Sports... are good for body and soul, but salaried athletes are a different story. In analyzing NCAA data from 2003 to 2012, a team of researchers concluded that male and female college athletes have a lower rate of suicide than the general college population.  A Wall Street Journal essay makes the same point, quoting the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard: “health and salvation can only be found in motion.”

If college athletes are ruled to be employees, however, as a NRLB office ruled last year, the University of Notre Dame's athletic director and Northwestern University’s president emeritus foresee their universities withdrawing from big-time sports. BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

Pigskin Follies. A Academics vs. atheletics vs. budgets was exactly what Ray Watts, President of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, was trying to do when he announced last December that UAB would shut down its football program.  As Joe Nocera reports in the New York Times, UAB was subsidizing its football team with university funds and student fees to the tune of $20 million a year.  In May, after Birmingham “corporate leaders” had raised $17.2 million to offset the subsidy deficit, he reconsidered.  Play ball!  BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

While ACTA Says... “to educate, rather than to entertain.”  Last fall’s athletics scandal at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in which dozens of athletes were given grades for courses they did not take, “wasn’t really about athletics at all - it was all about empty grades.”  In featuring a conversation between University System of Maryland Chancellor William Kirwan and former Olympian, Congressman and current Maryland regent Tom McMillen, ACTA's new webinar series reinforces the same theme.  BACK to NEWS BRIEF ;  SOURCES

David Brooks and Moral Character. A new book by the best-selling NYT columnist looks to some of the world’s greatest thinkers and leaders to explore how to “cultivate character.”    The president of Yeshiva University and professors from Augustana College and Notre Dame respond. BACK to NEWS BRIEF ;  SOURCES

T R U S T E E S 

Bittersweet at Sweet Briar. A story about the demise of single-sex education becomes a cautionary tale about trustee competence - and it’s not over yet.  BACK TO NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

A D M I N I S T R A T I O N 

Cyber Insecurity.  20 million hackk attacks a day is the number of unfriendly digital intrusions that Penn State College of Engineering says it gets.   BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES 

Sexual Assault. Despite Rolling Stone setback, the issue still roils campuses - as do alarming stats about college drinking.  Solutions run the gamut, from going back to “in loco parentis” and single-sex dorms, as recent Harvard graduates say in the April 10, 2015, Harvard Law Review, to using Title IX’s sexual equality mandates as a “floor rather than a ceiling.”  

Alarming stats about college drinking are proposed in the next edition of psychiatry’s diagnostic manual;  NIH stats show that college students actually drink less frequently than other young adults.  BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

Money.   What to do about the student loan mess.  Defaulting may not be the best idea. The Class of 2015 is the most indebted class ever.  

A June 6 New York Times op-ed suggested default as an act of protest against the rising cost of education and, for a time.  While briefly Times’ most read story, the pushback on it was quick.  BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

Affordability.  Nearly a quarter of young people aren’t in college because they can’t afford to go, asserts a 2012 report - another that the proportion of students enrolling at their first-choice institution is at its lowest point since 1974, mainly because of cost.  With the high price tag of tuition looming large, affordability is suddenly on politicians’ lips.  BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

Private Sector. Small colleges feel the pain more than others. Driven primarily by the departure of older students finding employment, total college enrollment fell again this year.  Traditional-age students, by contrast, are staying enrolled.  BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

Tenure... traditions are under increasing scrutiny. In 2013 14, only 49 percent of all institutions of higher learning had tenure systems.  Blasted by the AAUP, the University of Southern Maine and Felician College, a private four-year college in New Jersey for eliminating tenured faculty positions.  BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

R E G U L A T I O N 

The Watchdogs. They rarely bite. With accreditation likely to be addressed during Higher Education Act reauthorization, accreditors have suddenly found themselves in the hot seat.  BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

C R I T I Q U E S 

Cheating. Fake diplomas and tricking the SATs.   The digital revolution has also given new meaning to “diploma mill.”  

