October 24, 2007
Ruling in Donor Lawsuit Against Princeton Is Expected Tomorrow
Will Princeton be allowed to keep a $900-million chunk of its endowment, or will it not?
Some answers are likely to come tomorrow morning, when a New Jersey judge rules on several motions in a lawsuit filed by heirs of Charles and Marie Robertson against the university. Even if the judge rules in Princeton’s favor, representatives of the Robertson Foundation — the organization set up by the Robertsons to oversee the donation — have pledged to go to trial.
The suit alleges that Princeton has never fulfilled the primary intent of the donors: preparing graduates of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs for jobs in the federal government.
While that scope is rather narrow, the lawsuit’s broader question of donor intent has made it among the most closely watched cases in recent history involving donations. That’s because if the heirs were to win, many other unhappy donors could take the judge’s decision as a precedent in filing suits against colleges and other nonprofit organizations to which they have made gifts. —Martin Van Der Werf
Posted on Wed Oct 24, 03:27 PM | Permalink | Comment'Dream Act' Fails to Get Enough Votes for Senate Debate
Washington — Legislation that would have provided a path to legal residency for some illegal immigrants and made them eligible for federal student-loan and work-study programs failed to get enough votes in the U.S. Senate today to receive further consideration on the floor.
Advocates of the legislation, S 2205, needed 60 votes to begin debate. They fell eight votes short, with a tally of 52 to 44.
The vote is likely to herald the end of Congressional debate on major immigration issues for the year, the Associated Press reported.
The bill, known as the Dream Act, does not include provisions to repeal a 1996 federal immigration law that has served as a basis for legal challenges to several state laws that extend in-state tuition rates to some students who entered the United States illegally but who graduated from those states’ high schools.
But it would open up the federal student-loan and work-study programs to immigrants who entered the United States illegally when they were under 16 and who have lived in the country for at least five years, have graduated from an American high school, and have been enrolled for at least two years in college or the military. —Sara Hebel
Posted on Wed Oct 24, 02:44 PM | Permalink | Comment [2]Long-Serving National Guard Troops Were Denied GI Bill Benefits
More than 1,500 National Guard members in Iowa and Minnesota have been shortchanged on their GI Bill educational benefits, and members of Congress want to know why.
To receive the maximum benefit, soldiers must have been issued orders for 730 days or more of active duty, and have served 20 consecutive months. Those who qualify receive up to $894 per month toward their educational expenses after making a $1,200 down payment.
The Iowa and Minnesota troops had all served 20 months or longer—the Iowa soldiers, in fact, were members of the “Ironman Battalion,” the longest-serving combat unit in Iraq—but the affected soldiers had originally been issued orders for less than 730 days. In some cases, they had been given orders for 725 to 729 days, according to The Des Moines Register.
In a news conference this afternoon, Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democrat of Iowa, said the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee would investigate why National Guard members had been denied benefits and whether other troops had been affected as well. He said the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, David S.C. Chu, had assured him that the problem would be fixed in time for the spring semester. The promised benefits are a key recruitment tool.
Meanwhile, Congress is considering legislation, S 2139, that would eliminate the 730-day requirement, basing eligibility solely on length of service. —Kelly Field
Posted on Wed Oct 24, 01:58 PM | Permalink | CommentCampus Technology Survey Finds More Lost Data, Fewer Viruses
Lost data from decentralized servers is a growing problem for colleges, according to the Campus Computing Project, an annual survey of how colleges use information technology.
The survey is to be presented today at the annual Educause conference, in Seattle.
Of 555 college administrators surveyed over the last two months, 14.6 percent said their colleges had lost data that was not under the control of central IT services, up from 11.3 percent in 2006.
The survey also found, among other things, that:
- Colleges reporting major computer viruses declined from 35.4 percent in 2005 to 14.8 percent this year.
- A new question revealed that 6.5 percent of colleges experienced a security breach because of employee malfeasance.
