<the Chronicle: Medical Schools Still Work Residents More Than 80 Hours a Week, a Disputed Study Says
Despite regulations, training programs frequently work medical residents more than 80 hours a week, according to a study described in the September 6 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. But officials with an accrediting board say compliance is much greater than the report suggests.
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The Chronicle: Public-College Officials in Louisiana to Meet With AAUP Investigators After All
A special committee from the American Association of University Professors will meet, after all, with public-college officials in Louisiana this week as part of an investigation into layoffs, program cuts, and other moves at the colleges in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
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Seattle Times: Chancellor taking steps to protect UCLA
UCLA’s acting chancellor said he is taking steps to protect the university and its faculty from extremists in the animal-rights movement, after an attempted firebombing near the home of one UCLA researcher and repeated harassment that pushed another professor to halt his primate research.
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Newsday: State halts pediatric cardiac surgery at Stony Brook
Citing the “imminent danger to the health and safety of pediatric cardiac surgery patients,” the state Department of Health yesterday ordered Stony Brook University Hospital to “immediately cease and desist” its pediatric cardiac surgery and catherization programs.
In the order from State Health Commissioner Antonia C. Novello, the hospital was “prohibited from admitting patients to these programs, performing cardiac surgeries or diagnostic procedures until further notice from the department.”
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Inside Higher Ed: Colleges go to the dogs
They’ve always said that dogs are man’s best friend. But did they ever say that dogs are a great way to help students and professors become pals?
A growing number of institutions are hosting back-to-school events that encourage professors and staff members to bring in their beloved pets to help new students become more comfortable on campus. At the same time, health officials say it’s a good way to help freshman learn about health services available to them.
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Billings Gazette: Supreme court rules UW tape recording is public record
A surreptitious tape recording of a University of Wyoming committee meeting is a public record, the Wyoming Supreme Court has ruled.
Thursday’s ruling comes in response to a lawsuit by Corrine L. Sheaffer, a 27-year UW employee, who sued the university seeking a copy of the tape.
The university fired Sheaffer from her post as manager of UW’s Transportation and Parking Services after determining that she directed a subordinate to record a November 2003 meeting of UW’s Traffic Appeals Committee, a group of UW employees that hears appeals of campus parking tickets.
Sheaffer has denied directing anyone to make the tape. But both sides agree that once she got it, she turned it over to Rick Johnson, UW director of auxiliary services.
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WASHINGTON ñ The Justice Department today announced a settlement agreement under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with Colorado College under which the college will make its campus and services more accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Todayís out-of-court settlement resolves a compliance review during which the Department found violations of the ADA Standards for Accessible Design in newly constructed buildings, as well as barriers to existing facilities and elements such as doors, restrooms, signage, entrances, seating and assistive listening devices in assembly spaces, and exterior circulation routes. The college, located in Colorado Springs, Colo., has agreed to involve the college community in preparing a plan under which it will make alterations to its facilities within six years and relocate certain types of services and programs to accessible facilities with prior notice. The agreement addresses a wide variety of services and facilities, including classroom and administrative buildings, housing, libraries, access between facilities, athletic and performance areas, directional signage, and emergency preparedness.
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Boston Globe: Judge orders further review of lab to study deadly germs
A state judge has ordered further environmental review of Boston University Medical Center’s construction of a high-security laboratory, where researchers would study the world’s deadliest germs.
In a decision made public today, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Ralph D. Gants found that earlier environmental assessments of the South End lab failed to adequately consider alternative sites or weigh worst-case scenarios for the release of highly contagious viruses or bacteria. Gants said that when the state Department of Environmental Affairs approved the earlier environmental review of the lab, that decision “lacked the necessary rational basis.”
As a result, Gants ordered a new review.
The decision does not explicitly halt construction of the $178 million building, which began earlier this year on Albany Street.
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The Chronicle: Texas Southern U. Cuts 178 Jobs to Avert a Big Budget Gap
Texas Southern University has eliminated 178 jobs in an effort to forestall a projected multimillion-dollar budget deficit. Sixty-seven nontenured faculty members are among those dismissed.
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Palm Beach Post: Universities don thinking caps over affordable faculty housing
A crash course in Affordable Housing 101 will be on the schedules of some university presidents this fall as they consider building single-family homes, condos and even entire neighborhoods on campus for faculty members who can’t afford to live in Florida.