Meanwhile, “worries over cheating on the SAT college-entrance exam by students in Asia raised fresh questions about the test's security as the number of foreign applicants to American universities surges.”  BACK to NEWS BRIE;  SOURCES

Political Correctness. Is it censorship? “Student access to a broad range of ideas is under assault” by political special-interest groups on both the left and the right, argues a Wall Street Journal essay.  David Brooks would agree:  “... sometimes the way to wisdom involves hurt feelings, tolerating difference and facing hard truths.” BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

Gifts. Have our elite schools become too elite? A  $150 million gift to Yale, a $400 million one to Harvard, set off a debate about the most elite institutions.   BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

O P I N I O N

Commencements. Words of wisdom from Michelle Obama, Condi Rice and other savvy sages.  While conservative critics gave Michelle Obama a hard time for her commencement speech at the historically black Tuskegee University, Harvey Mansfield of Harvard claimed it was worthy of Booker T. Washington, the college’s famous founder, Garry Wills that it calls on us to “mount into the sky” like the Tuskeegee Airmen.

Condoleezza Rice urged William & Mary seniors to “Be passionate about what you choose to do in life; use your powers of reason;  cultivate humility;  remain optimistic;  and always try to serve others and the goals of freedom and justice.”

Yale's President exhorted them to commit themselves to tikkun olam, the Hebrew phrase “to repair the world.”

In a round-up of commencement soundbites, Politico included this from former President George W. Bush:  "For those of you graduating with high honors and distinctions, I say well done.... And as I like to tell the 'C' students, you too can be president." BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

K-12

Fix K-12 Education... if you want to keep kids in college, says Mike Petrilli, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank that focuses on K-12 reform. BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

S C H E D U L E

Senator Lamar Alexander...  at AEI, July 16. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will share the stage with Judith Eaton of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation;  Ben Miller of the Center for American Progress; and Anne Neal of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. BACK to NEWS BRIEF;  SOURCES

Partnerships That Promote Success:Lessons and Findings from the Evaluation of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Community College Transfer Initiative ( Jack Kent Cooke Foundation) 

Why Elite Institutions Need to Welcome Students From Community Colleges (Chronicle Of Higher Education)

A Huge Gift to Yale: Schwarzman Gives $150 Million for a Performing Arts Center at Yale (New York Times) 

For the love of God, rich people, stop giving Ivy League colleges money (Vox Education)

Widening Wealth Gap  (Inside Higher Ed)

Some College, No Degree:A National View of Students with Some College Enrollment, but No Completion   (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center)      

The Upwardly Mobile Barista (The Atlantic)

  More Colleges Steppping Up to the Plate...  with retention programs. BACK TO STORY

The Upwardly Mobile Barista   (The Atlantic)

Georgia State University Complete College Georgia 2013 Status Report (Georgia State University)

Doubling Graduation Rates: Three-Year Effects of CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for Developmental Education Students (Institute For Education Sciences)

The Socioeconomic Diversity Alliance (SDA) at the University of Chicago (Socioeconomic Diversity Alliance)

THE INTER-IVY, FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENT NETWORK (1VYG)

First and Foremost Understanding the Lives of First-Generation Students at Columbia (Columbia Spectator)

The Harvard College First Gen Student Union

Poor kids, rich schools (CNN Money)

The Challenge of the First-Generation Student (Chronicle Of Higher Education)

Campus Child Care, a ‘Critical Student Benefit,’ Is Disappearing (Chronicle Of Higher Education)

For the Poor, the Graduation Gap Is Even Wider Than the Enrollment Gap (New York Times)

C U R R I C U L U M

  Sports... are good for body and soul, but salaried athletes are a different....  BACK TO STORY

Suicide in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Athletes  A 9-Year Analysis of the NCAA Resolutions Database (Sports Health)

Tennis as a Refuge From the Racket of Everyday Life (Wall Street Journal)

If athletes ruled employees, Notre Dame will seek new sports model, AD says (USA Today)

  Pigskin Follies.   Academics vs. atheletics vs. budgets was exactly ... BACK TO STORY