- The percentage of colleges reporting attacks on networks declined from 51.1 percent in 2005 to 45.6 percent this year.
- Three-fifths of college classrooms have wireless access, compared with half in 2006.
Copies of a report on the survey will be available December 10 from the Campus Computing Project, for $39 apiece. —Andrea L. Foster
Posted on Wed Oct 24, 11:08 AM | Permalink | CommentDelaware State U. Student Dies of Wounds From Campus Shooting
One of the students shot last month at Delaware State University in an incident that aroused fears of a Virginia Tech-like massacre has died, The News Journal, a newspaper in Wilmington, Del., reported today. The student, Shalita Middleton, a freshman, died on Tuesday of wounds suffered in the shooting. A suspect who was also a student, Loyer D. Braden, is scheduled to appear before a grand jury in early November, and is now likely to face more-serious charges. The university drew praise for its response to the incident, which apparently stemmed from a previous dispute. —Andrew Mytelka
Posted on Wed Oct 24, 09:05 AM | Permalink | CommentTexas Leaders Agree to Restore $154-Million to 2-Year Colleges
The $154-million that Gov. Rick Perry had vetoed from the state budget for Texas’ community colleges will be restored under an agreement announced on Tuesday by the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the Texas House speaker, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
The governor, a Republican, had accused the colleges of falsifying their appropriations requests for employee health insurance when he vetoed the funds in June. The veto and the governor’s rationale for it drew a storm of protest from college leaders and lawmakers.
After Tuesday’s agreement, Governor Perry and other officials called on the community colleges to rescind any tuition, tax, or fee increases that were imposed as a result of the veto. Fewer than 10 colleges have made such increases, Rey Garcia, president of the Texas Association of Community Colleges, told the newspaper.
The agreement also will allow community colleges to seek a share of a $100-million incentive fund, previously open only to four-year institutions, that rewards colleges for raising graduation rates and achieving other performance improvements. —Charles Huckabee
Posted on Wed Oct 24, 06:16 AM | Permalink | CommentColleges' Commitment to Sustainability Gets Higher Grades in Report
The green revolution marches on in higher education.
A report out today from the Sustainable Endowments Institute says that two-thirds of the colleges and universities with the 200 largest endowments in the United States received better grades on their commitments to sustainability, compared with last year.
The proportion of institutions committing to reducing carbon emissions more than tripled, from 14 percent last year to 50 percent this year. More than two-thirds of colleges and universities have “green” building policies, and more than four-fifths are buying at least some food from local farmers and producers.
The report, now in its second year, tries to tie universities’ commitment to sustainability to how they run their endowments. The report assesses the transparency of endowments’ investment policies. Also, when a college endowment holds stock in a public company, the report tracks whether it casts proxies in favor of policies that are good for the environment.
Colleges, so far, don’t do so well in those categories. The average grade in endowment transparency was a D. In what is called “shareholder engagement,” the average grade was a D-. —Martin Van Der Werf
Posted on Wed Oct 24, 06:16 AM | Permalink | CommentOctober 23, 2007
Judge Declares Mistrial as Jury Deadlocks in Eastern Michigan U. Murder Case
A county judge declared a mistrial today in the case of Orange Amir Taylor III, a former student at Eastern Michigan University who was charged with the rape and murder of a fellow student, Laura Dickinson, according to Court TV.
The jury in Washtenaw County Trial Court was “hopelessly deadlocked,” said the judge, Archie C. Brown. (The trial was also broadcast on the Web site of Court TV.)
A custodian discovered Ms. Dickinson’s body on the floor of her dormitory room last December. She was naked from the waist down with a pillow over her face. Although Ms. Dickinson had had cardiac arrhythmia, a state medical examiner identified her cause of death as “asphyxia, either from smothering or strangulation.” Mr. Taylor was recorded on a surveillance camera as entering and leaving her dorm, and his DNA matched a drop of semen found on her leg.
