Throughout Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the number of female athletes rose 5% from 1996-1997 to 1997-1998. Spending on scholarships for women increased 14%; for men it was up 10%. However, women are still far less likely than men to participate in intercollegiate sports. Participation rates and trends at 306…

Bethune-Cookman College (Florida) and the University of Central Florida have developed programs to train black men as special education teachers for elementary and preschool children. The intent was to counter the disproportionate placement of minority children, particularly blacks, in special education by having black men serve as role models and…

A small consulting firm, the Registry for College and University Administrators, places retired college presidents in interim positions, usually after an administrator has left suddenly. Interim presidents have been placed at 19 institutions in seven years, mostly at small, private colleges. Almost always, the underlying mission is to lay a strong…

Arrests for violations of drug/alcohol laws at colleges and universities rose 7.2 and 3.6%, respectively, from 1996 to 1997. Campus police attribute the increases not to increased drug and alcohol use but to more aggressive enforcement. However, some health researchers feel usage has risen. Campus weapons violations and forcible rape arrests have…

Analysis of crime reports from 483 four-year colleges and universities reveals that institutions use vastly different classifications in reporting campus crimes, even though they are reporting under the same federal law. Some institutions are following the lead of Ohio University in standardizing classifications. (MSE)

Statistics from the crime reports of 483 four-year colleges and universities with enrollments of over 5,000 are charted by state and institution for 1996 and 1997. Reported incidents include murder, forcible sex offenses, nonforcible sex offenses, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and motor-vehicle theft. Arrests reported are for liquor-law…

At a recent American Association of University Professors conference, professors and researchers discussed the growing influence of corporations on academic research in medicine, including increased medical school reliance on corporate funding, requirements for research confidentiality, the potential for conflict of interest in research, and the…

The iconoclastic new governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, is challenging the status quo in higher education. A believer in personal responsibility, he feels students should do more to pay for their education and opposes merit scholarships, but also wants more state money for colleges. Ventura's skepticism about government institutions such as…

Fueled by a robust economy, rising stock market, and popularity of planned giving, total gifts to higher education rose by 15% in 1998, the third straight year for double-digit gains. Giving increased at most types of institution, according to a survey of 1,034 colleges and universities. Nine institutions reported individual gifts of $50 million…

In addition to discussing many scholarly issues at its first meeting, the new Historical Society examined its own reasons for existence, including an interest in reinvigorating intellectual debate on history; reintegrating into the profession historians who have been pushed to the sidelines; and dissatisfaction with two major existing history…

Fearing security problems, a congressional committee on Chinese espionage recommends that foreign students and other foreign nationals be barred from using supercomputers at national laboratories unless they first obtain export licenses from the federal government. University officials dispute the data on which the report is based and find the…

Increasingly, colleges and universities are privatizing housing, attracted to the limited financial outlay and involvement in management. Critics fear that institutions' financial positions will be compromised if the private developers have problems, and that institutions will lose control of financial aspects and quality of residence-hall life,…

Rapid growth of non-state colleges and universities in Eastern Europe has been fueled by strong demand for education and a limited number of student places at state universities, which, until recently, had a monopoly on higher education in the region. While some institutions are shoddy profit-making ventures, others are models of innovation. (MSE)

A disagreement between the George Mason University (Virginia) faculty senate and its governing board over how much credit to award for R.O.T.C. (Reserve Officers Training Corps) courses has escalated into a major confrontation over faculty authority over the curriculum and academic policy. The board questions whether the faculty senate is…

A new company is offering selected universities a chance to profit directly from the scholarly materials produced by its faculty, particularly in the areas of corporate training, continuing education, distance learning, and the international-student market. Critics fear that institutions' desire for income may affect faculty priorities.…