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(03/20/07 4:00am)
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The New York Times is now allowing anyone with an “.edu” e-mail address to access its exclusive online TimesSelect content – free of charge. \nSince TimesSelect was unveiled in September 2005, readers have been required to subscribe to the print edition of the Times or pay for a online-only subscription to gain Web access to opinion columns, article archives and other special features. \nBy waiving the $49.95 yearly online fee for readers affiliated with academic institutions – students in particular – the paper is aiming to boost readership among what it considers to be a crucial demographic and a group that is increasingly turning to the Web for its news. \n“College students represent the next generation of Times readers,” said Times spokesperson Diane McNulty in a phone interview Friday. “Reading the Times is a critical piece of any student’s intellectual development, and we want to make it readily available.”\nTimesSelect was introduced as part of ongoing efforts by newspaper to adapt to declining print sales and a surge in online readership. The paper hoped to secure a new source of revenue to support its news-gathering operations. \n“It’s very expensive to have a Baghdad bureau and to send (columnist) Thomas Friedman around the world to cover stories,” McNulty said. “It’s important to build new revenue streams, and TimesSelect is one of the ways we were doing that.” \nIn 2006, TimesSelect raised $9.9 million in new revenue for the paper. As of January 2007, it counted 627,000 subscribers in its rolls. Of the 627,000, 34 percent had online-only subscriptions. The remainder received access as part of their home delivery subscriptions, McNulty said. \nBut many readers – including college students on notoriously tight budgets – were not pleased with the Times’ 2005 decision to charge for content. \n“I read (the Times) every day,” said Chia N. Mustafa, a Harvard University sophomore. “So I was kind of pissed off – news should be accessible to everyone.” \nIn the year and a half since TimesSelect was first introduced, the newspaper has continued to adapt to a business model that is increasingly reliant upon the Internet. Among Times readers on campus, the paper’s recent decision to stop charging students has been well-received.\n“I think it’s awesome,” said Aimee C. Dobrowski, a Harvard senior, who had been relying on her father’s subscription to gain access to TimesSelect. “I’m sorry I am only going to be able to take advantage of it for one year.” \nBenjamin K. Glaser, a sophomore, said he was slightly wary of what free access would mean for his work habits. \n“Now I’ll be able to waste even more time while sort of being able to justify it because it’s kind of educational. I can procrastinate, with Nick Kristof and Tom Friedman to help,” Glaser said, referring to two of the paper’s better known columnists.\nMcNulty said that opening TimesSelect to college students is just one of many ways the paper has been attempting to reach out to the college-age demographic. New York Times journalists regularly visit campuses, and the paper has been promoting ways to integrate the newspapers into classrooms.\nIn addition, the Times is also currently running a “Win a trip with Nick Kristof” promotion, whereby the Times columnist will personally pick one college student and one high-school or middle-school teacher to accompany him on a trip to Africa, where they will engage in on-the-ground reporting of issues of poverty and development.
