin Faust, examines how the unprecedented carnage of the Civil War affected American culture: A56

DOCUMENTING HISTORY
New priorities at the National Archives could jeopardize the scholarly editing of some of the United States' most important historical papers, says Raymond W. Smock, a former historian of the U.S. House of Representatives: B4

THE TEMPEST THAT ISN'T
A report that many colleges no longer require their English majors to study Shakespeare is based on false data and tainted by dubious motives, writes John K. Wilson, a graduate student at the University of Chicago: B6

FICTION VS. FILM
Jane Campion's filmed version of Henry James's novel The Portrait of a Lady raises new questions about how loyal a movie maker must be to literature, says Robert Sklar, a professor of cinema at New York University: B7

MUSEUMS WITHOUT WALLS
An on-line exhibition about the Great Chicago Fire illustrates how cyberspace can be used to advance the goals of scholarship and education, writes Carl Smith, the Northwestern University professor who created it: B8

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE ARTS

FICTION VS. FILM
Jane Campion's filmed version of Henry James's novel The Portrait of a Lady raises new questions about how loyal a movie maker must be to literature, says Robert Sklar, a professor of cinema at New York University: B7

PANORAMAS OF PASSAGE
An exhibit at the University of Hartford re-examines the apartheid landscape of South Africa: B92

  • AN ART PROFESSOR at Union College learned a lesson in simplicity from his mentally retarded students: A9
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