The Reagan Administration rescinded part of a policy aimed at controlling access to unclassified, nongovernment databases. The policy would have extended military-security procedures to civilian government databases, as well as to private ones that contain government information. (MLW)

A continuing decline in the number of women who become nuns has forced Catholic colleges sponsored by religious orders to revamp their budgets and substantially increase their fund-raising. College officials are turning to the laity for help in running and paying for their institutions. (MLW)

Full-time professors at the University of Pittsburgh enjoy "real managerial authority" and cannot bargain collectively under state law, a Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board examiner has ruled. The examiner said Pittsburgh's faculty members could not bargain because they enjoyed similar working conditions to professors at Yeshiva University. (MLW)

Georgia has met few of the numerical goals in the desegregation plan approved by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. The goals are seen as unrealistic and some of the plans to attract White students to the state's historically Black colleges have been faulty. (MLW)

An outline of the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights desegregation actions from 1969 to 1986 is presented. (MLW)

Many corporations are considering limits on how much they spend to match their employees' gifts to colleges. In response to abuses, corporations and colleges have tightened the administration of matching-gift programs, which in turn has contributed to the increased costs of running them. (MLW)

Several surveys conducted over the past few years indicate that serious alcohol use among students remains at high levels. Health officials say students must begin to consider alcohol as a drug and not different from illegal substances. (MLW)

San Jacinto College, a two-year institution, has won fame for offering top basketball players with poor academic records a chance to play for a winning team while improving their grades. Colleges like San Jacinto may become more popular because of the NCAA's new academic standards. (MLW)

Some high-school athletes with borderline grades and low achievement-test scores are enrolling in small, private preparatory schools in an effort to meet the National Collegiate Athletic Association's academic standards and play sports during their freshman year in college. (MLW)

In its most sweeping endorsement of affirmative action and the first ruling explicitly upholding affirmative action for women, the Supreme Court has upheld voluntary plans that help qualified women and members of minority groups gain jobs traditionally dominated by white men. (Author/MSE)

A recent study by Barbara Lee and George LaNoue of academic discrimination lawsuits and their results found that often, neither side understands the impact of the lawsuit, and careers, departmental friendships, individuals, and colleges are damaged. (MSE)

At Southern Connecticut State University, business professors have damaged faculty morale and institutional credibility with a series of lawsuits concerning academic freedom, sex and race discrimination, administrative retaliation, teaching schedules, faculty credentials, and institutional reorganization against university officials and…

The Chancellor of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and the new governor are in conflict over proposals for budget-cutting in the declining state economy and over payments received by the chancellor after leaving a college presidency. (MSE)

Colleges and lenders are devising new ways to help families pay tuition in light of recent changes in federal aid and tax policies. The alternatives include federal supplemental credit programs, loans promoted by financial institutions, extended repayment plans securing loans with home mortgages, and regional long-term supplemental loans. (MSE)

In the wake of a black-white student fight on campus, Columbia University administrators are investigating reports of racial bias and black students have filed charges of aggravated racial harrassment and demanded establishment of an Afro-American studies program, more black faculty, and a larger black student population. (MSE)