(03/19/07 4:00am)
GREENCASTLE, Ind. – DePauw University’s president ordered the Delta Zeta sorority March 12 to leave its campus by September in response to a mass eviction of members that sparked allegations that only attractive, popular students were asked to remain.\nSchool President Robert G. Bottoms told reporters at a campus auditorium Monday that the values of the sorority were “incompatible” with the 2,200-student private college in western Indiana.\nBottoms said the school was unhappy with Delta Zeta’s policies and actions and with some of the postings on its Web site that disputed the controversy that followed the evictions.\n“I came to the conclusion that our approaches to these issues are just incompatible,” Bottoms said during a news conference.\nBottoms said in a letter delivered Monday to the sorority’s national president, Deborah A. Raziano that beginning in the fall, the sorority would no longer be recognized as part of the Greek system at the school. He asked the sorority to leave the campus in Greencastle, 40 miles west of Indianapolis, before next fall.\nIn a statement released to media Monday, Delta Zeta sorority repeated its stand that the 23 evictions were based on the members’ lack of commitment to recruiting pledges. But those asked to leave have charged that they were removed because of their appearance, contending they were active and supportive members of their sorority.\nThe sorority’s members have long had a reputation of being academically oriented rather than having conventional beauty or partying, and their chapter was widely known among students as the “dog house.” The chapter started the school year with just 35 women in its house, far short of the nearly 100 members at other sororities on a campus where 70 percent of students join the Greek system.\nDelta Zeta’s national leadership last fall reviewed the DePauw chapter’s members’ commitment to recruiting. As a result, it moved 23 women to alumnae status in December, evicting them from the sorority house. Six others left on their own.\n“I think it’s a shame they had to uphold these kind of stereotypes,” former member Kate Holloway, who left in protest after the membership review was announced, told The Associated Press last week.\nBottoms said of those six who remain on campus, four are seniors who will graduate this year. He said the university would help the other two women look for housing next fall.\nRepeated phone messages left last week for Raziano and the executive director of the sorority’s national headquarters in Oxford, Ohio, were not returned.\nIn a statement released by e-mail, Delta Zeta said it was “disappointed” that DePauw had closed the chapter and said the situation was being “mischaracterized.”\nWhile the issue has generated media attention, life on campus went on last week for students.\nAshley Louise, an 18-year-old freshman pledge for Alpha Chi Omega, said students have been talking about the Delta Zeta story but “are just taking as it comes.”\nLouise, who is from Naperville, Ill., said fellow students care deeply about the women at Delta Zeta.\n“We have great sympathy for the girls,” she said. “A lot of them are our friends.”\nThe statement e-mailed last week under the name of Executive Director Cindy Menges repeated her stand that Delta Zeta based decisions on the women’s willingness to recruit new members to revitalize a nearly 100-year-old chapter whose numbers had fallen steadily over 10 years.\n“Any statement otherwise is inaccurate and misleading and we are saddened that any member would feel this way,” the statement said.\nDePauw’s decision follows a letter of reprimand sent to the national organization Feb. 19.\n“We at DePauw do not like the way our students were treated,” Bottoms said in the letter.
(03/19/07 4:00am)
INDIANAPOLIS – After more than a year of negotiations, Purdue University has accepted a $100 million gift from a billionaire’s foundation to commercialize basic biomedical research – a sum other schools have rejected amid questions about control of those innovations.\nPurdue President Martin Jischke, who’s scheduled to formally announce the gift Friday at a news conference with billionaire Alfred Mann and Gov. Mitch Daniels, said Thursday the deal with the Mann Foundation for Biomedical Engineering will be a boon for Purdue and the state.\nHe said the endowment agreement creates a nonprofit institute on the West Lafayette campus staffed by product development and industrial experts who will usher promising new biomedical technologies created at Purdue’s labs into the marketplace.\n“It represents for us a new model for technology development and technology transfer and a model frankly that we’re eager to pursue,” Jischke said.\nHe said Purdue’s Office of Technology Transfer, which holds patents on hundreds of technologies that have been successfully exploited in the private sector, simply doesn’t have the product development capability the new institute will specialize in.\nBut the money offered by the California-based foundation created by Mann – a prolific inventor of biomedical devices who Forbes magazine estimates has a net worth of $2.4 billion – has raised questions at other universities it courted.\nLast year, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University turned down a similar gift following disagreements over the control of intellectual property rights to university inventions.