Imagine “Scholars’ Row at Florida Atlantic University” or “Townhomes of the Tenured at New College of Florida.”
While public school teachers, firefighters and police officers have been the focus of concern in finding affordable housing in South Florida, universities are beginning to worry about recruiting experienced professors when the average faculty salary last year was $62,582.
That level of pay would qualify someone for a mortgage of less than $190,000 in South Florida markets, where median home prices range from $300,000 to $400,000, according to the Florida Housing Coalition. Add hurricane insurance that is doubling and tripling in some areas, and houses are often out of reach for faculty — especially new hires from out of state.
“Candidates come here for interviews, clear their throats uncomfortably and then say, ‘What can you tell me about the expensive housing situation in Sarasota?’ ” said Mike Michalson, president of New College of Florida. “It used to be as long as you didn’t have to be smack-dab on the water, you could get a nice three-bedroom ranch (home) from $85,000 to $130,000.”
The median price of a Sarasota home sold last month was $326,800.
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Boston Globe: Professor allegedly bullied MIT prospect
Forty minutes after MIT’s biology department voted to offer a job to a young neuroscientist, Nobel laureate Susumu Tonegawa sent the woman an e-mail warning that her arrival at the university would create serious problems because she would be competing directly with him.
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Posted in Equity, Ethics, Working conditions
Inside Higher Ed: Prior Restraint on Speech?
The president of the State University of New York at Fredonia offered to promote a faculty member to full professor if he would agree, among other things, to subject any writing or public statements about the institution to prior review for approval.
The professor and a free-speech group backing him say that the offer demonstrates the university’s willingness to censor faculty views, especially if they are conservative. But Fredonia officials say that — while the proposal was a mistake — the professor brought it on himself.
The dispute centers on the promotion bid of Stephen Kershnar, an associate professor of philosophy, who was nominated for full professor by his department in January. Kershnar writes a regular column for a local paper in which he has, among other things, questioned the priority the university places on attracting more minority students and faculty members, and argued that there is a shortage of conservatives in higher education. Some of his columns have angered university officials to the point that they have sent campuswide e-mails disputing them.
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The Chronicle: Fraud Hotlines Allow University Employees to Report Wrongdoing Anonymously
Allegations about bogus courses for athletes have caused an uproar at Auburn University since they were first reported this month by The New York Times, but the controversy actually had its start in an anonymous complaint submitted to the university’s 24-hour fraud hotline back in May.
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Globe and Mail: Faculty union takes aim at mandatory retirement
B.C.’s union of university faculty members is calling for a revised Human Rights Code to fix provincial legislation they say is age discriminatory.
“This is an affront to the dignity of our seniors, and is not worthy of a civilized society,” Robert Clift, Confederation of University Faculty Associations executive director, said yesterday, lashing out at B.C.’s mandatory-retirement law.
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The Houston Chronicle: UTMB to cut work force
The University of Texas Medical Branch plans to lay off up to 10 percent of its work force to cut costs, the institution’s president, John Stobo, said Tuesday.
The pink slips will be delivered by Sept. 1 as part of the branch’s three-year strategy to cut expenses and generate revenue, after a review by an outside consulting group.
“Given the fact that salaries and benefits account for 70 percent of our expenses, there’s no doubt that faculty and staff positions will be affected,” Stobo told employees at a town hall meeting Tuesday.
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Diverse Online: Black Professors Under Pressure At Duke; Six Black Faculty Quit
Three months after she was chosen to head the committee on race in response to the universityís lacrosse scandal, Duke University Professor Karla Holloway threatened to quit yesterday citing exhaustion.
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Lawrence Journal-World: Wescoe, cancer link to be probed
Kansas University’s Wescoe Hall is guilty of being ugly, but could it be cancerous?
“A lot of people are quite alarmed,” Dorice Elliott, KU associate professor of English and department chair, said. “There are people who’ve begun to spend less time in the building.”
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The Chronicle: Colleges Should Take Action to Combat Academic Stress, Report Says
Higher-education professionals face rampant stress from their jobs, and colleges and universities could be doing a lot more to prevent and alleviate it, according to a new report by the Universities & Colleges Employers Association, which represents academic institutions in the United Kingdom.
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