From the issue dated December 7, 2001
THE FACULTY
'UNDERSTANDING EQUANIMITY'
A new institute at West Virginia University examines the roles of consciousness and thought in nonstressful living; some professors say it's promoting New Age bunk.
ECONOMICS IS SEXY
Or it could be, if professors would recognize that the discipline has progressed beyond the version they learned -- and if they would change their teaching accordingly -- writes William E. Becker, a professor of economics at Indiana University at Bloomington.
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- 'UNDESERVEDLY HIGH GRADES': A Colgate University professor has sparked a furor with comments on minority students' achievement.
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- SETTING LIMITS: The College of William and Mary has banned affairs between faculty members and undergraduates.
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- PEER REVIEW: Physicists at Prairie View A&M say the university's president cost them a lucrative federal grant. ... Three American Indian professors are suing Humboldt State University for bias.
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- SYLLABUS: In "Advocacy in the Digital World," freshmen at Dickinson College learn how to weigh in on the Web regarding issues that interest them.
RESEARCH & PUBLISHING
IDENTITY AND CONTRADICTION
Immigrants play an essential role in the formation of democracies, says a Canadian scholar in an unexpectedly timely book.
TELLING THEIR OWN STORY
Only recently have historians begun to see Asian Americans as subjects, rather than objects, of history -- in part because members of the group themselves are now making a mark on the discipline -- writes Roger Daniels, a professor of history at the University of Cincinnati.
- RESHAPING THE FIELD: A look at some of the work by young scholars shows the range of topics in Asian American history today.
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- WHY NOT NOBEL? Four descendants of the creator of the prestigious awards say he disdained economics and would not have wanted a prize to be established in that field.
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- DISPUTE SETTLED: The Mormon Church has reclaimed some sensitive papers from Utah State University.
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- VERBATIM: A co-author of The Phantom Defense: America's Pursuit of the Star Wars Illusion explains why a national missile-defense system still makes no sense, even after September 11.
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- WHO KNEW? Stock-market returns are tied to lunar phases. ... Personal finances are linked to body sizes. ... Researchers say hookworm may control asthma in Africa. ... The connection between long legs and heart disease.
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- NOTA BENE: Nicholas B. Dirks examines the creation of an "ethnographic state" in India in Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India.
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- HOT TYPE: The American Anthropological Association gave a mixed review in a report on a book that charged scholars with mistreating an indigenous people in the Amazon.
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- NEW SCHOLARLY BOOKS
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
HIGH-PROFILE CANDIDATE
The state's governor might be the next chancellor of the University System of Maryland.
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- CUTTING FUNDS: The University of Pittsburgh's Environmental Law Clinic has angered Pennsylvania legislators by representing clients who oppose a new expressway and logging in the Allegheny National Forest.
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- 'MODEST EFFECT': A new study casts doubt on the conventional wisdom that a state can elevate the skills of its work force by persuading more students to enroll at its colleges.
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- LOCAL INTERESTS: The NIH and the University of Georgia called off a research project amid opposition from Maya Indians.
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- PRESIDENTIAL CHALLENGE: A lawsuit filed by a coalition of scholars and a consumer-advocacy group says an executive order by President Bush to block the release of presidential records is unconstitutional.
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- CRISIS AVERTED: After months of discussion, lenders and student groups have agreed on a plan to change the interest rate on college loans.
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- CRIME ONLINE: The U.S. Education Department has put statistics for more than 6,000 colleges on its Web site.
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- VERBATIM: A co-author of The Phantom Defense: America's Pursuit of the Star Wars Illusion explains why a national missile-defense system still makes no sense, even after September 11.
MONEY & MANAGEMENT
A FIGHT FOR VISIBILITY
The Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund wants to attract more support for students at public black colleges.
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- DOING THEIR PART: Students at North Carolina State University are forming their own endowment, to provide more financial aid.
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- THE BOTTOM LINE: The price lists of two universities, detailing how much donors must pay to get their names on buildings, were made public -- but only one appeared intentionally.
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- LEADERSHIP LOSS: War and recession have dealt a double blow to universities' executive-training programs.
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- PEER REVIEW: Physicists at Prairie View A&M say the university's president cost them a lucrative federal grant. ... Three American Indian professors are suing Humboldt State University for bias.
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- FOUNDATION GRANTS; GIFTS AND BEQUESTS
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
REBUILDING THE TWIN TOWERS VIRTUALLY
Researchers hope that computer models will allow them to minimize the damage to buildings -- and the loss of life -- from earthquakes and terrorist attacks.
- ON THE CUTTING EDGE: University experts are using lasers and other high-tech tools to help assess the damage done to buildings near the World Trade Center.
