The Chronicle: Audio Interview: Educating for Profits
Robert S. Silberman, chief executive of Strayer Education Inc., and Sondra Stallard, president of Strayer University, discuss how their for-profit institution works to grow and be profitable without compromising on quality
http://chronicle.com/media/audio/v54/i25/strayer/?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
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Posted in Corporate University
The Chronicle: Gallaudet, Happy With Results, Holds Onto Its ‘Interim’ President
Gallaudet University, the nation’s only liberal-arts institution for the deaf, may have figured out a way to avoid the raging protests that have marked its last two presidential transitions: Keep the current guy.
Benjamin J. Soukup, chairman of Gallaudet’s Board of Trustees, sent a campuswide memo on Tuesday in which he stated that the search for a new university president “will not be starting for some time.”
The president is Robert R. Davila, who was appointed in December 2006 after the trustees, facing widespread student-led protests that shut down the campus here, rescinded their appointment of Jane K. Fernandes. That had been preceded some 18 years earlier by similar protests that led to the selection of I. King Jordan as the first deaf president of Gallaudet.
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Posted in Administration
The Chronicle: Columbia U. Professor Denies Plagiarism, Saying Accusers Instead Stole Her Work
A Columbia University professor who was found to have committed numerous acts of plagiarism struck back at her accusers on Thursday, saying it was they who stole her work and accusing administrators of blackmail and intimidation.
In a lengthy interview with The Chronicle, Madonna G. Constantine, a professor of psychology and education at Columbia’s Teachers College, spelled out her side of the story. She said she believes that her accusers are motivated by professional envy and possibly racism. Ms. Constantine also contended that the president of Teachers College, Susan H. Fuhrman, is biased against her.
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Posted in Faculty
Dallas Morning News: SMU expected to announce Bush presidential library agreement Friday
Southern Methodist University and the George W. Bush Library Foundation are expected to announce an agreement today to bring the presidential library, museum and policy institute to campus.
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Posted in Uncategorized
Michigan Tech News: Michigan Tech Faculty Votes Down Union
February 21, 2008–Tenured and tenure-track faculty at Michigan Technological University have voted not to continue being represented by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in collective bargaining negotiations with Michigan Tech.
The faculty vote was 143 against the union and 136 in favor of it, with six challenged ballots and three spoiled ballots. A majority of those voting was required to recertify the AAUP.
The secret ballot took place on the Michigan Tech campus on Feb. 20 and 21. The results must be certified by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, which conducted the election and will review the challenged ballots.
“As we move forward, I look forward to all of us working together toward our common goal, to make Michigan Tech a premier technological research university,” said Michigan Tech President Glenn D. Mroz.
The election was called after Professor James Mihelcic, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, filed a petition signed by at least 30 percent of the faculty affected. Michigan Tech has 313 tenured and tenure-track faculty represented by the AAUP, of whom 288 or 92 percent voted in the union election.
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Posted in Unions
Inside Higher Ed: Worried About Guns? Ban a Campus Musical
After the Virginia Tech murders a year ago, Yale University banned the use of stage weapons in a student theatrical production — infuriating actors and educators who believed audience members could distinguish drama from real life. After a few days of ridicule, Yale backed down.
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Posted in Campus Life, Crime, Violence
Inside Higher Ed: What Makes a College ‘Military Friendly’?
More and more colleges are seeking to enroll members of the military (and, increasingly, their spouses), viewing service members as an attractive pool of students who are eager to learn and able to pay, with significant financial support from the federal government.
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Posted in Campus Life
Arkansas Democrat Gazette: You’re accountable, Beebe tells colleges
Gov. Mike Beebe said Tuesday it’s starting to sink in with college presidents that he wants to hold them more accountable on performance.
Beebe in May announced his plan to develop a new higher education funding formula that would tie at least some state dollars to retention and graduation rates. He wants to present a plan to the Legislature in 2009.
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Posted in Accountability
Tucson Citizen: ASU may ask for mental health histories of students
MESA – An Arizona State University committee considering ways to improve campus safety in the wake of recent campus shootings around the nation may suggest that students be required to disclose their mental health histories.
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Posted in Students
The New York Times: Columbia Cites Plagiarism by a Professor
A professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College who was propelled into the national spotlight when a noose was found on her office door last fall has been found to have plagiarized the work of a former colleague and two former students, the college has announced.
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Posted in Faculty
Inside Higher Ed: Victim, Victimizer or Both?
When The New York Times ran a profile of Madonna G. Constantine in October, she told the newspaper that by the time she had earned tenure, in 2001, she had published 30 articles. “Most people may go up with 15 or 20,” the paper quoted her as saying. “I figured as a black woman, I needed to at least double that.” That same article quoted Susan H. Fuhrman, president of Teachers College of Columbia University, as saying that she had heard “nothing but accolades” from Constantine’s students.
