A Guide to the October 20, 1995, 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 RUSSIA, EDUCATIONAL DEMAND AND SUPPLY
Hundreds of academic institutions have been created in the
former Soviet Union to meet the demand for professional
education, but their quality varies widely.
IN THE AMERICAS, HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE EXPANDS
The U.S. philanthropy will award $15-million in grants to
biomedical researchers in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile,
Mexico, and Venezuela.
IN ENGLAND, CHARGES OF ACADEMIC MISREPRESENTATION
Warnborough College is accused of misrepresenting itself as
being affiliated with Oxford University.
- IN THE UNITED STATES, academics weigh the impact of President Clinton's executive order easing restrictions on
travel to Cuba.
- IN THE UNITED STATES, poets, writers, and playwrights from 32 countries will participate in the University of Iowa's
international writing program this fall.
RESEARCH & PUBLISHING
THE BIG APPLE CHRONICLED
"The Encyclopedia of New York City" documents "the capital of
the world" from its prehistoric plant life to its 1994 mayoral
election.
THE 1995 NOBEL PRIZES
American academics dominated this year's awards in science,
economics, and medicine.
MAKING RESEARCH RELEVANT
Regents of the University of Nebraska have adopted a measure
urging faculty members to conduct studies that address the
needs of the state.
THE ETHICS OF RESEARCH ON HUMANS
Mechanisms are needed to insure that patients are the
beneficiaries, not the victims, of medical experimentation,
urges Ruth Faden, chair of President Clinton's Advisory
Committee on Human Radiation Experiments and a professor at
the Johns Hopkins University.
- TWO SEPARATE TEAMS OF PLANT SCIENTISTS in California have found a way to accelerate tree breeding by discovering that
a single gene is all that is needed to convert plant stems
and leaves into flowers.
-
EIGHT U.S. RESEARCHERS have been awarded the National Medal
of Science.
-
HOT TYPE.
- Sanford Pinsker has taken over as editor of "Academic Questions," and he wants to focus the journal on "open
discussion and rigorous scholarship."
- The editors of the anthology, "Takin' It to the Streets: A Sixties Reader," are upset by "Rolling Stone"
magazine's refusal to give reprint permission.
-
85 NEW SCHOLARLY BOOKS, briefly described.
-
75 SCHOLARS have been honored with fellowships from the Smithsonian Institution; all of them are listed in this issue of The Chronicle.
PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS
GENDER-BASED FIRING
When St. Bonaventure University tried to resolve a fiscal
crisis by dismissing 22 men -- and no women -- some professors
complained that affirmative action had gone too far.
RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE STUDIES IN CRISIS
Since 1990, the number of people studying Russian has declined
by as much as 50 per cent. Scholars now fear programs will be
eliminated as a result.
UNDERMINING ETHNIC STUDIES
Too many college administrators endorse the idea of ethnic
studies but do not give programs adequate resources or
intellectual respect, argues Evelyn Hu-DeHart, a professor of
history and director of the Center for Studies of Ethnicity and
Race in America at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
MURDER, HE WROTE
Goddard College historian Eric Zency places Henry Adams at the
center of "Panama," his new detective novel.
- THE UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA HAS BEEN SUED by the heirs of a 74-year-old man who was trampled to death by a moose that
was allowed to wander around the campus.
- A REPORT financed by a $200,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation calls university accreditation "an odd
combination of arrogant intervention and irrelevant
ritualism." The report proposes a massive revamping of the
accreditation system.
- CLEVELAND INDIAN FANS have been singing along to a classical-music tune at the American League playoffs. The
words to the song were written by a professor at Case
Western Reserve University; the music was composed in 1694
by Henry Purcell.
- A VIRGINIA STATE JUDGE has dismissed a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed against James Madison University by a group
of faculty members who claimed the administration eliminated
the physics major and 10 faculty jobs without consulting
them.
- ROWAN COLLEGE VOTED TO DISMISS a tenured assistant professor of sociology on charges of gross inefficiency,
insubordination, and unprofessional conduct. The professor
had worked on the campus for more than 25 years.
- A JOURNALISM PROFESSOR has sued the University of Wisconsin at River Falls for allegedly violating his First Amendment rights. The assistant professor claims he was fired after
helping student reporters write controversial investigative
stories about the university.
- TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY has been sued by two professors who claim they were fired for blowing the whistle on
questionable campus practices.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
LEARNING TO SPEAK LIKE NATIVES
Multimedia teaching tools help students at Brigham Young
University master the intricacies of foreign languages.
