The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Investigation Questions If Dartmouth's Trustees Enriched Themselves

New Hampshire's attorney general is looking into claims of conflicts of interest against members of the board of trustees and the investment committee of Dartmouth College in regard to their management of the college's $3.4 billion endowment. A group of Dartmouth faculty members, university employees and alumni — none of whom has come forward publicly — sent the letter earlier this year, but its contents only recently became public when it was posted on an unofficial university blog. The letter accuses the money managers of “enriching themselves” through private equity, venture capital and hedge fund investments made by the endowment. Read more at:
http://www.pionline.com/article/20120528/PRINTSUB/305289979/dartmouth-board-members-are-accused-of-enriching-own-firms

New Interpretation Applies Title IX To Sexual Harassment And Violence

June marks the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the federal gender-equity law that has made headlines mostly on the sports pages. But over the last decade or so, through a series of court rulings and more recently controversial guidance published by Obama administration, Title IX has shifted onto a different patch of contentious terrain — sexual assault on college campuses. It is transforming how colleges must respond to allegations of sexual violence. The reasoning: Title IX’s key language, running barely 30 words, forbids sex-based discrimination that denies access to educational opportunity. It’s long established that sexual discrimination and harassment can create an atmosphere that denies women their right to education. What’s newer is applying the logic to even a single episode of sexual assault. Read more at:
http://articles.boston.com/2012-04-21/news/31379502_1_sexual-violence-sexual-assault-assault-on-college-campuses 

 

Student Sues Over University Expulsion After Super Bowl Riot Arrest

A University of Massachusetts Amherst student expelled two days after he was arrested in a rowdy post-Super Bowl disturbance on campus is challenging his expulsion in federal court. Cullen Roe argues in a complaint filed in US District Court in Springfield that the university and its officials made an “arbitrary, unfair, intimidating, wrongful, and unlawful decision to summarily expel a student who poses no imminent threat to anyone.’’ The lawsuit said, among other things, that the university violated Roe’s rights under state and federal law. The suit also asked a judge to order the university to lift the expulsion, pay Roe compensatory damages, and pay his lawyer’s fees. Read more at:
http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-18/metro/31072512_1_expulsion-suit-student

Supreme Court's Decision On Affirmative Action Could Radically Alter Higher Education

In a 2003 decision that the majority said it expected would last for 25 years, the Supreme Court allowed public colleges and universities to take account of race in admission decisions. On Tuesday, the court signaled that it might end such affirmative action much sooner than that. The consequences of such a decision would be striking. It would, all sides agree, reduce the number of African-American and Latino students at nearly every selective college and graduate school, with more Asian-American and white students gaining entrance instead. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/us/justices-to-hear-case-on-affirmative-action-in-higher-education.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Legislative Effort To Stop Tenure Fails In Utah

The tenure system at Utah universities will survive for at least another year. The House Education Committee voted 10-4 to snuff a bill Wednesday that sought to bar Utah institutions of higher learning from offering lifetime job protection to incoming faculty. Utah would have been the first state to ban tenure by legislative action. The bill’s opponents said eliminating tenure would severely undermine the ability of Utah universities to attract and retain qualified faculty. Read more at:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/53473330-90/academic-bill-committee-education.html.csp

Proposed Legislation Would Make SAT Cheating A Serious Criminal Offense

New York would make felonies out of cheating on the SAT college entrance test under a bill released Tuesday as part of a legislative investigation into a scandal in an affluent New York City suburb.The measure proposed by Sen. Kenneth LaValle of Suffolk County would create new felonies of facilitation of education testing fraud and of scheming to defraud educational testing and create a misdemeanor of forgery of a test. The felonies would apply to a test taker who impersonates someone else for pay. Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/ny-bill-would-make-crimes-out-of-sat-test-cheating-hearings-continue-in-long-island-scandal/2012/01/24/gIQAPF3SOQ_story.html

Michigan Legislators Propose Using Corporate Subsidies To Help Fund Tuition

Michigan students would get free tuition at community colleges and public universities under a plan proposed Thursday by Senate Democrats. The lawmakers say the state pays out $35 billion in corporate tax credits each year, and they want to use some of that money to fund college for Michigan's young people. Michigan high school graduates would be eligible to have tuition and associated costs covered at state community colleges or public universities. Read more at:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120113/POLITICS02/201130355/1026/

Scandals Present Great Risk To A College's Reputation

When a college's reputation is damaged, it can adversely affect student recruitment, alumni donations and even federal funding, experts say. Awareness of educational institution reputational risks has been rekindled as Penn State faces unlimited legal liability in civil litigation. While reputational risks have been a major concern for school risk managers for several years, “I think the awareness of reputation risk is certainly heightened” since the Penn State scandal, said Ellen Shew Holland, director of risk management at the University of Denver in Denver. Read more at:
http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20120101/NEWS06/301019983?tags=|338|75|302 

 

 

New Laws Are Designed To Keep College Students From Voting

Next fall, thousands of students on college campuses will attempt to register to vote and be turned away. Sorry, they will hear, you have an out-of-state driver’s license. Sorry, your college ID is not valid here. Sorry, we found out that you paid out-of-state tuition, so even though you do have a state driver’s license, you still can’t vote. Political leaders should be encouraging young adults to participate in civic life, but many Republican state lawmakers are doing everything they can instead to prevent students from voting in the 2012 presidential election. Some have openly acknowledged doing so because students tend to be liberal. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/opinion/keeping-college-students-from-the-polls.html?src=me&ref=general

Higher Ed Should Not Be Responsible For Students' Acts Of Digital Piracy

Congress is considering an Internet piracy bill that would hold colleges, including the University of Colorado, culpable if students use school networks to illegally download music and movies. U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, proposed an amendment to the Stop Online Piracy Act that would have made sure legal responsibility fell only on the individuals who violate copyright laws, but it failed 9-23 in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Polis said cash-strapped universities shouldn't be required to police the Internet. The Polis amendment would have exempted colleges and universities from the cost of complying with the new restrictions and ensured that the individual who violates copyright law is held responsible. Read more at:
http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_19558599