AP: Iranian-American academic detained in Tehran
NEW YORK (AP) — An Iranian-American scholar whom Iran once accused of fomenting political unrest has been arrested by authorities there for the second time in two years, his family said Friday.
Security forces arrested Kian Tajbakhsh late Thursday, a family member told The Associated Press. The relative was in contact with Tajbakhsh’s wife, who witnessed the arrest in Tehran.
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Posted in Faculty, Free speech, Government
Tagged Faculty, Free speech, Iran, political unrest, professors detained
AFP: French woman detained on spy charges in Iran: ministry
PARIS (AFP) — A French woman was detained in Iran last week on spying charges, France’s foreign ministry said Monday, demanding her release.
“France firmly condemns the July 1 arrest and detention by Iran of a French academic,” the ministry said in a statement, without revealing the name of the woman or the university she was linked to.
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Posted in Government
Grand Rapids Press: Proposed bills tell teachers one strike, they’re out
GRAND RAPIDS — Two bills in the state House could cause teachers to suffer greater penalties — including loss of certification for two years — for taking part in a strike.
State Reps. Bill Rogers, R-Howell, and Jimmy Womack, D-Detroit, filed bills intended to add teeth to the 1994 law that made strikes illegal, but made it impractical to punish violators.
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Posted in Government, Strikes & Labor Disputes
Tagged Government, K-12 issues, Strikes
World University News: NIGERIA: Lecturers slam Harvard training deal
An agreement struck between Harvard University and the Governors’ Forum in Nigeria for the world-leading US university to teach governors of states in African the fundamentals of good governance has been rejected by lecturers. They described the agreement as wasteful and unproductive, called for its cancellation and suggested governance training take place at home.
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Posted in Corporate University, Government
World University News: CANADA: Phone-calling politician under attack
Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council was reviewing its support for a conference on the Middle East, in the wake of a letter-writing campaign by B’Nai Brith Canada. But there were calls for Minister of State for Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear’s resignation, after he phoned the SSHRC asking it to consider another peer review of the conference’s application.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Canada, research funding
AP: Woodward: Former provost salary package ‘invalid’
RALEIGH (AP) — The interim chancellor of N.C. State has eliminated the lucrative resignation package given to the former campus provost, saying in a letter released Tuesday that the deal was “invalid.”
Interim chancellor Jim Woodward said in the letter that former Chancellor James Oblinger did not have the authority to “fundamentally alter” the 2005 employment agreement of former provost Larry Nielsen. Woodward said Oblinger should have sought the approval of the board of trustees.
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Posted in Administration, Government, Salary/Economic Benefits
Tagged Government, North Carolina State U, pay, Scandal
The Chronicle: Keeping an Eye on Earmarks: the Education Department’s Role in Oversight
The University of Louisville’s former dean of education, Robert D. Felner, faces a criminal trial on charges that he and an associate diverted most of a $694,000 earmarked federal grant into their own bank accounts. Louisville officials have announced an administrative overhaul that will, they say, help prevent any future misbehavior with grants.
But what about the U.S. Department of Education, which was responsible for overseeing the grant on taxpayers’ behalf? Should it, too, be doing some soul-searching in the aftermath of Mr. Felner’s indictment?
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Posted in Government, Legal issues
Tagged earmarks, Fraud, Legal issues, research fraud, Robert Felner, Scandal, U of Louisville
News & Observer: Bowles wants NCSU chairman out
UNC system head is ‘very disappointed’ in Campbell’s role in the hiring of Mary Easley.
The president of the University of North Carolina system has asked McQueen Campbell, chairman of the N.C. State University board, to resign immediately after learning this week that Campbell played a role in hiring former first lady Mary Easley.