The article in October was prompted by a noose found outside Constantine’s office — a discovery that shocked many at Teachers College and led to rallies, discussions and vows to improve the climate for minority students and professors
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Posted in Faculty
International Herald Tribune: New Mexico AD says partnership with casino hotel is all business
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.: At first glance, a record $2.5 million sponsorship agreement between New Mexico’s athletic department and a tribal casino hotel might seem at odds with NCAA rules against gambling.
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Posted in Corporate University
The Chronicle News Blog: U. of Colorado Board Signs Off on Controversial President
Despite loud protests from faculty members and students, the governing board of the University of Colorado voted tonight to approve Bruce D. Benson as the university’s next president, the Rocky Mountain News reported.
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Posted in Administration
The Chronicle: Columbia U. Says Professor Repeatedly Plagiarized Students and Colleagues
In a strange twist of events, a professor at Columbia University who reported finding a noose outside her office door last fall has been reprimanded after an investigation concluded that she had committed numerous acts of plagiarism over several years.
The investigation, which was conducted by a law firm hired by the university, found that Madonna G. Constantine, a professor of psychology and education at Columbia’s Teachers College, was guilty of plagiarism in at least two dozen instances, borrowing passages from both colleagues and students without attribution. The findings of the investigation were first reported by the university’s student newspaper, the Columbia Spectator, which obtained a copy of a memorandum from administrators at Teachers College to faculty members.
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Posted in Free speech
The New York Times: Wealth Gap Growing Bigger Among American Colleges
Stanford University had an exceptional year for fund-raising in 2007, collecting $832 million in private donations. Harvard, too, reaped a bounty, with $614 million in gifts.
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Posted in Economics
Inside Higher Ed: A member of the board of the College of William & Mary has sent an unusually frank letter of resignation to student leaders, in which he calls into question the way board members made the decision not to renew the contract of Gene Nichol as president. In the letter, Robert Blair praises Nichol, particularly for his efforts to diversify the campus, and says that he and others argued to keep Nichol on as president. When he realized he was in the minority, Blair said he accepted the decision with disappointment and accepted the good faith of trustees with whom he disagreed. Wrote Blair in his message: “There has been an incipient effort by some members of the Board of Visitors to pick apart President Nichol’s accomplishments. To what end? They gained their stated objective. I have also seen mean-spirited communications that are not worthy of the professional deliberations of any managing board, but most especially not the Board of Visitors of William and Mary. Such communications call into question the real motivation for the initial decision not to renew the president’s contract.” A spokesman for the college said he had not seen the resignation letter and could not comment on it.
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Posted in Governance
Inside Higher Ed: Tears for a For-Profit College’s Demise
Think of all the ink (or its digital equivalent) that has been spilled in national publications (including this one) over the possible closure of places like Antioch College and the New College of California. Distraught faculty and staff bemoaning lost opportunities for students. Anguished alumni and local residents decrying the potential disappearance of a cherished community asset. And dozens, even hundreds, of faculty and staff members confronted with the loss of their jobs.
Contrast that with the relative silence (here and elsewhere) that greeted last week’s announcement that Career Education Corp. planned to “teach out,” or slowly close, nine of 11 unprofitable campuses that it had announced in November 2006 that it would try to sell. (The company had previously announced that it would shutter two other troubled campuses.) But as one of our bloggers noted critically, Friday’s announcement and most of the coverage of it focused on the decision as a bottom-line call by a for-profit company, after Career Education said it had been unable to find a suitable buyer for the institutions.
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Posted in Corporate University
The Chronicle News Blog: Apollo Group Buys University in Chile
The University of Phoenix is getting a Chilean cousin. Apollo Group Inc., the parent company of Phoenix, announced today that it was buying a 3,000-student university in Santiago, Chile’s capital, for as much as $49-million.
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Posted in Corporate University
The Chronicle News Blog: American InterContinental U. to Close Its Troubled Los Angeles Campus
American InterContinental University, an arm of the Career Education Corporation, has announced plans to gradually close down its troubled Los Angeles campus.
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Posted in Corporate University
Florida: The sad truth on universities
St. Petersburg Times: The sad truth on universities
A Times Editorial
It is not surprising that Senate President Ken Pruitt wants to marginalize the appointed board in charge of Florida’s public universities. He has been agitating for months against tuition increases, and the Board of Governors has been less than obedient. The more jarring punch in the gut to a beleaguered higher education system is from a polite governor who promised to be an ally but has now told university presidents to quit whining or take a hike.
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Posted in Commentary