CAN COMPUTERS GRADE WRITING?
Many overworked teachers are interested in a new software
program that grades essays, but skeptics argue that doing so
requires a human touch.
A VIRTUAL-REALITY SCIENCE FAIR
A new World-Wide Web site lets elementary, high-school, and
college students present their science projects on line.
FEDERAL & STATE GOVERNMENTS (U.S.A.)
BETTER DAYS IN THE STATES
Support for higher education is on the rise, but state spending,
although up by 3.3 per cent, still only just covers the rate of
inflation.
THOUSANDS PROTEST UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA POLICY
Students from nine campuses demonstrated last week against
limits on affirmative action. Marches, teach-ins, and voter-registration drives were held; some arrests were made.
DIRECT ELECTION OF TRUSTEES UNDER FIRE
The Governor of Michigan, where voters elect members of the
boards of three public universities, has called for an end to
the practice.
CREATIVE SOLUTIONS INSTEAD OF FEDERAL FUNDS
Student-aid experts and lawmakers have started to plan the
reauthorization of the Higher Education Act -- with an
emphasis on changes that don't cost anything.
MAKING RESEARCH RELEVANT
Regents of the University of Nebraska have adopted a measure
urging faculty members to conduct studies that address the
needs of the state.
SUPREME COURT WON'T HEAR FAULKNER'S APPEAL
The Justices rejected a petition from the woman who sought to
join the Citadel's all-male Corps of Cadets.
A 5-YEAR EXPERIMENT WITH FINANCIAL AID
The Education Department has exempted more than 100 colleges
and universities from key student-aid regulations. The
institutions will be allowed to use their own methods to handle
financial aid.
- SENATOR NANCY KASSEBAUM acknowledged that a plan that she authored, which would impose a tax on the total student-loan
volume at colleges and universities, is unlikely to win
Senate support.
- CORNELL UNIVERSITY has agreed to give millions of dollars over a 13-year period to Ithaca, New York, in order to avoid a property-tax showdown.
- THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON will pay $20,000 to settle a complaint brought by the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
which alleged animal-care violations.
- SENATE DEMOCRATS have forced their Republican colleagues to give $1.8-million in federal funds to student-loan-guarantee agencies.
- THE COUNCIL FOR BASIC EDUCATION has recommended revising, not scrapping, proposed standards for teaching history in public schools. The standards have drawn criticism for
portraying the United States in too negative a light.
- THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES passed a bill that would reauthorize six science agencies, but there is
little chance similar legislation will be introduced in the
Senate.
BUSINESS & PHILANTHROPY
PRACTICING WHAT IT PREACHES
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education has taken
aggressive steps to reverse recent declines in membership.
FORMER EMPLOYEES SUE HOWARD UNIVERSITY
Thirty-nine staff members who were fired are seeking
$136.5-million in damages for wrongful termination.
- AN ANTHROPOLOGY PROFESSOR at the University of Texas at Austin resigned to protest the institution's continued
involvement with an alleged corporate polluter.
- A $2-MILLION BEQUEST to provide scholarships for American Indians in Minnesota was made by Ethel Curry, a medical
secretary. Ms. Curry died at the age of 107.
-
6 FOUNDATION GRANTS; 22 gifts and bequests.
STUDENTS
SEXUAL TENSION
At the University of Dallas, a proposed rule banning sex in
the dormitories has set off a debate about how Catholic -- and
how tolerant -- the institution should be.
ATHLETICS
RESTRUCTURING THE NCAA
At their convention in January, members of the National
Collegiate Athletic Association are expected to approve a plan
to overhaul its governance, giving more independence
to major sports programs.
OPINION & LETTERS
THE ETHICS OF RESEARCH ON HUMANS
Mechanisms are needed to insure that patients are the
beneficiaries, not the victims, of medical experimentation,
urges Ruth Faden, chair of President Clinton's Advisory
Committee on Human Radiation Experiments and a professor at
the Johns Hopkins University.
UNDERMINING ETHNIC STUDIES
Too many college administrators endorse the idea of ethnic
studies but do not give programs adequate resources or
intellectual respect, argues Evelyn Hu-DeHart, a professor of
history and director of the Center for Studies of Ethnicity and
Race in America at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE ARTS
NOTES FROM ACADEME: BREAKFAST WITH DARWIN
How the theory of evolution is reflected in contemporary
life.
AMERICA THROUGH THE EYES OF EMIGRES
Works by seven immigrant photographers make up one of three
museum exhibits on immigration.