Although Wake Forest University recently dissolved its ties with the Baptist church, it is committed to maintaining its Baptist tradition while emphasizing high-quality teaching and academic freedom and increasing diversity in its student population. (MSE)

Academic alliances among educators who share ideas about teaching are flourishing in almost every state. First started in foreign languages, they are now being set up in other disciplines, primarily English, geography, history, mathematics, and science. (MSE)

University extension services, patterned after agricultural extension services, collect and disseminate results of new research and go to businesses and industry to help solve technical and other problems. They are offered by many state and land-grant universities and some private institutions but are not well known. (MSE)

A committee studying Texas higher education has withdrawn a controversial proposal to merge institutions, instead adopting a broad set of principles for higher education and specific recommendations for state colleges and universities. The objective is to improve education during state economic decline due to falling oil prices. (MSE)

The text of "Student Loans: Are They Overburdening a Generation?", the report of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress concerning the impact of large student debts on the national economy, individual borrowers, education, and society in general is presented. (MSE)

The preliminary findings of a broad national study indicate that the value of college and university endowments has risen substantially for the second year in a row, outpacing inflation, due mostly to the rise in stock prices in the past year. (MSE)

A University of Maryland panel on drug abuse hopes its report on drug policies, enforcement, and education will become a prototype for other colleges and universities. It uses four approaches to combat substance abuse: education and counseling, discipline, drug testing, and law enforcement. (MSE)

The Southern Methodist University football program has been troubled by corruption and violation of National Collegiate Athletic Association rules for a number of years, and an angry faculty blames a board dominated by Dallas businessmen. Both the football program and the institution's reputation are threatened. (MSE)

Stanford University dismissed Steven Mosher from its graduate program in anthropology for "illegal and seriously unethical conduct" in the field (China). Political and ethical factors are discussed. (MLW)

Representatives from 12 state universities have formed the Alliance for Undergraduate Education to prove that attention is being paid to undergraduates on their campuses. Participants expect to discuss how to avoid the depersonalization of large campuses and packed undergraduate classrooms. (MLW)

The Education Department's 1988 budget plan would require students to put more of their income toward paying college costs, and it would eliminate some student-aid programs such as College Work Study. The department's top priority was the education of younger children and ensuring that people graduate from high school. (MLW)

Tables of the Reagan Administration's 1988 fiscal budget show breakdown data on student assistance, graduate support, institutional assistance, education for the handicapped, aid to disadvantaged, education research and statistics, bilingual education, library resources, scientific research, health research and professions, arts and humanities,…

State appropriations requests for higher education show the amount sought by statewide coordinating boards or by individual systems, not by the governors. All appropriations requests are for operating expenses for the 1987-88 fiscal year. (Author/MLW)

Declining academic credentials of law-school applicants, coupled with a significant drop in the number of applications, are forcing all but the most prestigious law schools to accept students they would have previously rejected. Figures collected by the Law School Admission Council/Law School Admission Services are analyzed. (MLW)

Student characteristics, attitudes, and activities are highlighted, based on responses of 204,000 students who entered college in the fall of 1986. (MLW)