Eastern Michigan faced fierce criticism for violating crime-reporting law by not disclosing the apparent murder until after Mr. Taylor’s arrest. The president of the university was fired in July (he has since sued the Board of Regents). But whether the case was actually a murder the jury could not decide.
Mr. Taylor’s lawyer, Alvin Keel, said Ms. Dickinson had died of the heart condition. Mr. Taylor just discovered her body, the lawyer said, and masturbated on it. In his closing argument, Mr. Keel raised suspicion that the medical examiner did not determine Ms. Dickinson’s cause of death until the day before Mr. Taylor’s first court hearing.
“That’s all they have left to say,” the assistant prosecutor, Blaine Longsworth, struck back. “That’s the only possible claim they can make up in the case that fits or attempts to fit with the evidence against the defendant.”
Mr. Taylor’s retrial is scheduled for January 28, 2008. He faces charges of murder, assault, home invasion, and larceny, and could be sentenced to life without parole if convicted. —Sara Lipka
Posted on Tue Oct 23, 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comment [3]Archbishop Tutu Calls for U. of St. Thomas to Reinstate Professor
Following an initial refusal to let Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak at the University of St. Thomas, the Minnesota institution has now invited him. Archbishop Tutu said he will, but only if the college agrees to give a professor back her chairmanship.
University officials admitted to demoting Cris Toffolo, an associate professor of political science, from her position as chair of the institution’s program in justice and peace studies. They wouldn’t give details but said it had to do with the situation concerning Archbishop Tutu.
The Rev. Dennis J. Dease, president of the university, announced his recognition of the university’s mistake and a formal invitation to the Nobel peace laureate two weeks ago in a letter to students and members of the faculty and staff.
Meanwhile, faculty and staff members are rallying and gathering signatures for a petition to reinstate Ms. Toffolo to her administrative job, but the university seems to be holding firm, according to the Star Tribune. —Anna Weggel
Posted on Tue Oct 23, 05:07 PM | Permalink | Comment [7]Congressmen Seek Details on Researchers With Ties to Tobacco Companies
A key Congressional committee is probing possible conflicts of interest among academic researchers leading a large, federally financed study of whether annual medical scans of smokers’ lungs can save lives. The committee is seeking detailed information about the scientists’ relationships with tobacco companies, and has suggested that federal rules governing conflicts among academic researchers lack strength in general.
Two of the study’s principal investigators testified as paid experts for tobacco companies facing lawsuits seeking to force them to pay for smokers’ annual CT scans, according to a letter, dated Thursday, to the National Institutes of Health from Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who leads the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversees medical research. Congressman Dingell and Rep. Bart Stupak, chairman of an investigations subcomittee, said that such potential conflicts “could damage the credibility” of the decade-long, $200-million National Lung Screening Trial.
The letter from the congressmen did not identify the lead researchers, but the Wall Street Journal said they were Denise Aberle, a professor of radiology at the University of California at Los Angeles, and William C. Black, a professor of radiology at Dartmouth College. Dr. Aberle and Dr. Black have said their testimony for the tobacco companies had no influence on their government studies, the Journal reported. Review panels at their institutions found no conflict, and Dr. Black returned a $700 consulting fee to a tobacco company’s lawyer after he was criticized for his testimony, the congressmen wrote.
The Journal reported that about 50 academic scientists were leading the study on lung-cancer screening, and the committee’s letter asked the NIH for information on all of their consulting relationships, expert-witness work, and financing sources on other research.
Under Mr. Dingell’s leadership, the committee has said it is broadly examining federal rules for conflicts involving academic scientists. Thursday’s letter pointed out that the rules were “strikingly” less strict than the ones for the NIH’s own staff scientists, which were recently tightened after several scandals over conflicts. The rules for outside researchers largely leave it up to universities to identify and handle conflicts. —Jeffrey Brainard
Posted on Tue Oct 23, 03:00 PM | Permalink | Comment
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