USG e-clips from October 31, 2014

USG NEWS:
www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/uga-loan-default-rate-rises-remains-far-below-national-average/article_362bb3d0-5fb1-11e4-bb31-0017a43b2370.html
UGA loan default rate rises, remains far below national average
Mollie Simon
For those that started school in the United States in 2011 and took out a loan, there is approximately a 1 in 7 chance they have been unable to meet those financial obligations. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s three-year official default rate statistics, 13.7 percent of borrower who entered repayment in fiscal year 2011 defaulted on their loans after just three years. In the state of Georgia specifically, 14.5 percent of the 2011 cohort are now in default. …The UGA Fact Book states that in 2013, 20,708 undergraduates and 5,386 graduate students at UGA had taken out some form of student loans. The default rate after three years for the 2011 cohort at UGA was 3.8 percent, only a 0.3 percent increase from the 2010 group and only 0.6 percent higher than the 2009 borrowers.

www.onlineathens.com
http://onlineathens.com/uga/2014-10-29/uga-trying-get-word-out-about-campus-sexual-assault
UGA trying to get word out about campus sexual assault
By LEE SHEARER
University of Georgia officials may be facing an uphill battle as they try to get the word out about sexual assault in Athens. On a campus of about 10,000 workers and 35,000 students, only about 100 showed up for a Wednesday evening “Open Dialogue on Sexual Assault” — not enough to fill a classroom for 200 people, noted Janyce Dawkins, head of the UGA Equal Opportunity Office, which sponsored the forum. The office is in charge of making sure UGA is in compliance with Title IX, a federal law designed to prevent gender discrimination.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/suits-alleging-sexual-assault-filed-against-tech-r/nhwwK/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1
Suits alleging sexual assault filed against Tech “rapebait” fraternity
By Shannon McCaffrey – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two women on Thursday filed lawsuits against a Georgia Tech fraternity, made infamous after an email surfaced instructing members how to “lure rapebait” by plying women with alcohol. The women both allege they were raped by the same member of Phi Kappa Tau, one in 2012 and the other in January of this year. The Tech student who helped supply alcohol to the victim in January was the same student who authored the “rapebait” email, according to campus police.

Related article:
www.dailyreportoniine.com
http://www.dailyreportonline.com/home/id=1202675094160?kw=Lawsuits%20Filed%20Against%20Suspended%20Georgia%20Tech%20%27Rapebait%27%20Fraternity&et=editorial&bu=Daily%20Report&cn=20141031&src=EMC-Email&pt=Morning%20News&slreturn=20140931092536
Lawsuits Filed Against Suspended Georgia Tech ‘Rapebait’ Fraternity

RESEARCH:
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2014/10/31/georgia-tech-researchers-find-language-affects.html
Georgia Tech researchers find language affects Kickstarter success
Urvaksh Karkaria and Phil W. Hudson
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia Tech researchers have learned that the language used in online fundraising can help predict the success of such campaigns. Researchers studied more than 45,000 projects on Kickstarter, and found dozens of phrases that pay and a few dozen more that may signal the likely failure of a crowd-sourced effort.

www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/atlantech/2014/10/tech-square-labs-to-put-15-000-square-foot.html
Tech Square Labs to put 15,000-square-foot innovation center in Midtown
Urvaksh Karkaria
Staff Writer- Atlanta Business Chronicle
A Midtown Atlanta building, now stacked with printer toner and label makers, will bustle with coders and makers building billion-dollar companies. The 15,000-square-foot Office Depot will become home to Tech Square Labs, that will birth information security, marketing automation, and business-to-consumer (B2C) startups. The venture is backed by serial techpreneurs and investors Paul Judge and Allen Nance. The innovation center, expected to open in the second quarter, is the first phase of a broader expansion Tech Square Labs is planning, according to sources. Judge declined comment. Tech Square Labs will add to the city’s inventory of business-building hubs. The project is one of at least three tech startup-focused developments being considered in Georgia Tech-anchored Midtown Atlanta.

