Following a trend in a number of states, Indiana has begun a project to improve college preparation and encourage high school students to pursue higher education. The effort includes a toll-free hotline, a statewide database for monitoring student characteristics, and standardized testing of basic skills. (MSE)

The trend toward corporate political support of higher education appears to be spreading. After years of corporate and business financial support to higher education, now groups in Kentucky, Washington, Utah, West Virginia and other states are making political contributions to higher education as well. (MLW)

The College Outcomes Evaluation Program, a New Jersey assessment plan, is intended to serve as an official blueprint for improving state higher education. It outlines specific goals for gauging quality but gives institutions leeway to carry them out. (MLW)

Under a new policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, spouses of the system president and chancellors can apply for the title "associate of the chancellor" and receive benefits such as business cards, library cards, travel expenses for university business, insurance coverage, etc. (MLW)

North Carolina State's humanities-extension program operates through the university's cooperative-extension service. The program was begun when there was a realization that future interest in the humanities might drop, and the university wanted to find outreach outlets for the school's faculty members. (MLW)

The provision, known as Section 89 of the Internal Revenue Code, that requires employers to make sure that their health and insurance benefits do not discriminate against low-paid employees, is discussed. The process of comparing employee benefits and a lack of federal guidance has complicated matters. (MLW)

Common threads have emerged in recent faculty-president disputes, reflecting a widening gulf between faculty eager to increase their influence and administrators under pressure from a variety of constituents to raise money, improve academic quality, control tuition costs, and maintain enrollment. (Author/MSE)

Susan Young, wife of the chancellor of the University of California at Los Angeles, is seen as the quintessential college president's spouse, choosing to devote herself to her husband's job. She believes the female spouses of college presidents deserve more recognition and was instrumental in pressing for spouses' benefits. (MLW)

Citing a severe decline in academic standards due to political and social influences, a group of conservative scholars criticizes the "radicalization" of the college curriculum and danger to academic freedom. (MSE)

The history, current status, and future of tribally-controlled colleges serving American Indians are discussed, focusing on South Dakota's Oglala Lakota College. (MSE)

Although most business school deans accept criticisms emerging in a new report, they predicted it would take a decade or more to develop programs that have the recommended qualities of being truly interdisciplinary, emphasizing the global economy, and providing students with effective interpersonal skills. (MSE)

While colleges and universities have often become just another special-interest group using contemporary techniques and encountering common problems in dealing with state legislators, the central interest remains the allocation of adequate resources for the institutions. (MSE)

In the 36 gubernatorial election campaigns in 1986, many candidates are stressing the role of higher education in promoting economic development and creating new jobs, and have declared public education a top priority along with other basic state issues. (MSE)

Professors--obsessed with being perfect, eager to criticize, disillusioned after years of sacrifice in graduate school--may be making themselves emotionally ill. Something in the academic environment contributes to the personality profile that David F. Machell has developed. (MLW)

A national survey of faculty at colleges of all sizes indicates that professors are increasingly optimistic about their profession but are deeply troubled by the attitudes and academic credentials of their students and the quality of academic administration. (MSE)