\nAmong those issues was the Mann Foundation’s insistence on deciding which of the schools’ inventions were most ripe for commercialization, something the universities feared would conflict with their other research agreements.\nJischke said he was not aware of the issues that prevented the foundation from reaching a deal with other universities. But he said that after 16 months of negotiations with the Mann Foundation, Purdue officials were satisfied with the deal to create an Alfred Mann Institute at the school.\n“We certainly were able to deal with the issues that were of concern to us and we came to a quite amicable agreement,” Jischke said. “I think it’s a very good arrangement.”\nHe said the agreement recognizes Purdue’s “existing relationships but allows us to continue to conduct contract research with other organizations.”\nWhen the institute’s endowment is fully funded, Jischke said its investment income will yield about $5 million a year to support the institute’s commercialization goals.\nJischke said a 10-member board of directors – half chosen by Purdue and half by the Mann Foundation – will decide what inventions or ideas will be moved along the development process.\nHowever, Bruce E. Seely, an editor with the journal, Comparative Technology Transfer and Society, said a host of complex questions are raised when private groups such as the Mann Foundation offer to finance the costs of moving universities’ research into commercial products.\nOne of those issues is what intellectual property rights a third party will obtain if it helps develop a potentially lucrative product from research financed through a mix of public money and funds from private sponsors.\n“There are ethical questions that surround all of this,” said Seely, the chairman of Michigan Technological University’s social sciences department.\nHe said biotechnology research seems “particularly fraught with questions” because emerging patents with unforeseen applications could prove more lucrative than ever anticipated.\nJischke said space will eventually be built for the institute at Purdue’s Discovery Park research complex, which includes a nanotechnology research center, a biosciences complex and plans for centers devoted to cancer and energy research.\nEventually, the institute could be staffed by about 40 people, most of whom will have product development and industrial design backgrounds.\nThe $100 million endowment is Purdue’s largest to date. It’s more than double the previous biggest endowment, a $45 million gift from 1962 Purdue graduate William Bindley to fund faculty chairs, student scholarships and fellowships, and academic programs.
(03/19/07 4:00am)
MUNCIE – If a student is late to Ball State University instructor Sarah Robbins’ class, chances are he or she didn’t fly there fast enough.\nYes, fly. Over the past eight months, Robbins has been teaching her freshman composition course in Second Life, a virtual-reality world that technology enthusiasts are heralding as the future of Internet communication.\nIn Second Life, users create avatars – 3-D images of themselves – to walk, dance, fly or even swim around a virtual world eerily similar to the real world – right down to corporate-sponsored car dealers and entertainment venues. In the past two years, the site has seen its number of registered users skyrocket from a few thousand to about 4 million, according to Linden Labs, the San Francisco company that operates Second Life.\nIn Robbins’ class, 18 students join their pink-haired instructor – a self-described “super techno junkie” – every Thursday evening on Middletown Island, 16 acres of virtual land in Second Life purchased by the university’s Center for Media Design.\nThe CMD paid $950 upfront for the “land.” Robbins said the money was used to purchase a server sponsored by Linden Labs. The university then pays $150 monthly for maintenance of the island, which includes security, maintenance and upkeep of the server, the instructor explained.\nWhen Robbins first started teaching in Second Life last fall, she was one of about a dozen educators exploring the free site as classroom space, the 31-year-old said. Today, hundreds of college and university professors have followed suit.\nRobbins said the concept of teaching in Second Life is not for everyone.\n“As a form of technology, the site can be intimidating, namely because it takes time to learn how to use it,” she said, noting it helps to be familiar with Photoshop and scripting language if you want to build something – be it a house, boat or box – in Second Life.\nAnd teaching via cyberspace wouldn’t be a good fit for every college class, Robbins added. “I could not see this working for a lecture-based course.”\nBut for Robbins, the platform has given her 100-level English course an exciting new twist.\n“It’s fair to say most students dread taking another English class. We’ve written so many papers and read so many books that the prospect of doing it again is no longer interesting,” said sophomore Evan Bell, 20, who took Robbins’ class last fall. “This class approaches English from another angle and teaches it in a different way. Having fun while learning doesn’t happen very often, but it occurred every time we went to class.”