Alabama Football Follies (New York Times)

U.A.B. Set to Reinstate Football After Outcry (New York Times)

  While ACTA Says... get back to the central purpose of academe:  “to educate... BACK TO STORY

NCAA: UNC lacked institutional control (The News & Observer)

Inside Academe Vol. XX No. 3 (ACTA)

Higher Ed Now: Best Practices in Athletic Oversight (ACTA)

  David Brooks and Moral Character.   A new book by the best-selling ... BACK TO STORY

David Brooks’s Search for Meaning (The New Yorker)

Two Responses   (New York Times)

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T R U S T E E S

   Bittersweet at Sweet Briar.   A story about the demise of single-sex....  BACK TO STORY

Graduation Is Bittersweet as Sweet Briar College Is Likely to Close (New York Times)

Trying to Save Sweet Briar From Oblivion (Wall Street Journal)

We Tried Hard, but Sweet Briar’s Problems Are Terminal (Wall Street Journal)

At Sweet Briar, a Bittersweet Commencement (Chronicle Of Higher Education)

Sweet Briar’s leadership was a short-sighted mess, former board member says (The Washington Post)

  Who Are We? The changing role of boards.  Our unique system of ...  BACK TO STORY

Consequential Boards: Adding Value Where It Matters Most (National Commission on College and University Board Governance)

Creating a Cadre of Leaders on College and University Boards (Association Of Governing Boards)

Governance for a New Era (American Council of Trustees and Alumni)

Dozens of degree programs phased out in UNC system (The News & Observer) 

A D M I N I S T R A T I O N

   Tumultuous Year... at UVA comes to a close, with sighs of relief, as a... BACK TO STORY

Cyber Insecurity. 20 million hacks attacks a day is the number of unfri... BACK TO STORY

Penn State’s College of Engineering Hit by Cyberattack (New York Times)

S T U D E N T S

   Sexual Assault. Despite Rolling Stone setback, the issue still roils ... BACK TO STORY

When the Rapist Doesn’t See it as Rape (New York Times)

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a Small Town (John Krakauer)

Rolling Stone’s investigation: ‘A failure that was avoidable’ (Columbia Journalism Review)

Have We Learned Anything From the Columbia Rape Case? (New York Times Magazine) 

Resource Center: Campus Accountability & Safety Act (Kirsten Gillibrand-United States Senator for New York)

Rethink Harvard’s Sexual Assault Policy (Boston Globe)

Preventing Sexual Assault (Harvard Law Today)

The College Rape Overcorrection (Slate)

Young Adult Drinking (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)

Addiction Diagnoses May Rise Under Guideline Changes (New York Times)

DSM-5 Could Categorize 40% of College Students as Alcoholics (Time)

   Money.  What to do about the student loan mess.  Defaulting may no...   BACK TO STORY

Expert insights on planning and paying for college (Edvisors)

How The $1.2 Trillion College Debt Crisis Is Crippling Students, Parents And The Economy (Forbes)

Student Debt Is Hot Topic for 2016 Field (Wall Street Journal)

If students default, should colleges pay up?(Marketplace Education)

The Disproportionate Burden of Student-Loan Debt on Minorities (National Journal)

How Ending the Two-Tiered Student-Loan System Would Help Struggling Borrowers (Chronicle Of Higher Education)

Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans (New York Times)

A New York Times op-ed says you should default on student loans. That's a terrible idea. (Vox Education)

Taking On Student Debt, and Refusing to Pay (New York Times)

   Affordability. The new political buzzword.  Nearly a quarter of youn...  BACK TO STORY

A quest to learn more about high school graduates who don’t go on to college (The Center for Public Education)     

The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2013 (Cooperative Institutional Research Program)

Free Community College, Structured Pathways: Survey of 2-Year-College Leaders (Inside Higher ED)

College Affordability and Federal Student Aid (C-SPAN)

Obama Proposes Free Community College for Millions of Students (Chronicle Of Higher Education)

U.S. Senator’s Bill Would Make Public 4-Year Colleges Free for All (Chronicle Of Higher Education)

