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Michigan Faculty Senate Criticizes Student-Athlete Eligibility Procedures
Tweet Share on Facebook January 28, 2009 CommentThe faculty senate at Michigan has asked the university to reconsider its student-athlete eligibility procedures—criticizing the separate treatment athletes receive, as well as the perks offered to faculty in a student-athlete eligibility committee, the Michigan Daily reports.
Currently, a faculty committee is responsible for reviewing the academic eligibility of all student-athletes and making recommendations to the provost. The same committee members also receive perks from the athletic department, in the form of reimbursements for airfare, hotel, ticket, and meal expenses if they want to travel to a football bowl game. A 2007 university audit criticized the practice, citing a conflict of interest. University officials, including the president and athletic director, defended the practice, pointing out that the final decision still rests with the provost, who receives no such perks. The Michigan faculty senate agreed with the conclusion of the audit and has recommended that the university stop the practice.
The faculty senate also criticized the existence of such a committee in the first place, saying the eligibility of student-athletes should be reviewed just as it is for other students: by their individual departments.
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Brandeis to Sell Entire Art Collection
Tweet Share on Facebook January 27, 2009 CommentDays after the Brandeis faculty discussed significant changes to its liberal arts curriculum, the university's president announced that the school would be closing the Rose Art Museum this summer and selling its entire 6,000-piece collection because of a $10 million budget deficit, the Justice reports. The student newspaper said the money from the art auction would go to the university's general fund.
"No one feels really good about closing the Rose," said a Brandeis spokesman. "It is being done with a strict emphasis on what is best for the students who are here now and what is best for the students who are going to be coming in future generations."
According to Inside Higher Ed, the museum is known for its works of American modernism, American social realism, abstract expressionism, and surrealism. It houses pieces by Marsden Hartley, Thomas Hart Benton, Andy Warhol, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, Morris Louis, Larry Rivers, Helen Frankenthaler, Jim Dine, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Max Ernst, René Magritte, and many other leading figures of art in the past century.
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Solved: Mystery Behind Strange Florida Text Message
Tweet Share on Facebook January 27, 2009 Comment (5)The "monkey got out of the cage" message that went out to 40,000 University of Florida students and faculty has been traced to a former employee of Mobile Campus, the company the school had tapped to implement an emergency text-message alert. Andrew Tatum tells his story to the Independent Florida Alligator:
Tatum, a 24-year-old former Mobile Campus employee, said he was at a friend's house when he decided to see if the company's password was still the same.
He said the message was a joke, spurred by the show "Family Guy" and YouTube Internet cartoons.
Many who received the message assumed it was racially charged, particularly because it went out on the day of President Barack Obama's inauguration.
Tatum said he hadn't taken that into consideration and added that he voted for President Obama in the election.
"I just don't want people thinking I'm racist or that the message was racist in any way," he said.
Mobile Campus, a mobile communication system Florida uses to inform students and staff of emergencies, labeled the text message as improper use and locked its system after the message was sent out at 8:45 p.m. on Jan. 20.
The former UF advertising student said when he clicked the "next" button on the screen after typing the message, he expected to get a screen saying, "Are you sure you want to send this?" with a proceed button. But there was no such screen. And seconds later, the phone of one of Tatum's friends let out a beep. Tatum did not get the message because he's not a UF student.
"I didn't call UPD [the campus police] at that time because I didn't think it was that big of a deal," Tatum said. "But immediately after it went out, I thought, 'This is going to suck.' "
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Brown Tuition Leniency Helps 360 Students
Tweet Share on Facebook January 26, 2009 Comment (2)Last fall, Brown University offered leniency to students with outstanding tuition payments, a policy that has helped around 360 students this semester, the Brown Daily Herald reports. Typically, students are not allowed to preregister for spring classes if they owe the university more than $1,000, but a tough economic climate prompted Brown officials to make exceptions this year for hundreds of students.
Additionally, around 40 students with more than $5,000 in outstanding payments were allowed to remain enrolled despite rules that would have prohibited them from living in dorms or attending class. Ten more with dues of more than $7,500 were allowed to stay enrolled after working closely with financial aid officials.