\nThe focus of Robbins’ class is to help students learn how to research and write in a new way – in this case, a virtual setting. While in Second Life, students sit around a circle and debate and communicate via a public instant message system. Robbins then prints off the dialogue recorded as classroom notes.\n“In 20 minutes we get about 10 to 20 pages of dialogue,” she said. “We have great discussions that extend beyond what we’d be able to do in a traditional classroom.”\nFor last semester’s final project, students built an exhibition area and invited Second Life users, or “residents” as they like to be called, to stop by and view their work. In two hours, more than 300 people from around the world paid a visit. “That was exciting,” Robbins said.\nOverall, Robbins has been pleased with how her Second Life course has evolved and how students have responded to the teaching method. Bell credits some of that to Robbins herself.\n“Sarah is absolutely perfect for this kind of class,” he said. “She knows what she’s talking about and can really relate to the students.”\nThe idea of exploring such tech-fueled teaching also was appealing to Ball State officials. \n“It’s another example of innovative use of technology in support of BSU’s education mission,” said Michael Holmes, associate director of insight and communications research professor.\nHolmes helped Robbins secure the CMD funding for the course, which he said was a good investment. \n“(The CMD) contributes to the university’s instructional mission by supporting exploration of new media in efforts such as Sarah’s class,” he said.\nRobbins said some critics have panned Second Life because, like real life, it has a seedy underside, offering residents (virtual) prostitution, drugs and more if they want. “But that portion of Second Life represents just a tiny fraction of that world,” she said.\nNor is Robbins overly concerned by the idea that, in socializing so much online, we lose the ability to interact in the real world with friends, neighbors and colleagues. This, despite the fact a friend recently told her he “lost his first life to Second Life.”\n“Sure that is a risk, but it’s no more of a risk than the notion that people spend the same amount of time in front of the television, or talking on the phone. It’s a risk that doesn’t outweigh the benefits of this program,” she noted.\n-Distributed by the Associated Press
(03/09/07 5:00am)
IU President Adam Herbert announced Tuesday the new dean of the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.\nRobert M. Goodman, professor and chair of the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences in the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, will take office July 1, pending approval by the board of trustees. The trustees are scheduled to vote on the approval at an April 6 meeting.\n“Bob Goodman is a highly respected academician. He is recognized nationally and internationally for his work in the behavioral and community health sciences,” Herbert said in an IU news release. “He also has a leadership style that unites diverse faculty interests behind a shared vision. I am delighted that Bob is joining the IU family and am very confident that he will build on the strong leadership traditions retiring Dean David Gallahue has established within the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.”\nCurrent HPER Dean David Gallahue is retiring after a five-year tenure as dean. He has spent more than 35 years as an administrator or faculty member of HPER.
(03/09/07 5:00am)
MINNEAPOLIS – During the past few years, University of Minnesota bathrooms have been slowly decaying. \nBut on Jan. 18, Facilities Management began a plan to improve bathroom conditions that included installing free tampon machines in the women’s bathrooms. \nFacilities Management plans to install one free tampon machine in every university building and has already installed the machines in all of the buildings on the East Bank, said Ruthann Manlet, a Facilities Management employee and organizer of the plan. High-traffic bathrooms will also provide free sanitary pads, she said. \nThe tampon machines should be installed in all university buildings by mid-April, Manlet said. \nFree tampon machines are being installed because most of the old machines didn’t work, she said. \n“Most of the machines have been broken on campus and the money that we were getting from the product was not taking care of the maintenance of the machines and the cost of the product, so we thought this would be a good thing to do for the community,” Manlet said. \nThe tampon machines are also being installed to reduce vandalism. \nPeople would break into the old machines and steal the money out of them, Manlet said.\n“When the machines were fully functional 15 years ago, we were getting vandalized all of the time,” she said. \nThe tampons are meant to be used in emergencies and not for convenience, but there is no way to prevent people from taking all of the tampons out of a machine, she said. \n“Over time we came to find that if professors or students know that a product is always there, they will stop taking all of them,” Manlet said. \nSo far, Facilities Management has spent $1,600 on tampons and $500 on installation. Each new machine costs about $100.
