University System News
2014 GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION NEWS:
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/house-senate-negotiators-agree-to-208-billion-budg/nfFb4/
House, Senate negotiators agree to $20.8 billion budget deal, extra pay for Senate staffers
By James Salzer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Legislative budget negotiators agreed late Monday to a $20.8 billion budget for the upcoming year that plows more than $300 million extra into schools and gives some Senate staffers bigger pay raises than most other state employees and teachers. Negotiators also added $14.5 million for emergency equipment to help beef up the state’s response following this winter’s ice and snow storms. The agreement, signed by House and Senate budget conferees, will be on the chamber floors Tuesday for final approval. Passage of the budget is a major step toward ending the 2014 session on schedule Thursday. Details of the deal were not immediately made public, but negotiators confirmed the budget for fiscal 2015 — which begins July 1 — includes the more than $300 million extra that Gov. Nathan Deal had proposed sending schools to eliminate furlough days for teachers, increase the number of school days and give raises. It also would provide 1 percent extra to agencies to allow for merit raises for state employees.
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/what-to-expect-for-georgia-legislatures-last-2-day/nfFWR/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1
What to expect for Georgia Legislature’s last 2 days
BY AARON GOULD SHEININ AND KRISTINA TORRES – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Tuesday marks the penultimate day of the 2014 Georgia General Assembly, and it’s expected to be a doozy. The Senate has more than 80 bills on its debate calendar for Day 39 of the session (Day 40 is Thursday), and the House will start with 30 and will probably add more as the day goes on. The action begins in both chambers at 10 a.m. Here’s a rundown of some of the top issues that could emerge.
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/rules-panels-take-stage-as-finale-nears/nfFZn/
Rules panels take stage as finale nears
BY JAMES SALZER AND KRISTINA TORRES – THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
With AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” blaring from the speakers, Senate Rules Chairman Jeff Mullis entered the Georgia statehouse committee room to handshakes and hugs, a heavyweight champion entering his very powerful legislative ring. Monday was the last chance to get on the Senate voting calendar of bills for consideration this year, and the smiling Mullis was the star of the show with lawmakers, lobbyists and even the governor’s top staff in attendance to see who made his committee’s final cut. “Welcome to the last and final Rules Committee meeting,” Mullis told the crowd. “We have 105 bills to consider. You know, not every one is going to make it.” Most did. Almost two hours later, the show was over, and more than 80 bills were picked to make the Senate floor Tuesday and Thursday, the final two days of this year’s legislative session.
www.gpb.org
http://www.gpb.org/news/2014/03/17/legislature-heads-into-a-short-week-with-long-days
Legislature Heads Into A Short Week With Long Days
By Jeanne Bonner
ATLANTA — State lawmakers are embarking on the final two days of the 2014 legislative session this week. And the two chambers will vote on more than 100 bills between them before adjourning Thursday night. True to their word, lawmakers have presided over an easier, breezier session this year. There are simply fewer bills to debate, and fewer controversial measures causing camps to square off.
USG NEWS:
www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-03-17/federal-judge-decades-ago-denied-uga-admission-because-race-might-finally-get-degree
Federal judge decades ago denied UGA admission because of race might finally get degree
By LEE SHEARER
More than 60 years ago, University of Georgia officials turned down an applicant for its law school due to the color of his skin. Now, UGA hopes to make up for that mistake and award distinguished federal judge Horace Ward an honorary degree. In 1950, university officials denied Ward admission because he was black. After he gave up a seven-year legal battle, Ward eventually enrolled in Northwestern University’s law school, one of the nation’s best. He then went on to build a distinguished career as a lawyer and judge. Now, UGA officials have requested permission from the state Board of Regents to grant Ward an honorary degree. The request is on the agenda for the Regents’ regular monthly meeting today and Wednesday.
www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-03-17/georgia-department-economic-development-and-uga-host-2014-international-vip-tour
The Georgia Department of Economic Development and UGA to host 2014 International VIP Tour
By UGA NEWS SERVICE
The University of Georgia will be one of 10 stops on the annual International VIP Tour that takes place March 19-21 and showcases a region of Georgia to the Consular Corps.