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- A CLUSTER OF CLUSTERS: A supercomputing network involving seven colleges and universities in Ontario has officially come online.
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- MEASURING USEFULNESS: Tennessee State University and Spelman College had the best Web sites among historically black colleges and universities, according to a new ranking.
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- LIMIT ON BANDWIDTH: The University of Pennsylvania has capped it for students in dormitories because of a sudden and unexplained surge in network use.
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- MUSLIM STUDIES: A University of Georgia professor's Web site about Islam has won acclaim and unprecedented popularity for its comprehensive and balanced material.
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- 'RESHUFFLING THE TEAM': After buying four businesses that sell records-management software to colleges, Jenzabar is now turning to new products.
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- 20 NEW REMOTE SITES: Government and university officials in Kentucky are seeking money to expand the state's telehealth network.
STUDENTS
POLICING 'THE MATCH'
New rules could crack down on students and administrators who abuse the system of assigning medical residencies.
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- MORE APPLICANTS: Despite fears that September 11 would affect interest in attending college in Washington and New York, early-decision applications are up at most elite colleges in those cities.
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- CAMPAIGN GOES BUST: A University of Pittsburgh student thought the best way to become homecoming queen was to hand out photographs showing her nearly topless.
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- PRIME NUMBERS: A survey of young alumni found that "money" was a more important factor than high test scores in gaining admission to an Ivy League college.
ATHLETICS
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- COURTING TROUBLE: Lawsuits over an injured mascot and the improper use of a copyrighted fight song show litigation's reach in college sports.
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- CHEERS SPUR FEARS: Texas A&M University's "yell leaders" retain their monopoly on campus cheerleading.
INTERNATIONAL
SLIPPERY LIFELINE
As more countries have instituted or increased tuition, student loans have spread, but the programs are a flop in much of the world, raising fears that many low-income people will be shut out of higher education.
- WITHOUT A TRACE: In Russia, a loan program vanishes, leaving students scrambling.
- PUZZLING PROGRAM: In China, the student-loan system confuses students and appears to be expanding the societal gaps the program was supposed to close.
IDENTITY AND CONTRADICTION
Immigrants play an essential role in the formation of democracies, says a Canadian scholar in an unexpectedly timely book.
CAPITALISM 101
Students at Indonesia's Trisakti University teach street vendors better ways to package and market their wares.
THE BRITISH DEBATE ON TERRORISM
In London, the news media are at war over the "American" war in Afghanistan, writes Elaine Showalter, a professor of English at Princeton University, on leave this year and living in London.
REFORM OR ELSE
European universities must make major changes or lose out to global competitors, writes Bernd Waechter, director of the Academic Cooperation Association, a federation of European organizations that support internationalization in academe.
THE CHRONICLE REVIEW
DREAMS AND REALITY
His students often ask him for career advice, and he gives it. But John Randolph Fuller, a professor of criminology at the State University of West Georgia, often wonders just who he is to be offering such counsel.
TELLING THEIR OWN STORY
Only recently have historians begun to see Asian Americans as subjects, rather than objects, of history -- in part because members of the group themselves are now making a mark on the discipline -- writes Roger Daniels, a professor of history at the University of Cincinnati.
- RESHAPING THE FIELD: A look at some of the work by young scholars shows the range of topics in Asian American history today.
ECONOMICS IS SEXY
Or it could be, if professors would recognize that the discipline has progressed beyond the version they learned -- and if they would change their teaching accordingly -- writes William E. Becker, a professor of economics at Indiana University at Bloomington.
MESMERIZED BY TV NEWS
Reports on the personal tragedies of the September 11 attacks have caused many Americans to miss the larger context, and the history that has occurred off the screen, writes Melani McAlister, an assistant professor of American studies at George Washington University.
THE BRITISH DEBATE ON TERRORISM
In London, the news media are at war over the "American" war in Afghanistan, writes Elaine Showalter, a professor of English at Princeton University, on leave this year and living in London.
QUESTIONS OF PERSPECTIVE
The German writer Bernhard Schlink manages to evoke reality while eluding verisimilitude, to the dismay of critics who demand moral certainty, writes Julia M. Klein, a cultural reporter and critic.
LIVES OF AFGHAN SURVIVORS
Years of civil war and social repression have left some adrift, others hopeful. Recent photographs tell their stories.
REFORM OR ELSE
European universities must make major changes or lose out to global competitors, writes Bernd Waechter, director of the Academic Cooperation Association, a federation of European organizations that support internationalization in academe.
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- MELANGE: Selections from recent books of interest to academe.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
GAZETTE
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