(03/09/07 5:00am)
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – With the environment and sustainability on many people’s minds, housing officials around the nation are “building green,” including those at the University of Arkansas.\nA “green” building is defined as one that incorporates environmentally-friendly design elements that are more water- and energy-efficient, uses recycled materials, sustainable site-development and indoor environmental quality, according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design criteria. \nMaple Hill residence hall, scheduled to open next fall, will incorporate some of the categories specified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. However, the project acquired 22 of the minimum 26 points for basic LEED certification, said Gary Hume, director of Residential Facilities. \n“Because of the fast-track pace of this project, it is unlikely that we will reach the minimum points for any certification,” he said. \nHousing officials hope phase two of the project, which is scheduled to open in August 2008, will be LEED certified. \nThe “green” features of Maple Hill are based mostly on the construction. The pavement was salvaged from existing concrete and used for fill rather than excavating another site to bring in dirt. The main structural system is fabricated from recycled steel rather than new mill product, Hume said. The gypsum wallboard used throughout the project is primarily manufactured out of recycled material and post-consumer products. Other green points were earned by the University of Arkansas’ policies. For example, alternative transportation methods and the density of the campus environment and campus utility systems earned points. Also, the building earned points for the amount of natural light in primary spaces, which reduces energy load and improves the living environment for residents, Hume said.\nThe mechanical systems are efficient and the exterior walls of the building have almost twice the amount of insulation of a typical residence hall. It is designed to save up to 15 percent of normal utility costs.\nSome other renovations have been done to move in a direction with eco-friendly aspects. \nOne of the renovations is a scald-guard valve to control the pressure in the showers to remove the inconvenience of the scalding hot water when someone flushes the toilet. Also, the change to green-tip fluorescent lamps reduces the mercury in landfills. \nOther housing initiatives include the discontinuance of alkaline powered smoke detectors, recycled nickel-cadmium rechargeable batteries, conversion to a forty-year warranty shingle with a 110 mph wind-rating in Holcombe and incorporating an integrated pest-control management system. \nThe cost difference was minimal, Hume said. \nOne possible reason many college and university officials retract from “building green” is because of the cost. \nBut other officials said the upfront cost is worth the gain later.\nA standard building would need repairs in 15 years, whereas a “green” building is expected to last twice as long, according to an article about Rubloff Hall at Saint Xavier University. \nThe building also saves energy costs in the long run, according to the article. A traditional building would cost $90,000 per year for energy, but annual costs at Rubloff Hall will cost less than $60,000. \nAt Tufts University in Somerville, Mass., a 62,000-square-foot green building is expected to use 30 percent less energy and 30 percent less water, according to the school’s Web site. \n“The cost might be higher, but over time, costs will be less,” Hume said.
(03/08/07 5:00am)
With about 480,000 living alumni, IU boasts one of the largest group of graduates in the world. In April, a new man will take the top position among them.\nBloomington native and 1971 IU alumnus Tom Martz will begin duties April 1 as the new president and CEO of the IU Alumni Association. Martz grew up in Bloomington and is returning after a series of positions at other universities, most recently as vice president for advancement at the University of Alabama. \n“I am truly honored to be chosen for this position,” Martz said in a University news release. “It has long been a dream of mine to return home to Indiana and once again be part of Indiana University.”\nIU President Adam Herbert announced Wednesday that Martz would take over for Ken Beckley, who retired in January after five years leading the association. A 13-person search team made the recommendation to Herbert.
(03/07/07 5:00am)
‘What does it mean to be a Latina?’
(03/06/07 5:00am)
Two buildings were discovered vandalized on campus Sunday evening, according to IU Police Department reports. \nOfficer Garth VanLeeuwen was dispatched at 6:14 p.m. to the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts building, 1201 E. Seventh St. He observed broken glass outside the main office door near the roundabout, said Sgt. Craig Munroe, reading from a police report. VanLeeuwen said it looked like someone had kicked the door from the inside.\nIn another incident, two stone trash cans were destroyed in the courtyard between the undergraduate side of the Kelley School of Business and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, the report said.\nPolice have not received any leads.