The consular offices and/or trade representation from 70 nations comprise the Atlanta Consular Corps. The offices help promote economic, commercial, cultural and scientific relations and offer services to foreign citizens living in or traveling in Georgia.
Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.politics.blogs.ajc.com
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2014/03/18/legislative-tip-sheet-more-than-100-bills-on-two-calendars/
Political Insider with Jim Galloway
Legislative tip sheet: More than 100 bills on two calendars
Tuesday marks the penultimate day of the 2014 Georgia General Assembly, and it’s expected to be a doozy. The Senate has more than 80 bills on its debate calendar, and the House will start with 30 and will probably add more as the day goes on. House and Senate negotiators late Monday reached a compromise on the $20.8 billion state spending plan that takes effect July 1. If the full House and Senate agree today, lawmakers could conceivably go home for the year — the state budget is the only thing they are required to do. …The Senate is expected to move on HB 60, which now is the shell of the big gun bill once known as HB 875.
www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gun-happy-ga-lawmakers-put-public-safety-at-risk/2014/03/17/78da2cfe-a961-11e3-b61e-8051b8b52d06_story.html
Gun-happy Ga. lawmakers put public safety at risk
By Editorial Board
THE NATIONAL Rifle Association calls it “the most comprehensive pro-gun reform legislation in recent state history.” That’s true, sad to say. After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, gun-control advocates thought reasonable firearm restrictions might have a chance at enactment. They scored a notable victory in Colorado but mostly failed elsewhere and on the national level. Now the old political calculus seems to be back at work: The momentum is with those attempting to weaken the nation’s already-lax gun laws. Nowhere is this more true than in Georgia, where the legislature is considering the NRA’s “comprehensive” reforms, an embarrassment to anyone who claims to favor responsible gun ownership.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/opinion/editorials/2014-03-18/editorial-better-class-students?v=1395104998
Editorial: A better class of students
For many pupils, more practical curricula would yield greater benefits
By Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
Not every American child needs a four-year college degree. We’ve said that before, and so have many others. “Not everybody should go to college,” says Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, president emeritus of George Washington University. “What society owes them is an education that allows them to make a living and give back.” Yet too many state school systems remain stuck in rigid, one-size-fits-all curricula designed to prepare all students for college – regardless of whether they have the ability or desire to go. That’s why it’s encouraging to see South Carolina State Superintendent of Education Mick Zais attempting to break the mold.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/google’s-eric-schmidt-critics-who-say-college-isn’t-worth-it-“they’re-just-wrong”
Google’s Eric Schmidt on critics who say college isn’t worth it: “They’re just wrong”
TechCrunch
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt took a not-so-subtle swipe at tech critics who say that college is overrated. “There are various people who run around and make claims that higher education is not a good use of your time: they’re just wrong,” he told the audience at the SXSW conference, where he was on stage promoting his book The New Digital Age. The average college loan racks up $30,000 worth of debt and the students are thrown into an uncertain recession-wracked job market.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/03/18/essay-colleges-can-help-students-talking-about-issues-social-class
Talk About Class
Nicole M. Stephens, MarYam G. Hamedani and Mesmin Destin
During January’s White House opportunity summit, policy makers and higher education leaders announced over 100 new initiatives designed to bolster first-generation and low-income students’ college success. While students who overcome the odds to gain access to college bring with them significant grit and resilience, the road through college is often a rocky one.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/colleges-are-tested-push-prove-graduates-career-success
Colleges are tested by push to prove graduates’ career success
The Wall Street Journal
College admissions officers trumpet graduates’ success in finding well-paying jobs. But the schools often have a hard time getting solid proof. Boiling down employment outcomes to a single metric isn’t easy, many college officials say, since hurdles stand in the way of gathering meaningful figures and conveying them.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/ed-tech-establishment
“The Ed-Tech Establishment”
By Joshua Kim