www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/atlantech/2014/10/state-incentive-program-to-boost-electric-vehicle.html
State incentive program to boost electric vehicle charging infrastructure
Urvaksh Karkaria
Staff Writer- Atlanta Business Chronicle
More public electric vehicle chargers are headed to Georgia — which leads the nation in EV adoption. Forty-four electric vehicle charging stations will be installed across Georgia thanks to funding from Charge Georgia, a state incentive program designed to boost public EV charging stations at universities; state agencies; and cities and counties. Cities including Sandy Springs, Suwanee, City of Peachtree Corners, and Roswell will receive funding for EV chargers as part of the program; as will Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, Emory University and other schools.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.ledger-enquirer.com
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/10/30/3385288/voters-to-make-two-tax-decisions.html?sp=/99/178/
Voters to make two tax decisions on Tuesday ballot
A statewide referendum and a proposed constitutional amendment on Tuesday’s ballot both have to do with taxes. Both have important implications for all Georgians. The referendum reads: “Shall property owned by the University System of Georgia and utilized by providers of college and university student housing and other facilities continue to be exempt from taxation to keep costs affordable?” Basically, this is about the University System of Georgia turning over operation of student housing to private business. …If the referendum passes, the University System will be able to unload some big debt and spend money on other campus needs that have gone wanting. Similar systems are already in place in other states, including Florida and Kentucky, and we think this plan could help control costs for the University System and students who live on its campuses. We recommend a Yes vote on this referendum.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/A-Billion-Dollar-Problem/149725/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
A Billion-Dollar Problem
By Catharine Hill
Bloomberg Philanthropies announced this week a new effort to help talented low- and middle-income students enroll in and graduate from top-tier colleges and universities. While every intervention is welcome, this one assumes that a major problem is getting these students to apply to these institutions. In fact, the real problem is that colleges can accept more of these students only by reallocating resources to need-based financial aid. And while the $10-million commitment to increasing awareness and applications is welcome, it is really a billion-dollar problem, not a million-dollar one.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/10/31/universities-should-admit-athletes-arent-amateurs-essay
Myth of the Amateur Athlete
By John V. Lombardi
While most of the challenges to the theory of amateurism in college athletics come from reformers who detest the whole enterprise and would like to see it radically transformed or eliminated, the defenders of intercollegiate sports do themselves no favors by pretending that they do not pay the athletes. In fact, we in America’s colleges and universities not only pay them, we compete for their services in a marketplace where the price paid per athlete varies dramatically from institution to institution. We disguise this price competition by pretending that various things are true. We pretend that a scholarship that produces the same net cost of attendance to a student-athlete at all competitive institutions is the same thing as providing equal value for equal work.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/10/31/unc-scandal-reveals-limitations-how-sports-media-cover-college-athletics-essay
UNC and the Sports Media
By Murray Sperber
The authoritative report last week by the former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein on the sports scandal at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that the corruption continued for at least 18 years and that the participants included at least 3100 students and multiple members of the UNC faculty, staff and administration. These numbers far transcend the usual college sports scandal, and commentators have been quick to raise a number of questions, mainly concerning how the NCAA will react to Wainstein’s findings, how UNC will gain control of the situation, etc. However, to my knowledge and Google search, no one has asked one obvious question: how could the sports media, both local and regional, not have known about the academic transgressions and investigated them?

Education News
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/31/higher-ed-especially-tuition-issue-governors-races
Higher Ed and the Governors’ Races
Kaitlin Mulhere, Michael Stratford and Ry Rivard
Battles over funding and college costs are being fought in races for governor across the country. These state races are likelier to have a more immediate effect than much of what Congress or the Obama administration may do. States, after all, are spending about $72 billion a year on higher education. …Incumbents in Iowa, Wisconsin and California have talked about tuition freezes. In Georgia, a challenger and the incumbent are sparring over who would best protect the state’s prized HOPE scholarship. In Maine, a Democrat wants to give every public college student a free sophomore year. … Georgia Jason Carter, the Democratic challenger to incumbent Republican Governor Nathan Deal, is running largely on a plan to boost education the state, which includes a focus on higher education.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Elite-Colleges-Explore/149761/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Elite Colleges Explore Alternative to Common App
By Eric Hoover
Admissions officials at some of the nation’s most-selective colleges seek to create a new online application system, according to documents obtained by The Chronicle. Although the platform would rival the Common Application, its members apparently would include only private colleges with robust financial-aid budgets, and public institutions with high graduation rates.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Drive-to-Make-Study-Abroad/149757/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Drive to Make Study Abroad Safer Could Stifle Colleges’ Overseas Programs
By Karin Fischer
A push for legislation, in Congress and in statehouses, could increase government scrutiny of study abroad and expand the health and safety information colleges must report about courses overseas. Educators fear that such measures, along with a recent multimillion-dollar court settlement to a student who fell ill on a school-sponsored trip to China, could cause colleges and study-abroad providers to pull back from destinations or programs deemed risky. Such a retrenchment would run counter to a drive to ensure that more American students get an international experience.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Overseeing-Sex-Assault-Cases/149739/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Overseeing Sex-Assault Cases Is Now a Full-Time Job
By Audrey Williams June
The dean of students at Claremont McKenna College is quite capable of juggling competing demands. But given the public attention on sexual assaults on campuses, her additional role of Title IX coordinator, in charge of prevention and response, was unsustainable. This month the university announced that Nyree Gray, an associate professor and dean of students and diversity affairs at Southwestern Law School, would take on the newly created position of Title IX coordinator and chief civil-rights officer. “We wanted to bring greater legal sophistication to the role,” says Hiram E. Chodosh, Claremont McKenna’s president, “and alleviate the burden on the dean of students’ office.”

