From the issue dated October 22, 2004
THE FACULTY
THE CIRCUIT-RIDING PROFESSORS
Five colleges in Massachusetts are sharing some unusual joint appointments.
GAY, CHRISTIAN, AND CONSERVATIVE
With the odds against them, a gay, Christian, conservative couple go on the academic job market together.
SEARCH FOR PLACE
Sometimes it's the world outside the office and the classroom that determines whether a job is a good fit.
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- ORGANIZING DATA: A set of national standards for the employment of graduate research and teaching assistants has been released by the American Federation of Teachers.
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- $3-MILLION IN DEBT: Blaming financial difficulties, the University of La Verne abruptly closed its campus in Greece, putting 70 faculty members out of work.
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- PEER REVIEW: The lawyer who coordinated the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor's landmark affirmative-action cases will become vice president and general counsel of Rutgers University. ... A trustee who was a member of the presidential search committee at High Point University wins the job. ... James L. Oblinger has been named chancellor of North Carolina State University, and other comings and goings.
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- SYLLABUS: In "Advent of the Atomic Bomb," at Colgate University, a geology professor lets students develop the expertise to describe what a nuclear attack would do to their hometowns.
RESEARCH & PUBLISHING
DERRIDA'S LEGACY
The work of the French philosopher, who died this month, has had its biggest ripples in American literary studies.
FAIRY CIRCLES
Why does nothing grow inside them? A Namibian botanist seeks the answers.
A REVIVAL OF RELIGION
For decades American scholars assumed society was becoming more secular, but a revival in spiritual belief is sparking new scholarship on the interplay of religion and culture, writes Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life and professor of political science at Boston College.
ONE NATION, UNDER GOD?
Ten scholars discuss what they consider to be the key issues in religion and American life today.
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- HIGH ANXIETY: Undergraduate guinea pigs on a West Coast campus smoked marijuana and played video games in one memorable experiment. An accompanying chart gives the going rates for participation in other human-subjects experiments.
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- VERBATIM: Grant Barrett, of Oxford University Press, discusses a new dictionary of modern and archaic American political slang.
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- HOT TYPE: Smithsonian Books will be reorganized into two units, one for scholarly work and one for trade books, early next year.
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- LAST NOBELS FOR 2004: Nobel Prizes in peace and in economics went, respectively, to a Kenyan activist and academic and to two economists at American universities.
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- NOTA BENE: Working in the slums allowed higher-class Victorians to explore the sexual freedom they associated with poverty, according to a Villanova University historian.
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- WHAT THEY'RE READING ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES: A list of the best-selling books.
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- NEW SCHOLARLY BOOKS
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
BIG ON THE HILL
Academic lobbying is now on a par with that of defense contractors, as colleges' spending on such efforts has doubled in the past five years.
- ON THE JOB: Three Washington-based academic lobbyists talk about their work.
- HIRING GUIDE: Four questions that college officials should ask themselves before interviewing Washington lobbyists.
- INCREASING THEIR CLOUT: Lesser-known public colleges have bolstered their lobbying in the nation's capital, a decision that has paid off.
BUTTONHOLE U.
Despite some shyness about acknowledging that they lobby their state governments for funds, most public colleges see the activity as essential and are going about it with increasing energy and sophistication.
POLITICAL MOOD SWING
When two students decided to bring the filmmaker Michael Moore to a college in one of the most conservative parts of Utah, outrage was the order of the day in the Happy Valley.
MISLEADING INDICATOR
Graduation rates are a poor way to measure colleges, but critics have often concluded that for the wrong reasons, writes Alexander W. Astin, a professor emeritus of higher education and organizational change at the University of California at Los Angeles.
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- CUTTING OFF MORE FUNDS: Hidden in a bill that has cleared Congress is a provision that would increase penalties for colleges that bar military recruiters from their campuses.
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- DAMPENING DONATIONS? The tax advantages of giving intellectual property to nonprofit organizations, including colleges, would be reduced under a bill that President Bush is expected to sign.