Doc_Docorstein, in an exchange with Michael Feldstein in the Disqus / comments section of my post, talks about the existence of an “ed-tech establishment.” By “ed-tech establishment” I take Doc_Docerstein to be referring to those of us who are apt to find ourselves at EDUCAUSE, Sloan-C, or NMC. Full-time administrators. People working in and around academic IT. First, I want to thank Doc_Docorstein for sharing his thoughts, and for his willingness to engage in debate and discussion on IHE. Thank you. I’d like to leave aside (for the moment) the specific discussion on the e-Literate TV episode that sparked this debate, and focus on Doc_Docorstein’s implicit (and at points explicit) critique of the ed-tech establishment. …Members of the ed-tech establishment are generally inclined to view the future of higher education as positive. Rather than looking backwards to a golden age of university life, those in the ed-tech establishment are excited about the potential for higher education to evolve new models and practices to meet new demands and challenges.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-beta/online-and-face-face-education
Online and Face-to-Face Education
By Carole Browne and Jacquelyn Fetrow
Many faculty fear that online teaching is incompatible with the liberal arts educational model, a model that focuses on small class sizes and the availability of faculty to interact with students outside of the classroom—a model which, when done well, has been demonstrated to produce outcomes of critical and creative thinking and analytical reasoning. These same faculty members view the movement to online education as a one-way street leading away from the kind of face-to-face teaching that lies at the heart of colleges and universities, especially those with a liberal arts tradition. But, often we fear what we don’t know.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/business-higher-ed-what-we-miss-looking-balance-sheets
The business of higher ed: what we miss by looking at balance sheets
Pacific Standard
Our newspaper op/ed sections have recently been filled with talk of the changing state of higher education. College appears to be at or near some sort of turning point. Some liken higher education to journalism, noting that the way we transmit and receive information has changed so dramatically in terms of speed, cost, and accessibility over the past few decades that many newspapers have shut their doors as a result. Colleges thus need to adapt or die. To get a good sense of this argument, you might check out Jeffrey Selingo’s College Unbound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students.
www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-destler/what-isnt-broken-higher-education_b_4967227.html
What Isn’t Broken in American Higher Education?
Bill Destler
President, Rochester Institute of Technology
Some day, I am going to write a book in which I will discuss the laws that govern academia in America, and one of them will be: “U.S. higher education is widely regarded as the best in the world, which is why so many people want to change it.” There is real truth in this statement. Even though hundreds of thousands of international students come to the U.S. each year to pursue college degrees here, often at enormous personal sacrifice, American higher education is increasingly under attack by politicians and the media. Why? There are real issues confronting colleges and universities in the U.S., such as ever-increasing tuition charges that have negatively impacted accessibility to a college education for lower and middle income families, and “mission creep” in which more and more institutions aspire to be the next Harvard or Berkeley.
Education News
www.walb.com
http://www.walb.com/story/25000137/swgtc-economic-impact-reaches-21-million
SWGTC economic impact reaches $21 million
By Troy Washington
THOMAS COUNTY, GA (WALB) – A recent study reveals just how much the Thomasville area benefits from Southwest Georgia Technical College. During the 2012 fiscal year, the college had an economic impact of about $21 million. It served nearly 3,000 students and supported 265 college related jobs. “Basically for every job we have, it creates another job off campus, so particularly during these last few years considering the economic down turn, that’s pretty important to our community that our college is able to create jobs,” said President Dr. Craig Wentworth
www.stateimpact.npr.org
Florida Schools Chief Picks AIR For Next Statewide Test
By John O’Connor
Education Commissioner Pam Stewart has recommended the American Institutes for Research produce Florida’s next statewide exam. The new, as-yet-unnamed test is required because Florida is finishing the switch to new math, language arts and literacy standards largely based on the Common Core State Standards adopted by Florida and 44 other states. The current Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test was not designed for the new standards.
www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/17/wyoming-is-first-state-to-officially-reject-new-science-standards/?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
The Answer Sheet by Valerie Strauss
Wyoming is first state to officially reject new science standards
This time the ruckus wasn’t as much about evolution as man-made climate change, but whatever the reason, Wyoming has become the first state to legislatively block the Next Generation Science Standards, an initiative aimed at boosting science education across the country. The standards were developed over years in a process that involved the National Research Council, the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Achieve, with input from about half of the states (not including Wyoming). Ten states have adopted the standards so far.
