THE MYTH OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM
As adjuncts come to make up half the professoriate, many lament that they possess only theoretically the classroom rights enjoyed by their tenured counterparts: A18

TWO BIG LABOR RULINGS
The National Labor Relations Board declared that medical interns and residents at a Boston teaching hospital are employees, and can unionize: A20

• In a case at Yale University, the N.L.R.B. ducked the key question: Are teaching assistants employees?: A20

PEER REVIEW
The new president of Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College may have been appointed because of some unusual advantages. ... An investigation into gender bias at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has landed the dean of its School of Science a new job: A14

PUBLICIZING AN 'INVISIBLE WAR'
Eric Reeves, a professor of English at Smith College, has made the humanitarian crisis caused by the Sudanese civil war his personal campaign: B2

The University of Pennsylvania is poised to approve a pilot program that would trim the number of courses in its core curriculum: A18

The American Association of University Professors and the Newspaper Guild are sponsoring a meeting devoted to intellectual property: A18

WHAT MAKES A PERSON?
Nancy J. Chodorow, a sociologist at the University of California at Berkeley and an early theorist of gender difference, now examines, in a new book, how feelings determine who we are: A21

HARVEST OF PLANETS
Astronomers announced last week that they had found six new planets orbiting nearby stars: A23

HOT TYPE
A prominent -- and mixed -- review of Simon Schama's new book on Rembrandt comes from a close colleague. ... An English professor at Davidson College is translating Edvard Munch's journals: A24

An international team of researchers announced last week that it had decoded a human chromosome, the first to be sequenced: A22

New scholarly books: A26-28

• Nota Bene: A Spiral Way: How the Phonograph Changed Ethnography, by Erika Brady.

• Verbatim: Sidewalk, by Mitchell Duneier.

MORE MONEY FOR MILITARY RESEARCH
Congress gave the Pentagon its largest increase in a decade, and university scientists will get a large portion of the funds: A31

THE COST OF STUDENT LOANS
An Education Department study claiming that direct lending is cheaper than the guaranteed program riled bankers and lawmakers: A34

SUPPORT FOR STEM-CELL STUDIES
The National Institutes of Health said it would finance some of the controversial research, and conservative lawmakers were not pleased: A34

REMEDIATION AT CUNY
As a new plan to limit remedial education is phased in, critics are still debating how many students it will affect: A36

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION WORKS
Hard data now show the benefits of racial preferences for majority and minority students alike, but Gary Orfield, a professor of education and social policy at Harvard University, wonders if the courts will hear that verdict: B7

A hurricane affected state-college officials who were in Puerto Rico for a meeting: A31

The American Library Association has begun a lobbying effort to affect proposals on copyrighted electronic information: A31

President Clinton signed the final budget bill, and aides said he would support extending tax breaks important to higher education: A35

The Supreme Court blocked a lawsuit charging the University of Texas at Austin with using an unconstitutional affirmative-action policy: A35

The agency that oversees the AmeriCorps national-service program finally got a chief financial officer: A35

PERPETUAL CAMPAIGNS
Colleges' fund-raising drives are getting longer and are relying on fewer donors, a survey says: A39

• Data on the fund-raising campaigns of 138 U.S. colleges and universities in 1997-98: A40

Bradford College will close its doors: A39

Trinity College in Vermont, having found a financial partner, has averted a planned shutdown: A39

The death of the daughter-in-law of Hillsdale College's former president was ruled a suicide by police: A42

Short Subjects: Harvard sued for infringing on "Breakthrough Thinking"; North Dakota's Indian mascot spurs protest; Nicholls State students roast new monument; Montana dean tries to cover up nude dancers; St. John's College to feature Newton's apple: A12

Bond-rating update for November 1999: A42

Foundation grants; gifts and bequests: A45

THE 'KEY' TO ELECTRONIC ACCESS
Several universities are testing "digital certificates," which help prove to other computers that people are who their computers say they are: A47

VIRTUAL HIGH SCHOOLS
Institutions affiliated with Indiana University and the University of Missouri at Columbia gained accreditation to grant diplomas this year, and have now put their programs on line: A49

COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONS
A University of Oregon student who pleaded guilty to illegally distributing materials using the campus network was sentenced to two years' probation: A51

The head of a distance-learning industry group says that, within 20 years, on-line megaclasses of as many as 1,000 students will become common: A47

Kaplan Educational Centers are now offering on-line prep courses for the SAT: A51

A Web site at Stanford University catalogues a large collection of dime novels and "penny dreadfuls," a genre popular in the 19th century: A48

In Box: opening an e-mail account for an employee who doesn't want one: A14

NEWS ON CAMPUS
Colleges are distributing free copies of major national newspapers as a way to encourage students to read, but editors of campus publications are worried: A53

COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONS
A University of Oregon student who pleaded guilty to illegally distributing materials using the campus network was sentenced to two years' probation: A51

The California Institute of Technology, ranked No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report, has no black freshmen: A53

A construction executive in Houston will investigate what caused a 40-foot stack of bonfire timber to collapse at Texas A&M University, killing 12: A53

DIVISION I BLUES
For the State University of New York at Buffalo, the move to big-time college sports has been costly at a time of departmental cuts. Faculty members say they've seen few returns so far, and the football team is 0-11: A55

The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by a women's basketball coach of her sex-bias lawsuit against the University of Southern California: A55

OPEN DOORS
An annual report by the Institute of International Education provides detailed figures on foreign students' enrollment at U.S. colleges, American students' enrollment abroad, and foreign scholars' sojourns at American universities. The Chronicle provides complete statistics and analysis: A57-62

• Despite the economic turmoil that plagued many Asian nations, the enrollment of foreign students at colleges in the United States increased slightly in 1998-99: A57

• Statistics on foreign students attending U.S. colleges in 1998-99, by country of origin, by state, by institution type, and more: A59

• American students went abroad for academic work in record numbers in 1997-98, and the 15-per-cent increase reflected the growing popularity of non-European destinations: A60

• Statistics on American students who studied abroad in 1997-98, by country destination, institution of origin, program type, and more: A61

• Statistics on foreign scholars working at U.S. universities in 1998-99, by country of origin, institutional destination, field of study, and more: A62

A GLOBAL ECONOMY
J. Bradford De Long, a professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley, argues that our understanding of the intricate effects of the new mobility of people and money is just beginning: B4

France's education minister warned against a takeover of European higher education by American institutions that are opening branches and degree programs there: A57

An Australian university will be the first foreign institution to open a branch in Malaysia: A57

FAREWELL TO THE 20TH CENTURY
Bonnie J. Morris, a visiting assistant professor of women's studies at George Washington University, bemoans the advent of a generation of young people who no longer write and are tied to a machine for all things literary: A72

A GLOBAL ECONOMY
J. Bradford De Long, a professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley, argues that our understanding of the intricate effects of the new mobility of people and money is just beginning: B4

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION WORKS
Hard data now show the benefits of racial preferences for majority and minority students alike, but Gary Orfield, a professor of education and social policy at Harvard University, wonders if the courts will hear that verdict: B7

'SPINNING INTO BUTTER'
Kenneth Warren, a professor of English at the University of Chicago, asks whether Rebecca Gilman, a white playwright, can effectively satirize race relations on college campuses: B9

Marginalia: mistakes, foibles, and other amusements on the lighter side of academe: A12

• When institutions of higher education are both Catholic and American: B3

• W.E.B. Du Bois and the Nazis: B11

• Bias in surveys of freshmen: B11

• Access to information in Singapore: B11

THE TWO OSCARS
An exhibition entitled "The Wilde Controversies: A Journey Through the Life and Legend of Oscar Wilde" is at the University of Texas at Austin: B100

'SPINNING INTO BUTTER'
Kenneth Warren, a professor of English at the University of Chicago, asks whether Rebecca Gilman, a white playwright, can effectively satirize race relations on college campuses: B9

• Appointments and resignations on U.S. campuses.

• Deaths of people in academe.

• Coming events: conferences, workshops, and seminars.

• Deadlines for fellowships, grants, the submission of papers, and more.

DETAILS OF AVAILABLE POSTS, including teaching and research positions in higher education, administrative and executive jobs, and openings outside academe.