Describes the efforts of many public universities to become top-flight research institutions and discusses the costs in terms of state and federal spending. Experts say an institution has to spend a great deal of money and exert an enormous effort to advance even one spot in national rankings. (SLD)

Colleges and universities have received gifts worth well over $100 million from companies and individuals investigated, indicted, or convicted of white-collar crime, but most have treated these donations as business as usual. Only a few have returned the money or developed new standards for the receipt of gifts. (SLD)

Increasing numbers of colleges accept job applications only online. Illustrates the job application process at Montgomery College, Maryland as the college changes to an online system for all job applications. (SLD)

Many colleges and universities are revamping their freshman writing courses in response to increasing numbers of complaints from professors who see students who cannot write and from students bored or frustrated in writing courses. (SLD)

Members of the Secretary's Commission on Opportunities in Athletics (U.S. Secretary of Education) continue working to bring about gender equity in college athletics, but they are not reaching many answers to the complex questions involved, including those occurring when a college drops sports teams. (SLD)

At Texas A&M University and the University of South Florida recent changes have limited some benefits of tenure. While these changes do not yet reflect a trend, some experts note that universities should deal with troublesome faculty members individually rather than by establishing rules eroding tenure for all. (SLD)

Pressure is growing for Congress to overhaul the student loan consolidation program which has allowed borrowers to lock in low interest rates over the loan life. Lenders and student groups are in opposition over the program; colleges are tending to take a neutral stance. (SLD)

Describes the role of Exxon Mobil in the new Global Climate and Energy Project at Stanford University. Questions about the university's independence from the corporation and real impact on the environment are explored. (SLD)

Elsevier, the largest publisher of scientific journals, has removed journal articles from its database, often without providing reasons. The usual reason for removing an article is fear of copyright litigation, but critics of the policy fear that information gaps or misleading lack of data will develop. (SLD)

Describes the Self Knowledge Symposium, a student group with chapters at three North Carolina universities, that exists to lead students on a search for spirituality without the trappings of traditional religions. Discusses implications of the personal disclosure required of members and accusations that the group is actually a cult of personality.…

Explores how for-profit colleges want to be defined as higher education institutions, for both the prestige and the money. The institutions are pushing Congress to change a key definition that prevents them from receiving certain kinds of federal aid. (EV)

Describes how for-profit education companies see advanced degrees for school teachers as a growth market (EV)

Describes how some historians embrace the posting of primary sources on the Web, but that others warn students about amateur projects. (EV)

Describes how law reviews are debating whether to change the qualification rules and competitions so that more minority students are admitted as members. (EV)

Describes how the growing gap between "haves" and "have-nots" in college football has leaders of some colleges demanding more access to championships and more money. (EV)