www.finance.yahoo.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/states-looking-0-community-college-061441582.html;_ylt=AwrBJSATWihTmigAG2TQtDMD
States looking at $0 community college tuition
Plans to offer $0 community college tuition proposed in states
By Steven Dubois, Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Nothing sparks consumer demand like the word “free,” and politicians in some states have proposed the idea of providing that incentive to get young people to attend community college. Amid worries that U.S. youth are losing a global skills race, supporters of a no-tuition policy see expanding access to community college as way to boost educational attainment so the emerging workforces in their states look good to employers. Of course, such plans aren’t free for taxpayers, and legislators in Oregon and Tennessee are deciding whether free tuition regardless of family income is the best use of public money. A Mississippi bill passed the state House, but then failed in the Senate.
www.ccnewsnow.com
http://www.ccnewsnow.com/34471/?utm_campaign=031814ccnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elqCampaignId=245
Recommendation: Cut college algebra for some students
Source: DaytonDailyNews.com
OXFORD — A committee of educators has recommended eliminating college algebra requirements for some students because those requirements tend to keep people from graduating, data shows. That was the testimony heard Wednesday during a meeting by the Ohio Board of Regents at Miami University in Oxford. A steering committee, represented by the Regents’ vice chancellor for academic affairs, Stephanie Davidson, suggests that college algebra should not be the default course for non-math and science majors, because those students tend to struggle with math, according to data from Complete College America.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/connecticut-college-remedial-courses-may-see-reprieve
Connecticut college remedial courses may see reprieve
New Haven Register
State colleges will be able to offer no-credit remedial courses for another year if the institutions can prove they aren’t ready to implement public act 12-40, according to a proposed redraft of the act obtained by the Register. Signed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in 2012, P.A. 12-40 requires state colleges to abandon lower-level, no-credit remedial courses and embed support into entry-level courses or a college-readiness program.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/bill-would-give-veterans-college-credit-training-done-military
Bill would give veterans college credit for training done in military
The Akron Legal News
With the signing of legislation that revises the state’s occupational licensing law regarding military service members and veterans and a proposal to boost support and services for veterans at state institutions of higher education, Suzette Price says Ohioans are “well on our way of closing the gap to ensure our veterans become personally and professionally successful.” Price, service director of the American Legion Department of Ohio, has joined a slate of university officials in backing Senate Bill 13.
www.independentmail.com
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2014/mar/17/look-vocational-training-schools-nationwide/?partner=yahoo_feeds
A look at vocational training in schools nationwide
Chalking it Up
School districts across the state have been working boost to programs at career centers and partnerships with technical colleges. They are offering programs to allow students to earn credit toward a degree from a two-year college, or a skill certificate out of high school. Representatives from businesses and schools in Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties met in early March to discuss the process. A recent study from the University of South Carolina found the state does indeed need more two-year degree holders. But the study also found the state will also have a shortage of employees with at least a bachelor’s degree by 2030, if the college graduation rate does not change, according to The State.
www.sun-sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/careers/fl-technology-talent-survey-20140318,0,4067946.story
Tech workers fielding more job options, survey finds
By Marcia Heroux Pounds, Sun Sentinel
South Florida’s technology workers are finding more job options as demand for their skills grows, a new survey by the ProTech staffing firm in Boca Raton indicates. A separate ProTech survey of executives shows high demand for specialty technology workers in the region. “We are seeing especially high demand for software engineers and web developers,” said Deborah Vazquez, ProTech’s chief executive. The annual talent survey, released Monday, shows that 87 percent of technology workers say they would leave their current jobs for a better opportunity, compared with 85 percent last year. More tech workers — 45 percent compared with 36 percent a year ago — said they would be willing to move out of Florida for a new opportunity. Fifty-five percent said they would not consider moving, compared with 64 percent in 2012.
