The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Graduation Rates For Black College Students Still Problematic

Only 42 percent of black college students actually receive degrees, according to the latest statistics posted in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, and much of the focus of a national conference in Baltimore was on how to solve the problem. The graduation rate at the all-female Spelman College was 77 percent, the journal showed. That particular rate is higher than that of more than a dozen of the nation's predominately white institutions. But educators said it'll take some pushing and new programs to make a difference. Read more at:
http://www.wbaltv.com/news/21655313/detail.html

Students Protest Purdue Librarian's Homophobic Blog Post

Some Purdue University students have called for a faculty member to be fired after he posted comments online urging discussion on what he called the economic cost to society of homosexuality. Purdue officials said they would not discipline Bert Chapman, who is the university's government information and political science librarian and does not have a classroom teaching assignment. Chapman wrote last month on the townhall.com Web site that money spent on AIDS would be better used for other health initiatives, such as cancer or heart disease research, and that the current health care debate needed to address "an economic case against homosexuality." Purdue senior Kevin Casimer on Wednesday started a petition urging the university to take action against Chapman, saying his comments were embarrassing and detrimental to the school's reputation. Read more at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-in-purdue-bloggerpro,0,7732363.story

Students Protest Layoff Of Diversity Officer

Several hundred students marched Thursday to the administration building at the University of Maryland to protest the firing of a popular diversity officer in one of the largest demonstrations at the College Park campus since the Vietnam War era.  Protesters rallied in support of Cordell Black, associate provost for equity and diversity at Maryland's flagship state university. Black will lose his job at the end of the academic year to help the university cut costs. The mood during the demonstration suggested that many students fear that the school is quietly retreating from its commitment to racial and cultural diversity. Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/05/AR2009110502997.html

What To Do About The College Gender Gap

For every 100 American women enrolled in college, there are only 77 men. And for every 100 women who graduate with a bachelor’s degree, only 73 men accomplish that, according to data from the Postsecondary Education Opportunity. At a College Board program Thursday afternoon, educators talked about the ways they are trying to close that college gender gap. The gap is chalked up to a myriad of reasons. Traditional schools aren’t tuned in to the hands-on learning styles of boys; the media portrayal of smart young men generally is of socially awkward boys who don’t get dates to the prom; and young male students, particular at-risk youth, lack positive male models in and out of the classroom. Read more at:
http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/addressing-the-gender-gap-in-colleges/

White House Official Says HBCUs Must Get Out Of Survive Mode

The White House’s new head of historically black college initiatives had a “very frank” dialogue Friday at Southern University about the many challenges and self-inflicted problems of the nation’s black higher education institutions. John Wilson, the new executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, also known as HBCUs, focused his presentation to the Southern University System Board of Supervisors on the many perceptual and operational “shifts” that HBCUs must make. HBCUs are too “tuition dependent,” Wilson said, and they must do a better job increasing their endowment sizes and finding other revenue sources. Read more at:
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/education/64655947.html

Despite Aspirations For A Diploma Most Hispanics Don't Enroll

Nearly nine in 10 Hispanics say it's "necessary" to get a college education to get ahead in life — more than any other ethnic or racial group in the USA. But Hispanic students' plans to get an actual diploma fall well below those of other groups, a survey finds: Fewer than half of Hispanic 18- to 25-year-olds say they plan to get a bachelor's degree, well below the 60% of all young people who say the same. Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-10-07-hispanic-college_N.htm

White House Representative Works To Increase Hispanic Enrollment

The question to Miami educators was straight forward: If we want more Hispanics students attending college, what do we need to do? ``We want to hear from you directly and ask you what would you tell the president if you could,'' Juan Sepulveda, director of the White House's Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, asked during a visit to Miami Dade College's Wolfson Campus. College affordability for Hispanic students is crucial and Pell grants can help. Read more at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1245086.html

Student's Column Leads To Race Talks On Campus

A University of Oklahoma professor said a recent column in the campus newspaper was filled with racial stereotypes, but she is glad the student felt open enough, at least at the time, to express his views. The Oklahoma Daily ran a column Sept. 1 in which Kyle West described his late-night trip to a chicken joint in northeast Oklahoma City and his fear of the predominantly black neighborhood. The column was headlined, "Chicken to die for.” The column was pulled off the newspaper’s Web site that morning after the Daily received a flurry of e-mails and calls that expressed anger or disappointment. The newspaper announced Thursday that it would sponsor a forum on racial perceptions Friday at the Oklahoma Memorial Union. Read more at:
http://newsok.com/ou-student-column-spurs-race-talks/article/3402497

Report Emphasizes The Importance Of Intellectual Diversity

Dozens of public and private colleges have taken steps to ensure their students are exposed to a range of intellectual views on campus, and to ensure that students can freely express their views, says a report being released Thursday. "If you want to produce informed citizens, you have to hear both sides" of an argument, says Anne Neal, president of the Washington-based non-profit American Council of Trustees and Alumni. Read more at:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-06-17-college-free-speech_N.htm

Men Of Color Summit Focuses On Action To Improve Academic Success

While only about half of all college students earn a bachelor's degree in six years, the rate is even lower for black men. he Men of Color Summit aims to help African-American, Asian-American, Latino and Native American men with the skills and information needed for academic success and to develop a support network. "Across the board, the graduation and retention numbers and test scores for men of color are at the bottom, and at some point we have to do something about that and this is an effort toward that," said James Pogue, a higher education consultant who helped Brockport officials organize the summit. Read more at:
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090616/NEWS01/906160326/College+hosts+Men+of+Color+Summit