www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/67669/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=10bd493aa81e4c12a8cdaeb95f394e29&elqCampaignId=415
Diverse Docket: Morehead State Unanimous Winner on Appeal
by Eric Freedman
Morehead State University didn’t violate First Amendment rights or commit disability discrimination when it denied tenure to an assistant professor of art history, a unanimous federal appeals panel has ruled. The evidence showed that Morehead denied tenure to Braden Frieder based solely on his “poor student ratings and disorganization,” the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said in refusing to reinstate a retaliation and discrimination suit. The university’s action wasn’t based on the fact that Frieder made an obscene gesture ― a “one-finger salute,” as Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote ― in class, and it was unaware of his bipolar disorder when it made its tenure decision, the court said.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/31/appeals-court-backs-adjunct-case-over-first-amendment
First Amendment Rights for Adjuncts
By Colleen Flaherty
A college can’t fire an adjunct professor for criticizing it, so long as the issues raised are matters of public concern and the adjunct has reasonable expectation of continued employment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled Thursday in a decision regarding Moraine Valley Community College in Illinois.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/31/u-iowa-faculty-worry-their-president-has-not-done-enough-fight-budget-cuts
Asking for a Budget Cut
By Ry Rivard
Faculty at the University of Iowa are bothered that their president publicly backed a plan to cut the university’s budget by nearly $50 million. Privately, some faculty were horrified by seeing President Sally Mason’s signature on the letter endorsing cuts to the university. Other professors understood that Mason may have signed the letter at the insistence of the state university system’s Board of Regents.

www.jbhe.com
http://www.jbhe.com/2014/10/national-institutes-of-health-funds-major-new-diversity-effort-in-biomedical-research/
National Institutes of Health Funds Major New Diversity Effort in Biomedical Research
The National Institutes of Health announced the awarding of $31 million in grants to 12 universities for programs aimed at increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in biomedical professions and research. The awards were made to a geographically diverse group of institutions serving multiple underrepresented populations in biomedical research. The grantees will develop approaches to training and mentoring to encourage students from underrepresented groups to enter into and stay in research careers.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/10/31/louisiana-warns-some-ebola-researchers-stay-away
Louisiana Warns Some Ebola Researchers to Stay Away
Louisiana health officials have written to those planning to attend a meeting in New Orleans of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene that if they have been in Ebola-affected countries in Africa for the last three weeks, they should stay away or risk being quarantined in their hotel rooms, NPR reported.

www.usatoday.com
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/30/blood-pressure-drug-alzheimers-disease/18186177/
Fla. scientists may have found Alzheimer’s breakthrough
Isabel Mascareñas, WTSP-TV
SARASOTA, Fla. — A discovery by a group of Florida researchers is giving Alzheimer’s patients hope after a common blood pressure medication shows the possibility of targeting a new drug treatment for the disease. Scientists at the Roskamp Institute in Sarasota, Fla., have discovered a common enzyme in all three known triggers of the disease. The enzyme is shut off by the key chemical in Nilvadipine, a blood pressure medication used overseas for the last 20 years.

www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/31/obama-administration-has-helped-weaken-and-change-profit-industry
The Long View
By Paul Fain
WASHINGTON — Critics of for-profit colleges were disappointed by the final “gainful employment” regulations. They said the Obama administration caved to industry pressure and put out a watered-down, inadequate set of rules. The U.S. Department of Education calls that narrative “misleading.” The department said the regulations are strong, legally sound and will protect students from underperforming academic programs.