MONEY & MANAGEMENT
A FALLEN LEADER BREAKS HIS SILENCE
John W. Shumaker, who stepped down under fire last year as president of the University of Tennessee, tells his side of the story.
BIG ON THE HILL
Academic lobbying is now on a par with that of defense contractors, as colleges' spending on such efforts has doubled in the past five years.
BUTTONHOLE U.
Despite some shyness about acknowledging that they lobby their state governments for funds, most public colleges see the activity as essential and are going about it with increasing energy and sophistication.
BUILDING IDENTITY
Colleges can't afford to ignore their architectural heritage, writes Barry Munitz, president and chief executive officer of the J. Paul Getty Trust and a former chancellor of the California State University System.
COMPANY TIME
It's easy to attract corporate dollars to large universities, but what if you work at a small, rural college?
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- LEGAL WRANGLING: Shareholders filed three lawsuits against the parent company of the University of Phoenix.
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- NEW PARTNERSHIP: New York University and Polytechnic University have agreed to allow their graduate students to take classes at either institution.
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- ALLEGATIONS DENIED: Four men have accused William P. Garvey, president of Mercyhurst College, of sexually abusing them in the late 1960s, when they were minors. He has denied the allegations.
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- STEAK OR LOBSTER? One night a year, Connecticut College treats its diners to a meal that is not their usual dorm fare.
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- NONPARTISAN PENGUIN: Citing trademark law, Youngstown State University asked the Bush-Cheney campaign's Web site to take down a photo of the institution's mascot.
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- DAMPENING DONATIONS? The tax advantages of giving intellectual property to nonprofit organizations, including colleges, would be reduced under a bill that President Bush is expected to sign.
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- PEER REVIEW: The lawyer who coordinated the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor's landmark affirmative-action cases will become vice president and general counsel of Rutgers University. ... A trustee who was a member of the presidential search committee at High Point University wins the job. ... James L. Oblinger has been named chancellor of North Carolina State University, and other comings and goings.
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- BOND-RATING UPDATE
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SONGS WITHOUT SUBPOENAS
Colleges turn to commercial file-sharing services to discourage students' online music piracy, with mixed success.
CONSIDER THE CUSTOMER
Information-software creators should consult with their systems' intended users early in the design process, writes Charles Hannon, chair of the program in information-technology leadership at Washington & Jefferson College.
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- PAPER CHASE: A virtual law school in California has unexpectedly closed down, leaving students unable to get transcripts or refunds, and some of them spoiling for a fight.
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- FILE-SHARING DECISION: The U.S. Supreme Court let stand an appeals-court ruling that stopped record companies from using a "fast track" legal process to identify suspected music pirates, including those on college campuses.
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- BE CAREFUL OUT THERE: Educause, a higher-education-technology group, has compiled a CD-ROM of more than 150 examples of colleges' efforts to promote awareness of computer security.
STUDENTS
POLITICAL MOOD SWING
When two students decided to bring the filmmaker Michael Moore to a college in one of the most conservative parts of Utah, outrage was the order of the day in the Happy Valley.
SONGS WITHOUT SUBPOENAS
Colleges turn to commercial file-sharing services to discourage students' online music piracy, with mixed success.
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- SWING STATE SAGA: The president of Florida Gulf Coast University postponed an address by an outspoken Democrat, saying it would be politically unbalanced, but didn't prevent the Republican National Committee from holding a rally in the unversity's arena.
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- HAVEN FOR ACTIVISM: Students keep Sen. Paul Wellstone's memory alive at Carleton College, where he taught political science for 21 years.
ATHLETICS
MOTIVATING THE MIND
The student within the student-athlete needs coaching, too, writes Paula M. Krebs, chairwoman of the English department at Wheaton College, in Massachusetts.
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- TITLE IX PREVAILS: Coaches of wrestling teams and other men's sports that are waning in participation have lost what may well be the last round in their lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education.
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- REPEATED ETHICS VIOLATIONS: The athletics departments at Stetson University and the University of Louisiana at Monroe have been put on probation by the NCAA for ethics violations by a women's tennis coach.