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Ohio State's Black Fraternities and Sororities on Social Moratorium
Tweet Share on Facebook January 26, 2009 Comment (56)All seven Greek organizations catering to black students at Ohio State are on "social moratorium" imposed by the National Pan-Hellenic Council at OSU until February because of violence at a fraternity party in November, the Lantern reports.
An official from NPHC at OSU, the umbrella governing organization of the school's four black fraternities and three sororities, said the moratorium was a result of "multiple incidents of violence within the NPHC community" in November. The Lantern points to at least one incident that followed the OSU-Michigan football game in November where firearms were allegedly involved.
Although some members are worried that the ban on social activities will cut the black Greek system off from the rest of the community, as well as affect fundraising, none of the member organizations have spoken out against the move. "Agree or disagree, everyone has supported and abided by the moratorium," said an NPHC official.
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3 Arrested After Gaza Sit-In at Senator's Office
Tweet Share on Facebook January 26, 2009 Comment (1)Three college students in Michigan were arrested Thursday at Sen. Carl Levin's office in Lansing during a sit-in protest over the Gaza conflict, the State News reports. The students—one from Michigan State and two from Ferris State, as well with two other nonstudents—objected to Levin's support of Israeli action and had presented a list of demands, including the opportunity to speak to Levin himself.
After being asked to leave throughout the day, the three were arrested around 6 p.m. after the building had closed, and were charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail.
Michigan students aren't the only ones who care about the Gaza conflict, one way or another. Vigils, protests, and counterprotests have cropped up on campuses all over the country, including at Arkansas, Central Florida, Minnesota, UC-Berkeley, Wesleyan, and Yale, among others.
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Brandeis Discusses Increasing Class Size, Reducing Faculty
Tweet Share on Facebook January 23, 2009 Comment (3)In a dramatic response to its current budget situation, Brandeis University discussed a significant revamp to its arts and sciences curriculum at an emergency faculty meeting this week, the Justice reports. The proposed changes include consolidating 43 majors and 47 minors into fewer interdisciplinary meta-majors, establishing a summer semester, increasing the number of undergraduates by 12 percent (to raise revenue from tuition), and reducing the number of faculty by 10 percent.
Faculty also considered establishing a business major and an engineering program in order to attract more prospective students.
The faculty meeting was one of the best-attended in recent memory, but students weren't too happy when they realized they were not invited (typically, the meetings are open). A number of students eventually protested, demanding more input in the possible curriculum changes and later drawing police to the scene.
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Stanford Business School Lays Off 12 Percent
Tweet Share on Facebook January 23, 2009 Comment (2)Various parts of Stanford are cutting back in order to get the school's budgets in line with shrinking revenue.
The Stanford Graduate School of Business is implementing across-the-board cuts and reducing its workforce by about 12 percent, the Stanford Daily reports. The GSB predicts a $15 million shortfall, 10 percent of its total budget. Forty-nine staffers were laid off, eight were put on a reduced schedule, and 12 temporary positions were eliminated. Other expenses—such as travel, food, library services, printing, and marketing—were cut off.
Meanwhile, Stanford athletics expects to lose $5 million in revenue, and officials are discussing ways to increase cash flow or decrease spending, the San Jose Mercury News reports. First in the line of tactics: limiting travel and charging for parking at football games. Worst-case scenario: cutting sports and coaches.
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Yale Sees Donations Dwindle
Tweet Share on Facebook January 23, 2009 Comment (1)Yale is reporting a huge drop-off in donations late in the year, recording $59 million in December 2008, compared with $144 million in the same period of 2007, the Yale Daily News reports. Although 2008's number is around the same as the 2006 figure, Yale officials are worried because the rest of 2008 was relatively dismal: down 33 percent from two years prior.
"As we know, it's a difficult time financially," said a development official. "But what's amazing is the speed with which things have happened."
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Miami University Reduces Number of Scholarships
Tweet Share on Facebook January 23, 2009 CommentThe credit crunch has begun to directly affect college scholarships, with Miami University reducing the number of students receiving one of its most robust scholarships, the Miami Student reports. The Harrison Scholarship, which covers tuition, fees, and room and board for eight semesters of undergraduate study, was offered to just 28 students this year, when normally that number would be from 40 to 60 students.
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