Describes one university's efforts to make its services and facilities accessible to students with disabilities, giving considerable credit to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Describes the law's effects on the campus as it enters into its second decade, noting attention to glaring deficiencies, highlighting problems that still exits,…

More colleges are turning to famous designers for new buildings, banking on the publicity and prestige a star architect will bring. This has led some critics to focus on cost overruns and poor planning, questioning the priorities behind the big expensive projects. Describes this controversial building design at several campuses nationwide. (SM)

Community colleges say that they are insulted and frustrated by guidelines that reserve the use of ".edu" in Web addresses for four-year institutions. They complain that their long Web addresses are confusing and cumbersome, and that students do not access their sites because they cannot remember the addresses. Describes the fight that community…

Presents results from the 2000 version of an annual study that examines college freshmen's attitudes and aspirations, focusing on their levels of political engagement. Using data from the responses of 269,413 students at 434 colleges, the paper discusses students' feelings of being overwhelmed, shifting priorities, and savvy about technology,…

Describes a Johns Hopkins University program based in Nanjing, China, which gives Chinese and American students a close look at each other and the ideas that shape or divide their two worlds. The program, which is challenged by deep divisions between the countries, brings about 100 Chinese and foreign (mostly American) college graduates to live…

Describes how faculty at one university are furious over a proposal to require them to be in their offices 4 days per week (an unheard-of requirement at research universities). Professors who do less research and writing than their colleagues would be required to do more teaching and service. This would ensure that professors remained productive,…

The tight budgets that many governors have recently proposed have public colleges in a growing number of states convinced that lean times have returned. The situation is particularly dire in certain southern states. In many states, higher education budgets are taking a back seat to public schools. In some states, lack of state funding is forcing…

Demands from students with disabilities and regulations from the federal government are prompting colleges to seek new designs in software and hardware. Many colleges are buying computer workstations and designing Web sites that meet the needs of students with disabilities. The university's attitude and organization tends to be the main stumbling…

U.S. Department of Education (DOE) data showed a 1999 increase in drug and alcohol arrests on college campuses. Also, the number of reported sex offenses rose by 6 percent from 1998-99. Some experts question the validity of the year-to-year comparisons and the DOE data. Presents statistics on sex offenses, drug use, and drinking and football. (SM)

A new book suggests that academically elite institutions may be sacrificing too much for the sake of their athletic programs. Research indicates that athletes as a group have lower test scores than other students. One of the principal problems is the way colleges commodify the recruiting process. A sidebar presents key findings about sports at…

For the first time in 14 years, the number of doctorates awarded by American research universities fell in 1999, with the biggest drops in engineering and physical sciences. Overall, for American citizens, the number of minority doctoral recipients increased by 5.1 percent, with Asian Americans and American Indians showing the largest increases. A…

Research universities have started a program through which they hope to influence state policies on tests for high school students, allowing selective colleges to use students' test scores in admissions, placement, and perhaps scholarship decisions. Notes the controversy that state testing has caused, discusses how to define the required student…

Explains how for Michael M. Crow, executive vice provost at Columbia University, knowledge is a form of venture capital. This means pushing Columbia beyond the usual role of creating knowledge and disseminating it in traditional manners, and instead taking the knowledge, incubating it, and projecting it using tools like the Internet. (SM)

A for-profit Web venture, Fathom, backed by several major universities, is changing its strategies for marketing and content, hoping to find a way to make a profit. The site will rely on member institutions to create and contribute shorter, noncredit online courses and seminars to accompany the free content, such as articles, already offered on…

Colleges are building luxurious wellness, fitness, and recreation centers in part to attract and retain students. They offer such features as rock-climbing walls, water slides, hot tubs, elevated tracks, massage rooms, racquetball courts, and wellness resource laboratories. Many college officials believe that investments in recreation are…