(03/01/07 5:00am)
Using the controversial figure Terry Schiavo as a central theme, Rebecca Dresser, a professor of law and ethics in medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, will discuss ideas and myths about death tonight.\nDresser’s speech, “Terry Schiavo and Contemporary Myths about Dying,” will be at 4 p.m. today in Rawles Hall 100. \nDresser will focus on what we know about death versus what we believe about death. She will also discuss how concepts of death have changed in America and how those changes affect medical ethics. \nAmid a flurry of controversy, Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed in 2005 after a lengthy legal battle between her husband and parents.\nAccording to a piece Dresser wrote for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2003, she thinks the Schiavo case should encourage Americans to discuss “difficult questions” about life-sustaining treatment and force legislators to consider revising the law. \nDresser is a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics. The topics she teaches include legal and ethical issues in end-of-life care.\nThe speech is part of a series for the Matthew Vandivier Sims Memorial Lectures program, which commemorates Vandivier, who died as an infant. It is presented in conjunction with the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions.\nThis series intends to provoke thoughtful discussion about difficult decisions that must be made in medical care, according to the Hutton Honors College Web site.
(02/27/07 5:00am)
HANOVER, N.H. – Colleges and universities brought in a record $28 billion through charitable donations in 2006 – a 9.4 percent increase from 2005. Alumni giving, which accounts for about a third of such donations, grew by over 18 percent compared to last year, according to statistics released last week by the Council for Aid to Education.\nStanford University led the pack with $911 million in donations, collecting the most ever by a single university, while Dartmouth College, which saw a 51 percent increase in donations from last year, raked in $160.3 million.\nFive of the top 10 fundraisers were Ivy League schools. Dartmouth ranked seventh in the Ivy League, directly behind Princeton University and ahead of Brown University.\n“We have a very loyal and generous alumni body – most people who go to Dartmouth have a terrific experience, so they want to give back,” said vice president for development Carolyn Pelzel, who attributed the disparity in total donations between Dartmouth and its peers to the smaller number of alumni.\nGiven that the largest gift from a single donor was $5.9 million, the vast majority of money raised for the college came from a large number of donors. Pelzel said the average alumni gift was $2,629.\nIn contrast, among the schools higher up on the list, most of the money comes from a small number of large gifts. Stanford credited approximately 40 percent of its total fundraising to 10 donations, including a $100 million gift from alumnus and real estate developer John Arrillaga.\nAbout 60 percent of the college’s donations are from alumni, a figure that’s twice the national average of 30 percent.\n“When you look at giving per alumnus, Dartmouth is typically in the top four,” Pelzel said. \nAccording to Pelzel, the college’s newest academic and residential buildings create a visible testimony that helps garner financial support from alumni and parents of current students.\n“It’s a source of pride for people,” Pelkel said. “It really helps to build confidence in our constituency.”\nCAE survey director Ann \nKaplan said that colleges “are making a good case for support.”\n“The level at which they can receive contributions will have something to do with the economy, but they have to be out there asking for it,” Kaplan said.\nStanford’s total for 2006 was boosted by two separate official campaigns for donations during the year. With 300 full-time employees asking for donations, the campaigns helped to create a total that is approximately 50 percent higher than the previous year.\nLike Stanford, Dartmouth also experienced an increase due to campaigning, Pelzel said. As of February 2007, the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience has collected $809.6 million of its $1.3 billion goal. The campaign ends in December 2009.
(02/23/07 5:00am)
LOS ANGELES – The same Web site students visit to watch “The Evolution of Dance” and popular “Saturday Night Live” sketches just cashed out for the University of Southern California. \nThe university will receive $14.6 million for the 30,901 shares it held in YouTube, said USC treasurer Ruth Wernig, who confirmed the university owned those shares. \n“We had an investment in Sequoia (Capital), which invested in YouTube,” Wernig said. \nShe added the university has not yet received the money from the shares. \nSequoia Capital manages a venture capital fund that had invested in YouTube, according to The Associated Press. \nUSC invests in about 80 venture capital funds. The money to invest in these and other ventures comes from the university’s endowment, Wernig said. \nIt was not uncommon for universities to invest endowment money, said Lee Swartz, associate professor in the Marshall School of Business. \n“Most private universities have substantial amounts of investment to sustain themselves,” he said. “They are continually trying to invest more money.” \nWithout investments, the value of the endowment would decrease because of inflation rates. It would also be possible, however, for investments to fail and not have any returns. \nBut Swartz said universities are also careful about their investments. \n“Private universities have done a good job in the last decade to control risk,” he said. “They directly invest in things that go across a lot of different investment styles to diversify.” \nSwartz named mutual funds, hedge funds, direct investment and venture capital investments as some of the investment options open to universities in order to diversify their portfolios. \nWernig said that USC did diversify its investments to minimize risk. USC invested in venture capital funds and in fixed income investments, which are generally bonds that have a fixed interest rate. \nFixed income investments have a lower risk rate but a lower return rate compared to venture capital investments. \nWernig said the university invests both domestically and internationally. Because of confidentiality reasons, Wernig could not comment further on USC investment ventures, including the recent YouTube investments. \nIncreasing investment is essential to increasing the endowment of a university. \nFive percent of the endowment is spent every year, and the board of trustees votes on the percentage of the payout, Wernig said.
