Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) program has inspired heated debate on campuses, and many scientists have pledged not to accept federal money for SDI research, for a variety of political, economic, and scientific reasons. (MSE)

College student protest of Central Intelligence Agency recruiting on campus has increased, but most university administrators feel that the federal agency meets guidelines for recruiters and the institutions cannot make political judgments about the organization. (MSE)

A plan to increase institutional revenues through intercollegiate athletics is strongly backed by a committee of campus and community leaders but opposed by many students and faculty as misguided. (MSE)

News media reports about Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores and trends have drawn or suggested conclusions about the quality of schools, teachers, and colleges that are neither supported by evidence from the test itself nor consistent with its nature and purpose. (MSE)

Judge John H. Pratt held that under a 1984 Supreme Court ruling, the civil-rights organizations that had pursued the "Adams case" no longer had the legal standing to continue it. He found it was "speculative" whether the cutoff of federal funds would lead discriminatory states to change their actions. (MLW)

Seeking to influence the presidential campaign, higher-education leaders outlined an agenda for Reagan's successor that included ways to expand aid to colleges and ways colleges could help the country meet challenges expected in the next decade. (MLW)

Five challenges that will preoccupy America in the coming years and that can be overcome with the partnership of the federal government and higher education are identified: preserving peace in an interdependent world, economic revitalization, expanding educational opportunity, meeting essential human needs, and restoring respect for values and…

A research network called the European Institute of Technology will be created by major European technology companies. The institute will seek to encourage greater collaboration among academic and industrial researchers in Europe by financing research in fields relevant to long-term needs of sponsoring companies. (MLW)

The question of whether a university is responsible for the technical accuracy of information released by senior administrators of a laboratory it is charged with overseeing is examined in the case involving a dispute at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that is overseen by the University of California. (MLW)

A survey by the Consortium on Financing Higher Education of retirement programs at 36 higher education institutions is described. It was discovered that most institutions have not done much systematic planning and did not know what retirement-related programs cost them. (MLW)

Administrators at small colleges are devising innovative policies to compete with recruiters from corporations and large universities to attract computer-science professors and hold on to them. Williams College offers higher salaries, while Middlebury College pays computer-science instructors as administrators on 11-month contracts. (MLW)

Tables comparing the federal budget for funds for higher education in fiscal 1987, the President's request for 1988, and the actual funds for fiscal 1988 are presented. (MLW)

The text of Judge John H. Pratt order dismissing the "Adams" college desegregation case is presented. (MLW)

New state laws governing charitable solicitations may soon place restrictions on college phonathons and other fund-raising activities. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in March on a 1985 North Carolina solicitations law and the decision could affect many fund-raising activities of colleges and nonprofit organizations. (MLW)

The rise in the number of students who showcase their particular talents on videos sent along with written applications to college admissions offices is discussed. Most are tapes of the student performing on stage or in sporting events, but some range from visual autobiographies to comic and dramatic productions. (MLW)