With interest rates low and endowment returns high, many colleges and universities are borrowing more than ever. This increasing reliance on bond issues and deficit spending will work if the economy remains strong. Investors appear to be eager to invest in private institutions. Colleges with more aggressive boards are using debt to reposition…

A federal judge has struck down the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) freshman-eligibility standards based on standardized college entrance test scores as racially discriminatory. The ruling means that the 577 Division I and II institutions can determine their own eligibility standards, but if the ruling is reversed, some students…

The Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg (Germany), a member of a new European consortium of innovative universities, has been broadening its revenue base by conducting research and training for industry and local government and marketing the technical advances developed in its own laboratories. An interdisciplinary approach to research is…

Reports on a growing movement to document and attack gender discrimination at institutions of higher education following an internal study that documented gender bias against women in the School of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Stresses the value of such broad studies over individual complaints of discrimination. (DB)

Reports on plans for new "race-blind" entrance criteria at the 10 public universities in Florida. Plans call for ending racial preferences in graduate education altogether and replacing undergraduate preferences with a guarantee of admission to a state university for the top 20 percent of Florida high school graduates. Critics and supporters are…

Summarizes fiscal year 2000 appropriations for the U.S. Department of Education, noting especially the 34 percent increase in support for the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. A chart compares figures for fiscal 1999, the President's request, House committee approval, Senate approval, and inclusion in the final bill for programs…

Examines fears of small private colleges that major fund raising campaigns of large public universities will hamper their own fund raising efforts. Gives the example of Pennsylvania State University and the 86 small, private colleges also in Pennsylvania. Shows that trends in both private and corporate giving increasingly favor public research…

Reports on increasing efforts by colleges and universities to meet the spiritual needs of minority students by providing religious centers where students of all faiths can worship under one roof. Examples include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mount Holyoke College (Massachusetts), and Johns Hopkins University (Maryland). (DB)

Reports on trends to re-examine and restructure systems of academic advising for college athletes in the wake of scandals involving athletes at the University of Minnesota and the University of Tennessee. Discusses whether such advisers are responsible to athletic or academic departments. (DB)

Reviews changes in higher education in Eastern Europe since the fall of communism and finds less than expected change, although enrollment has increased and there is minimal government interference. Obstacles to change include lack of quality controls, falling financial support, and emigration of scholars to other countries or business fields. (DB)

Reports that adjunct faculty, which accounts for half the professoriate, does not have academic freedom and can lose jobs for such usually protected activities as teaching controversial material, fighting grade changes, or organizing unions. Accounts of such activities are offered from Jefferson Community College (Kentucky), Chestnut Hill College…

Examines trends in Pentagon support of campus-based military research and reports that lawmakers gave the Defense Department a science budget 11 percent higher in 2000 than in 1999. Notes critics' concerns about Pentagon priorities versus the nation's science needs and lobbying by university and industry groups in the Coalition for National…

Figures published by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) indicate that colleges and universities are engaging in longer capital campaigns while relying on fewer donors. The report identifies 18 colleges that currently fail to comply with CASE standards. A chart summarizes results of fund-raising campaigns at 138 U.S.…

Examines the increasing use of "digital certificates" to validate computer user identity in various applications on college and university campuses, including letting students register for courses, monitoring access to Internet2, and monitoring access to databases and electronic journals. The methodology has been developed by the Massachusetts…

Describes how distribution of national, local, and college newspapers at no charge has increased newspaper readership at Pennsylvania State University from 8 to 75 percent. Reports that at least 140 other colleges are experimenting with the idea, which builds the costs into general student fees. Critics suggest that student papers and activities…