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Posted in Administration, Government
Tagged administation, Ethics, Governance, Government
Providence Journal: Providence seeks student tax at private colleges
PROVIDENCE — Students attending the city’s four private colleges and universities may have to pay a $300-a-year tax, under a proposal floated by Mayor David N. Cicilline to generate revenue for the cash-strapped capital city.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Rhode Island, taxes
World University News: 
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| ZIMBABWE: Central bank looted university funds | |
 Zimbabwe’s central bank raided the foreign currency accounts of universities to prop up President Robert Mugabe’s government during a crippling economic and political crisis that saw inflation reach world record levels. A legislator has taken the looting of funds from the private Africa University to parliament through an upcoming question and answer session. Politicians said three other universities claimed donor money vanished from their accounts. |
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Posted in Government
Tagged Budgets & Funding, Zimbabwe
The Chronicle: In Minsk, an ‘Underground University’ Goes Its Own Way, at Its Own Risk
The 50 faculty members of the unofficial, unapproved Belarusian Collegium teach in secret and in Belarussian — which is illegal to use in the classroom. If convicted of teaching at the underground institution, they face up to three years in jail.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Belarus, underground university
Washington Post: Md. Lawmakers Vote to Require Reports on University Porn Policies
Budget negotiators from the Maryland General Assembly agreed this afternoon to require reports from public universities about their policies on displaying or screening pornographic films. But the provision adopted by lawmakers does not make university funding contingent on the report.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Free speech, legislature, porn, University of Maryland
The Chronicle: Obama Must Tread Fine Line on Scholars Barred From the U.S. for Their Views
Imagine a world where people can say whatever they want but are forced to wear earplugs at all times. What value would free speech have? The First Amendment does not just protect our right to express ideas; it protects our right to take them in. Its whole point is to ensure access to the thoughts of others, based on a belief that a successful democracy requires an informed citizenry and open debate.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Faculty, Free speech, Obama
Globe and Mail: Minister won’t confirm belief in evolution
Researchers aghast that key figure in funding controversy invokes religion in science discussion
Canada’s science minister, the man at the centre of the controversy over federal funding cuts to researchers, won’t say if he believes in evolution.
“I’m not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don’t think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate,” Gary Goodyear, the federal Minister of State for Science and Technology, said in an interview with The Globe and Mail.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Budgets & Funding, evolution, Religion, science
World University News: CHINA: Hong Kong professor denied entry into Macau
A Hong Kong professor and two pro-democracy politicians have been barred from Macau, raising serious concerns about academic freedom. AFP News reported that Johannes Chan, Dean of the University of Hong Kong’s law faculty, was turned away by immigration officers on 28 February when he went to give a speech at the University of Macau.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Academic freedom, China, Democracy, Faculty, Government, Hong Kong, Macau
Globe and Mail: Memorial University lacks independence, report says
The tug-of-war between the Newfoundland and Labrador government and Memorial University over the selection of the school’s next president continued yesterday with a new report that calls for an end to provincial involvement in appointing university leaders.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Administration, Governance, Job searches
BBC: Poor still shunning universities
Universities say they do try to draw in a wider range of students
The government has given universities £392m to get more working class youngsters in England to attend but progress has been slow, MPs say.
The Commons public accounts committee says it is “dismayed” the government seems to have little idea what they have done with the money.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Budgets & Funding, Government, Working class
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Feds probing Emory, professor on research grants
Federal officials are investigating Emory University and one of its prominent researchers to determine if either misled government agencies about the psychiatrist’s high-paying work with drug companies, officials said.
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, who pressed for the investigation, sent a letter Tuesday to the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services outlining his concerns. He said Dr. Charles Nemeroff, an internationaly prominent psychiatrist, may have violated conflict of interest rules surrounding several grants that Emory received from the National Institutes of Health. Grassley’s letter also noted that Emory is required to report such conflicts to the NIH.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Faculty, Fraud, Investigations, Research
The Chronicle News Blog: Nevada Governor Cuts Off Discourse With Chancellor After ‘Personal Attacks’
Tense relations between Nevada’s higher-education chancellor, James E. Rogers, and the state’s Republican governor, James Gibbons, may have reached the breaking point. After the outspoken chancellor sharply criticized Mr. Gibbons in a newspaper commentary published on Sunday, Governor Gibbons announced today that he would no longer deal directly with Mr. Rogers. Instead, he asked the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education to appoint a liaison who could work with his office and the legislature “in a professional and courteous manner.”
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Posted in Government
Tagged Administration, Governance, Government
The Times: Zim threatens to fire teachers
Striking teachers are set to defy a Zimbabwe government ultimatum to return to work tomorrow in spite of threats of instant dismissal.
In an apparent about turn education authorities moved from pleading with striking teachers to attend classes to threatening them with dismissal.
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