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- JAIL SENTENCE: A former employee of Northern Arizona University was given 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of sexually abusing members of a girls' community swimming team that used the university's pool.
INTERNATIONAL
FULBRIGHT REACHES OUT
Administrators of the program, concerned that it is seen as supporting only research, want to attract students at more colleges and return to its original mission of fostering cultural exchange and diplomacy.
- IN THE NETHERLANDS: A music graduate from the University of California at Berkeley rings the changes while studying the carillon.
- IN MOROCCO: A Mormon student from Brigham Young University tries to gain a better understanding of the Muslim world.
- IN FINLAND: A doctoral candidate in geology at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities digs into the land of her great-grandparents.
- IN SOUTH KOREA: A philosophy graduate of Claremont McKenna College teaches English to 650 students and teachers in an urban high school.
- IN MOZAMBIQUE: A Columbia University graduate immerses herself in the literary life of the capital, Maputo.
- TABLE: Top producers of Fulbright awards for students, by type of institution, 2004-5
FAIRY CIRCLES
Why does nothing grow inside them? A Namibian botanist seeks the answers.
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- MOST STUDY LANGUAGE: China is increasing in popularity as a destination for Asian students, who make up the bulk of the 86,000 foreigners enrolled in Chinese universities, up 11 percent from last year.
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- MONEY-SAVING MOVE: A Japanese government panel has cleared the way for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to merge the four universities it oversees into a single institution, despite widespread faculty opposition.
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- 7 CAMPUSES PLANNED: The first in a network of seven "intercultural universities" that will give priority to students from Mexico's impoverished Indian minority has opened.
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- COMPETING ABROAD: Separate studies have identified two worrisome trends in Australian higher education.
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- TARGETS ON CAMPUSES: Suspected militants in Thailand have killed one student and threatened further violence in retaliation for the arrests of Muslim students.
NOTES FROM ACADEME
FAIRY CIRCLES
Why does nothing grow inside them? A Namibian botanist seeks the answers.
THE CHRONICLE REVIEW
MOTIVATING THE MIND
The student within the student-athlete needs coaching, too, writes Paula M. Krebs, chairwoman of the English department at Wheaton College, in Massachusetts.
A REVIVAL OF RELIGION
For decades American scholars assumed society was becoming more secular, but a revival in spiritual belief is sparking new scholarship on the interplay of religion and culture, writes Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life and professor of political science at Boston College.
ONE NATION, UNDER GOD?
Ten scholars discuss what they consider to be the key issues in religion and American life today.
BUILDING IDENTITY
Colleges can't afford to ignore their architectural heritage, writes Barry Munitz, president and chief executive officer of the J. Paul Getty Trust and a former chancellor of the California State University System.
CONSIDER THE CUSTOMER
Information-software creators should consult with their systems' intended users early in the design process, writes Charles Hannon, chair of the program in information-technology leadership at Washington & Jefferson College.
SQUATTERS
An art professor chronicles a group of young outsiders who created their own community in an abandoned factory in New York's East Village.
MISLEADING INDICATOR
Graduation rates are a poor way to measure colleges, but critics have often concluded that for the wrong reasons, writes Alexander W. Astin, a professor emeritus of higher education and organizational change at the University of California at Los Angeles.
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- MELANGE: Selections from books of interest to academe.
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- THE SHORT LIST: Five scholars discuss the books that have most influenced their fields.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
CHRONICLE CAREERS
COMPANY TIME
It's easy to attract corporate dollars to large universities, but what if you work at a small, rural college?
GAY, CHRISTIAN, AND CONSERVATIVE
With the odds against them, a gay, Christian, conservative couple go on the academic job market together.
SEARCH FOR PLACE
Sometimes it's the world outside the office and the classroom that determines whether a job is a good fit.
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- DETAILS OF AVAILABLE POSTS, including teaching and research positions in higher education, administrative and executive jobs, and openings outside academe
GAZETTE
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