www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/03/17/half-of-states-incentivize-colleges-to-graduate-more-students/?wprss=rss_national&clsrd
Half of states incentivize colleges to graduate more students
BY REID WILSON
Colleges and universities in 25 states must meet performance requirements to receive at least part of their funding from state governments as education experts increasingly focus on closing the gap between the number of students who enroll in post-secondary institutions and those who actually graduate. States differ in their performance funding incentive structures. Washington, Hawaii, Texas and Massachusetts allocate part of their funding to two-year institutions using performance measures; Arizona, Mississippi, Florida, Pennsylvania and Maine only apply metrics to four-year institutions. Another 16 states measure both two- and four-year institutions, according to data compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/18/if-mooc-instructor-moves-who-keeps-intellectual-property-rights
When MOOC Profs Move
By Carl Straumsheim
When faculty members move from one institution to the next, so do their courses, but after having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to prepare those courses to a massive audience, are universities entitled to a share of the rights? The question has so far gone unanswered (though not undiscussed) even at some of the earliest entrants into the massive open online course market, including Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since MOOC providers have gotten out of the intellectual property rights debate by saying they will honor whatever policy their institutional partners have in place, it falls on the universities to settle the matter.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/18/faculty-members-struggling-colleges-say-they-were-blindsided-cuts
Blindsided by Layoffs
By Colleen Flaherty
Laying off faculty should be the last course of action for struggling institutions, and professors should play a role in determining whether those layoffs are necessary — and, if so, how those layoffs happen, according to recommended and common shared governance practices. But faculty members at two institutions that have terminated otherwise well-performing professors in recent weeks say they’re still in the dark as to how those decisions were made, and whether they were really necessary.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/03/18/aba-panel-would-keep-tenure-accreditation-requirement
ABA Panel Would Keep Tenure as Accreditation Requirement
An American Bar Association panel has voted to maintain tenure as a requirement for law school accreditation, The National Law Journal reported. The panel has spent more than five years reviewing standards for law school accreditation, and earlier versions of its planned reforms removed the tenure requirement. Critics of the requirement said that law schools needed more flexibility.
www.coastalcourier.com
http://coastalcourier.com/section/5/article/65058/
Two middle schools starting STEM programs
Snelson-Golden, Frank Long plan camp, lessons
By Denise Etheridge Staff Writer
Frank Long Elementary and Snelson-Golden Middle schools soon will initiate learning programs designed to promote science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
FLE plans to hold a weeklong summer camp from 9 a.m. to noon June 9-13 for 100 rising fourth- and fifth-graders. SGMS will begin a two-week pilot program April 21 to develop a research curriculum and form partnerships with scientists and engineers.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/03/18/cal-state-gets-grant-help-summer-stem-program
Cal State Gets Grant to Help With Summer STEM Program
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has turned to one of the country’s largest public university systems in its drive to increase the number of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. The trust on Monday announced a $4.6 million grant to the California State University, which will fund the system’s STEM Collaboratives, which work with new students from the summer before fall classes start through their first year of college.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/61251/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=46736a03fac94686bbaa2c0e6d918b75&elqCampaignId=173
Diverse Conversations: Potential Paths to Reforming College Debt
by Matthew Lynch
There aren’t many people who will dispute the value of a college education. College graduates tend to have higher levels of job satisfaction and quality of life. The cost of those efforts is steep for the individual though — to the tune of $35,200 college debt on average for 2013 graduates. In the previous installment, I looked at the statistics associated with the cost and payoff of a college education and also some federal efforts to make those payments more affordable once a degree is earned. Now, let’s look at some specific ideas that aim to bring down the initial cost of a college education and to help students avoid thousands in interest over time.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/university-chicago-outlier-growing-debt-load
University of Chicago is outlier with growing debt load
Bloomberg
The University of Chicago has been trying to stand out from its elite rivals and is doing so in one category: amassing debt. That’s put its credit rating at risk. The university founded by oil magnate John D. Rockefeller in 1890 is in the midst of a $1.7 billion development plan. As municipal interest rates remain close to generational lows, it may borrow as much as $900 million in the next four years, according to Standard & Poor’s.
