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From the issue dated January 28, 2005 |
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Short SubjectsCAREER CHOICESTom Ridge and Sean O'Keefe? They're just hard-working college parents, like you and me. DEMOLITION BLUES: To the disappointment of some students, Sul Ross State University will raze 41 cottages built during the Great Depression and World War II to make way for a new dormitory. DO WE HAVE A BIDDER? Wake Forest University wants to sell a 376-foot-long circular painting that is appraised at $2.5-million but needs an estimated $8-million touch-up. NICE TRY: A pinup calendar earned a student an A in entrepreneurship at Saint Mary's University, in Nova Scotia, but then college officials halted its sale on the campus. BRAVE NEW WORDS: The American Dialect Society has chosen its annual list of prominent newcomers to the language. The FacultyBENT OUT OF SHAPEMedical professors at Florida State University say it was unfairly manipulated into a plan to build a chiropractic school, which would be the first at an American public university. FUROR AT HARVARDSpeculation by the university's president about biological factors that may account for the scarcity of women in the top ranks of mathematics and science has outraged many scholars. THE BACHELORETTEA Ph.D. in history finds that a rural, small-town campus is no place to be single. $350,000 AGREEMENT: Ohio University at Athens and a former professor of photojournalism will share the cost of a settlement in a lawsuit brought by a former student who says he coerced her into posing topless. UNJUSTIFIED NUMBERS? A former professor of mathematics is suing Wisconsin Lutheran College because, he says, he was fired for refusing to inflate grades. SYLLABUS: Students at the University of Sioux Falls study the complex narratives and broad cultural impact of video games like Grand Theft Auto. PEER REVIEW: Louisiana College's board has picked a president hardly anyone wants. ... Two internationally known neuroscientists are leaving the University of Iowa for the University of Southern California. ... A home purchase by the wife of the University of Georgia's president has caused speculation about his career plans. ... A campaign strategist for John Kerry will become a fellow at New York University's school of public service. ... The director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases will become a professor at the Emory University School of Medicine. Research & BooksTHE DEBATE OVER 'DAME HELEN'No other critic of poetry has had the public impact of the rigorously untheoretical Helen Vendler. Whether that impact is for better or for worse depends on your point of view. MOONSTRUCKPlanetary scientists celebrated upon learning that the Huygens space probe had survived its fall through Titan's atmosphere and had sent back plenty of data. EXTENDED EMBARGO: The National Institutes of Health reportedly will revise its proposed policy on free access to papers based on NIH-sponsored research, doubling the delay to 12 months. HOT TYPE: The newest in a series of collections of academic essays on country music focuses on the genre's commentary on atomic war. VERBATIM: The author of A Hacker Manifesto argues that a "new ruling class" has seized ownership of information from its creative producers by means of patents, copyrights, and trademarks. NOTA BENE: An assistant professor of classics at Yale University looks at the cults that worshiped dead child heroes in ancient Greece. Government & PoliticsA NEW ROUTE TO RACIAL DIVERSITYTexas A&M has raised minority enrollments without using race in its admissions decisions. CHANGE AT A COSTA federal advisory committee has come up with ways to simplify access to student aid, but the proposals carry high price tags for the government. HIGHER CEILING: President Bush says he wants to raise the maximum Pell Grant by $500, to $4,550, and to eliminate a $4.3-billion shortfall in the student-aid program. LAW SCHOOLS' CASE: The Justice Department plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a law withholding federal payments from colleges that restrict military recruiting. DEPARTING LEADER? New York's governor reportedly wants the state-university system's chancellor to leave the job. SMOOTH SAILING: President Bush's nominee for secretary of health and human services got a friendly hearing before a Senate committee. AUTOMATIC IN: The University of Colorado System plans to guarantee admission to in-state applicants who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high-school class or have other academic achievements. NEW DEAL: Members of the governing board of Pennsylvania State University's Dickinson School of Law have agreed to allow the system to build a new law school on its main campus. IN BRIEF: Nevada's governor wants to sell bonds to erase a deficit in a state scholarship program. ... A Colorado state senator has introduced legislation to protect college faculty members who discuss their political or religious views in the classroom. ... Oregon lawmakers may trim the state-university system's budget after an audit found that pay raises were given despite a salary freeze. ... Oklahoma's governor has proposed issuing bonds to pay for construction projects on state-college campuses. Money & ManagementMANY HAPPY RETURNSCollege endowments surged in value in 2004, a survey has found, ending a three-year losing streak for many of them. WHERE DISCRIMINATION IS OKSome campus Christian groups have forced their institutions to allow them to prevent gay people and nonbelievers from joining. Now some colleges are fighting back. THE COMPANIES THEY KEEPNot long ago, colleges questioned whether they should outsource some campus operations. Now they ask whether they can afford not to. BRICKS AND MORTARBOARDSPrivatized building and management of student housing has logistical benefits but can raise questions about financial liability. HANDS-ON HANDOFFSOutsourcing can make sense, says Paul Davies, but go into it with your eyes open. WASTING MONEYA failed fund-raising trip makes a development officer rethink how he spends his colleges' resources. FALSE CLAIMS ALLEGED: A whistle-blower lawsuit that seeks about $1-billion from the University of Phoenix may be getting new life from the Justice Department. THINKING OUTSIDE THE NAME: Naming a sports facility at Boise State University for Taco Bell has stoked heartburn on the campus. GIANT DOME, ANYONE? Biosphere2, the glass-enclosed research facility in Arizona that had been run by Columbia University, is for sale. 