Students should learn to approach a given text in several different ways, not just through close reading, and should be given practice in various kinds of reading with a variety of text types. Otherwise, they will close rather than open intellectual doors. (MSE)

An annual survey by the Council for Aid to Education of voluntary support for education is reported. The survey does not take into account the October 19 stock market crash, and several colleges indicate a slowdown in the flow of gifts since then. (MLW)

Business schools, rich in resources and flooded with applicants, are doing little planning and are ignoring important trends. A three-year study that included visits to 60 business schools, interviews with 200 corporate executives, and surveys of 9,000 educators, executives, and business-school students and alumni is described. (MLW)

Many suggestions by two researchers at Rand Corporation, who published a paper on etiquette for news networks, have been incorporated into bulletin-board conventions, but with new users coming online all the time socialization is slow. Some suggestions for e-mail users are provided. (MLW)

Using "historicist" techniques, scholars have offered challenging alternatives to standard views on the Romantic era. Historicists advocate yoking theories such as deconstruction with analyses of political, social, and other factors that played a role in the creation of period literature. An exhibit touring the United States is discussed. (MLW)

Miami-Dade Community College, which wants to reward faculty members who devote themselves to teaching, intends to hire professors who want to teach and advise large minority populations and remedial classes. Characteristics of an excellent professor are identified. (MLW)

A "Culture, Ideas, and Values" requirement with goals similar to those of an existing freshman program including works by women and minorities, will be initiated at Stanford University but without a fixed reading list. The faculty has been embroiled in debate for two years. (MLW)

A table from the report "1987-88 Administrative Compensation Survey" conducted by the College and University Personnel Association presents figures based on reports from 1,564 colleges and universities. (MLW)

Many campus administrators in Alabama also serve in the state legislature, participating in debates and votes affecting their institutions. The potential for conflicts of interest has damaged state policy on higher education. Some recent incidents are described. (MLW)

Leadership training, offered at 600 colleges and universities, is cited as one solution to America's ethical, political, and economic decline. Most students find that leadership programs give them the mental and psychological tools to succeed. (MLW)

Black coaches from high schools and colleges gathered for the first annual meeting of the Black Coaches Association, established to address the issue of Black representation and influence in the collegiate coaching ranks. The meeting focused on preparing Black coaches for jobs and on developing networks. (MLW)

The principal result of the efforts to turn an enrollment decline around in agricultural programs has been a loss of identity. Focusing less on undergraduates and becoming smaller, primarily graduate institutions may be the only way to ensure that agricultural colleges remain to any significant extent agricultural. (MLW)

A patent awarded to Harvard University for the genetic alteration of mice in cancer research is the first ever issued on an animal, at the same time that legislation putting a moratorium on animal patents is pending in Congress. (MSE)

One researcher mixes techniques of anthropological field work and statistical analysis in his studies of the cultural dimensions of business negotiation in different countries. (MSE)

Researchers evaluating several courses taught online found that the instruction can be as effective as traditional classroom instruction and improves students' perceptions of educational quality, access to education, involvement in the classes, and access to professors. (MSE)