www.npr.org
http://www.npr.org/2014/03/18/290868013/how-the-cost-of-college-went-from-affordable-to-sky-high?ft=1&f=1013
How The Cost Of College Went From Affordable To Sky-High
by Claudio Sanchez
If you want to get an earful about paying for college, listen to parents from states where tuition and fees have skyrocketed in the last five years. In Arizona, for example, parents have seen a 77 percent increase in costs. In Georgia, it’s 75 percent, and in Washington state, 70 percent. Even in Oklahoma, where tuition increases have been among the lowest in the nation, parents are dismayed. In Stillwater, Okla., Jeffery Corbett’s daughter is attending community college. Corbett, a fundraiser for a nonprofit, says a high school diploma just won’t get you very far. And he knows; he doesn’t have a college degree. “I think about it all the time, because I realize [how] it has limited me, by not having that piece of paper,” he says. And that, experts say, is the source of parents’ frustration today.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/college-bill-reflects-big-crises
College bill reflects big crises
The Herald
Opening an escape hatch for universities to flee the state’s higher education system is an idea that doesn’t seem to have much support outside the southeast corner of Pennsylvania. But lawmakers and education officials say that doesn’t diminish the enrollment and financial crisis facing those schools. A dozen of the 14 universities in the State System of Higher Education are enrolling fewer students. They are straining under two years of flat funding, which followed an 18 percent cut in state support during Gov. Tom Corbett’s first year in office, said system spokesman Kenn Marshall.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/18/sewanee-tries-make-its-endowment-spending-more-predictable
Endowment Decisions
By Ry Rivard
In an effort to make sure it won’t overspend when times are good or starve itself of money when times are bad, the University of the South decided last month to change how it spends its $350 million endowment. The Tennessee liberal arts college, also known as Sewanee, joins a small minority of American colleges that use inflation adjustments to determine how much money to draw each year from their endowments. This, Sewanee’s leader said, will allow the university to plan for the future in ways it hadn’t been able to.
www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/18/pitzer-college-says-it-saves-its-endowment-temporarily-ending-spending
Pitzer’s Penny Pinching
By Ry Rivard
As officials at Pitzer College in California watched the market collapse in 2008 devalue their endowment by nearly 15 percent, they made a radical and unique decision: stop spending.
President Laura Skandera Trombley had grown the endowment from $42 million to $102 million since she arrived in 2002. Then, “bang, it was gone,” she said. During that bear market, she didn’t want to spend the endowment — which is essential to the college’s survival — if she didn’t have to.
www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/news/profit-colleges-call-new-obama-administration-rules-unfair
For-profit colleges call new Obama administration rules unfair
Chicago Tribune
For-profit colleges criticized the Obama administration’s proposal to deny federal funding to career-training institutions that students leave with high levels of debt. The Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, which represents more than 1,400 for-profit schools, called the proposed rules discriminatory, saying they would disproportionately affect low-income students.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/61254/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=46736a03fac94686bbaa2c0e6d918b75&elqCampaignId=173
Data breach response costs IU more than $80,000
by Associated Press
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana University says it has spent more than $80,000 responding to a computer data breach that exposed personal information of some 146,000 current and former students. The university reported last month that information, including names, addresses and Social Security numbers of those who attended any of the university’s campuses from 2011 to 2014, was unsecured for more than 11 months because security protections weren’t working correctly. An investigation hasn’t yet turned up evidence that any information has been compromised or improperly used, university spokesman Mark Land told The Herald-Times.
www.nytimes.com
After Students’ Hazing-Related Deaths, Fraternity Eliminates Tradition of Pledging
By IAN LOVETT
TEMPE, Ariz. — After a string of injuries and deaths at its fraternity houses, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, one of the largest fraternities in the country, said it would no longer permit “pledging” as part of its initiation process for undergraduates seeking to join the organization, and would instead offer new brothers full membership within days of inviting them to join. The change, which comes at a time when fraternities are facing scrutiny and lawsuits over their rituals, ends at Sigma Alpha Epsilon the longstanding tradition of forcing aspiring members to endure onerous, weekslong tasks of the type that have defined fraternity initiations for more than half a century. While pledging is not meant to be synonymous with hazing, which is illegal, in practice one often leads to the other.