'GNAWING CONCERN': With athletics departments' budgets increasing year by year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association is forming a panel of presidents to study the future of college sports. IN BRIEF: The Association of University Technology Managers is seeking its first executive director. ... Bob Kerrey's contract as president of the New School University has been extended. ... The University of Texas System has all but dropped out of the competition to take over management of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. PEER REVIEW: Louisiana College's board has picked a president hardly anyone wants. ... Two internationally known neuroscientists are leaving the University of Iowa for the University of Southern California. ... A home purchase by the wife of the University of Georgia's president has caused speculation about his career plans. ... A campaign strategist for John Kerry will become a fellow at New York University's school of public service. ... The director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases will become a professor at the Emory University School of Medicine. StudentsWHERE DISCRIMINATION IS OKSome campus Christian groups have forced their institutions to allow them to prevent gay people and nonbelievers from joining. Now some colleges are fighting back. CHANGE AT A COSTA federal advisory committee has come up with ways to simplify access to student aid, but the proposals carry high price tags for the government. WHO REALLY BENEFITS?An academic parent wonders if a tuition-exchange program will limit his children's educational options. HIGHER CEILING: President Bush says he wants to raise the maximum Pell Grant by $500, to $4,550, and to eliminate a $4.3-billion shortfall in the student-aid program. AthleticsTHINKING OUTSIDE THE NAME: Naming a sports facility at Boise State University for Taco Bell has stoked heartburn on the campus. 'GNAWING CONCERN': With athletics departments' budgets increasing year by year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association is forming a panel of presidents to study the future of college sports. Information TechnologyTHE NEXT PLAGUEAs spyware and adware invade campus computers, college technology officials go on the offensive. 'HIGHLY VULNERABLE': The federal government does not adequately support research into protecting technology infrastructure from terrorist attack, a report says. GOING THE DISTANCE: St. Augustine's College, in North Carolina, is converting its campus television station into a digital signal so it can reach a wider audience and help advertise the institution. WHY US? Some colleges look for a pattern in the music industry's lawsuits against file sharers. APPLE BITES BACK: Apple Computer has sued a Harvard freshman whose blog upstaged the company's introduction of a low-cost Macintosh. NOT ENOUGH GREEN: Media Lab Europe, the high-profile Irish offshoot of MIT's Media Laboratory, is running out of money and will be closed. InternationalGO FORTH AND MULTIPLYCollege students are building villages in Israel's sparsely populated Negev desert to fulfill David Ben-Gurion's vision of spreading the Jewish population throughout the land. NICE TRY: A pinup calendar earned a student an A in entrepreneurship at Saint Mary's University, in Nova Scotia, but then college officials halted its sale on the campus. NOT ENOUGH GREEN: Media Lab Europe, the high-profile Irish offshoot of MIT's Media Laboratory, is running out of money and will be closed. Notes From AcademeGO FORTH AND MULTIPLYCollege students are building villages in Israel's sparsely populated Negev desert to fulfill David Ben-Gurion's vision of spreading the Jewish population throughout the land. Letters to the EditorCampus ServicesTHE COMPANIES THEY KEEPNot long ago, colleges questioned whether they should outsource some campus operations. Now they ask whether they can afford not to. BRICKS AND MORTARBOARDSPrivatized building and management of student housing has logistical benefits but can raise questions about financial liability. SCAN AND DELIVERDo-it-all ID cards are convenient, but do they become too corporate when banking services are added? DAWG DAYSA close look at the University of Georgia shows how integral auxiliary services are to life on one campus. HANDS-ON HANDOFFSOutsourcing can make sense, says Paul Davies, but go into it with your eyes open. DON'T MESS WITH TEXASGeorge H. Mitchell explains how he's kept the University of Texas bookstore independent. LOOKING FOR A CUREStephen D. Blom and Stephen L. Beckley explore six major challenges facing student health programs. Chronicle CareersWHO REALLY BENEFITS?An academic parent wonders if a tuition-exchange program will limit his children's educational options. WASTING MONEYA failed fund-raising trip makes a development officer rethink how he spends his colleges' resources. THE BACHELORETTEA Ph.D. in history finds that a rural, small-town campus is no place to be single. DETAILS OF AVAILABLE POSTS, including teaching and research positions in higher education, administrative and executive jobs, and openings outside academe Gazette |