Liberal ears perk up as Hillary Clinton aide floats debt-free college (Politico)

   Private Sector.   Small colleges feel the pain as “total college enrollment ...  BACK TO STORY

Current Term Enrollment Report – Spring 2015 (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center)

F A C U L T Y

   Publish and Perish.   When academics make things up, the rush to print br... BACK TO STORY

The Trouble With Scientists How one psychologist is tackling human biases in science. (Nautilus)

What is Medicine’s 5 Sigma (The Lancet)

Study Using Gay Canvassers Erred in Methods, Not Results, Author Says (New York Times)

Scientists Who Cheat (New York Times) 

The Unraveling of Michael LaCour (Chronicle Of Higher Education)

   Tenure... traditions are under increasing scrutiny.  In 2013-14, only 49 perce... BACK TO STORY

UW-Madison chancellor vows fast action on tenure protection (Milwaukee. Wisconsin Journal Sentinel)

Professor Tenure Battle Heats Up in Wisconsin (Wall Street Journal)

What Will Be Lost When Wisconsin Faculty Loses Tenure? (Newsweek)

Characteristics of Postsecondary Faculty (National Center for Education Statistics)

Academic Freedom and Tenure: University of Southern Maine (American Association Of University Professors)

Academic Freedom and Tenure: Felician College (American Association Of University Professors)

AAUP Blasts U. of Southern Maine and Felician College for Handling of Faculty Layoffs (Chronicle Of Higher Education)

R E G U L A T I O N

  Capitalism. Don't blow up all for-profit colleges, just the bad ones.  Corint...  BACK TO STORY

We Don’t Need No Regulation (Actually We Totally Do (Washington Monthly 

The Unacknowledged Value of For-Profit Education (Manhattan Institute)  

As Scrutiny Intensifies, For-Profit Colleges Face Threats on Several Fronts (Chronicle of Higher Education)

   The Watchdogs.  They rarely bite.  With accreditation likely to be addressed ... BACK TO STORY

The Watchdogs of College Education Rarely Bite (Wall Street Journal)

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C R I T I Q U E

   Cheating. Fake diplomas and tricking the SATs.  The digital revolution...  BACK TO STORY

Fake Diplomas, Real Cash: Pakistani Company Axact Reaps Millions (New York Times)  

A rising Tide of Bogus Degrees (New York Times) 

What to Learn in College to Stay One Step Ahead of Computers (New York Times)

In France, a Free Tech School Shakes up Higher Education (Chronicle of Higher Education)

   Political Correctness.   Is it censorship?  “Student access to a broad range of id...  BACK TO STORY

The Campaign to Stop Fresh College Thinking (Wall Street Journal)

The Campus Crusaders (New York Times)

   Gifts.  Have our elite schools become too elite?  Wall Street financier Stephen A...  BACK TO STORY

For the love of God, rich people, stop giving Ivy League colleges money (Vox Education) 

Moody's: Wealth concentration will widen for US universities (Moody's)

Stephan A. Schwarzman Gives $150 Million for Yale Cultural Hub (New York Times)

Philanthropy Envy (Wall Street Journal)

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O P I N I O N

   Commencements.   Words of wisdom from Michelle Obama, Condi Rice and o...  BACK TO STORY

Remarks by the First Lady at Tuskegee University Commencement Address  (The White House)

Give Michelle Obama a Break (Wall Street Journal)

Michelle Obama Breaks the Rules (The New York Review of Books)

Video of Condoleezza Rice's Commencement remarks (William & Mary)

Yale President Calls on Graduates to Commit to Tikkun Olam (Tablet)

Hillary’s Cruel Summer (Politico)

K - 1 2

Want More College Graduates? Improve Our K12 System (Thomas B. Fordham Institute)  

S C H E D U L E 

   Senator Lamar Alexander... at AEI, July 16, as Chairman of the Senate Commit... BACK TO STORY

An agenda for higher education reform: A keynote address by Senator Lamar Alexander (American Enterprise Institute)