The institution is part of a national market and its presidential options are dictated by that market, the reputation, the challenges of the position, and the relative compensation for the opportunity to lead the organization. Many in academe are uncomfortable with the idea that hiring in higher education should be governed by the laws of supply…

An assistant professor of finance, Chris Dussold was fired by Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville in 2004 allegedly for copying another professor's teaching statement, but he believes he was dismissed because of a persistent rumor that he was sleeping with an undergraduate. A year later, Dussold discusses his crusade to restore his…

College administrators across the US are learning that chatter on e-mail, blogs, and social-networking sites can turn even minor faux pas into major controversies. The issue is discussed with reference to the firing of a teaching assistant whose Web site lampooned the president of Columbia College Chicago and left the institution facing serious…

The American criminal-justice system often works well, but wrongful convictions are not an isolated phenomenon, and occur in an alarming number of local jurisdictions presided over by elected prosecutors. An investigative reporter and journalism professor who, for a long time, ignored pleas to examine alleged wrongful convictions discusses how he…

The origins of African-American studies are shrouded in a hazy collective memory, and it is becoming increasingly clear that before the field can move into the future, it is necessary to clear up some continuing confusion about why and how it began. Clarifying its beginnings has significant implications for how people think about not just a…

Educators in the US are becoming increasingly focused on the idea of early colleges, by which high-school students take college courses at postsecondary institutions to improve their educational experience. Early colleges can be a strong alternative for some students under 18 because they employ many of the approaches to liberal-arts education…

David Horowitz's campaign to enact an academic bill of rights will impose outside political controls over core educational functions like personnel decisions, curricula, and teaching methods, a situation more serious than the McCarthy era of the 1950s. Such an intrusion would not only endanger the faculty autonomy that traditionally protects…

Several artifacts found at the Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, or Daughters of Jacob Bridge, archaeological site in Israel provide a picture of ancient human ancestors that is different from the once accepted by most scholars. The discoveries by Israeli archaeologist Naama Goren-Inbar suggest that humans developed language and other key abilities far…

Student health insurance experiences the same inflationary trends as employee benefits, but is rarely viewed as a significant direct cost to an institution, nor is the bill as high as the costs associated with employee health plans. Several long-term solutions and strategies that could help colleges to contain the ever-escalating cost of providing…

Choroidal neovascularization is a rare condition where aberrant blood vessels behind the retina grow and then bleed, eventually becoming blind areas called Fuchs' spots. A woman suffering from this rare eye disease speaks about the challenges of coping with the visual disability and her determination to make the best of what life has to offer.

Research psychologists at the University of Texas are using electronically activated recorders (EARs) to study a range of human behavior, including romantic couples' dynamics, cross-cultural variations in sociability, and how students coped after the 9/11 attacks. The EAR studies, although still in their relative infancy, are generating striking…

Students in the US are increasingly discovering that online socializing is far from private and that sharing personal details on social-networking Web sites, such as Facebook, can have unintended consequences. A growing number of colleges are moving to disabuse students of the notion that the Internet is their private playground and what they type…

The concept of car sharing is gaining ground on college campuses in the US, where parking and congestion are among the most problematic issues for administrators. There is a growing group of institutions that are turning to car-sharing companies like Zipcar and Flexcar in an effort to save money, free up parking spaces, and improve community…

Human beings share a world and its scarce resources with other intelligent creatures, yet humans act in ways that deny other animals a dignified existence. A discussion on why notions of basic justice, entitlement, and law can, and must be extended across the species barrier is presented.

An increasing number of studies on suicide bombing suggest that terrorism is not necessarily bound to religious extremism. The authors of this body of work, primarily drawn from political science and social psychology, agree that suicide bombings, with or without the trappings of religion, are largely a response to occupation, or, since September…