(02/12/07 4:15am)
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Harvard University on Sunday named historian Drew Gilpin Faust as its first female president, ending a lengthy and secretive search to find a successor to Lawrence Summers, after his tumultuous five-year tenure.\nThe seven-member Harvard Corporation elected Faust, a noted scholar of the American South and dean of Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, as the university's 28th president. The board of overseers recommended her for the post.\nFaust, 59, recognized the significance of her appointment.\n"I hope my appointment can be one symbol of an opportunity that would have been inconceivable even a generation ago," she said at a news conference. But, she added, "I'm not the woman president of Harvard, I'm the president of Harvard."\nWith Faust's appointment, half of the eight Ivy League schools will have a woman as president. Her selection is noteworthy given the uproar over Summers' comments that genetic differences between the sexes might help explain the dearth of women in top science jobs, comments which sparked debates about equality at Harvard and nationwide.\nFaust oversaw the creation of two faculty task forces, formed in the aftermath of Summers' remarks, to examine gender diversity at Harvard. She has been dean of Radcliffe since 2001, two years after the former women's college was merged into the university as a research center with a mission to study gender issues.\n"This is a great day, and a historic day, for Harvard," said James R. Houghton, chairman of the presidential search committee.\nSome professors have quietly groused that -- despite the growing centrality of scientific research to Harvard's budget -- the 371-year-old university is appointing a fifth consecutive president who is not a scientist. No scientist has had the top job since James Bryant Conant retired in 1953; its last four have come the fields of classics, law, literature and economics.\n"Faculty turned to her constantly as someone whose opinion is to be trusted," said Sheldon Hackney, a former president of The University of Pennsylvania and southern historian who worked closely with Faust. "She's very clear, well-organized. She has a sense of humor, but she's very even-keeled. You come to trust in her because she's so solid."\n-- AP Education Writer Justin Pope contributed to this report.
(02/12/07 4:13am)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- There's only one public place in his residence hall where Ken Miguel doesn't wear a surgical mask -- the cafeteria.\n"It's kind of hard to eat with this thing on," the University of Michigan freshman said recently from behind the blue mask. "It's kind of hard to do a lot of things with this on."\nBut every day, Miguel, 18, wears the mask while he studies, does laundry and sprints to class. It's gets a little uncomfortable, but it's for a good cause, he said.\nMiguel and hundreds of other students on the Michigan campus are part of a research study that could change the way the world looks at influenza.\nResearchers are trying to determine whether wearing surgical masks and using hand sanitizer can prevent the spread of flu or other respiratory illnesses.\nFlu hit the university late last month, and students in the study have since been divided into three groups: those who only wear masks, those who wear masks and use hand sanitizer, and those who do neither.\nThey'll fill out surveys every week, answering questions about their physical health and how often they wear the mask, which is optional outside the residence halls. The students will wear the masks until the flu outbreak has died down, but no longer than six weeks, the researchers said.\nFunded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the research is the first of its kind, said Dr. Allison Aiello, a Michigan epidemiology professor who designed the study with principal investigator Dr. Arnold Monto.\nScientists say the world is long overdue for a deadly flu epidemic, one that could emerge if the bird flu in Asia mutates to spread easily among people. A pandemic could kill millions of people. Right now there's not enough research to determine whether wearing masks and washing hands would be effective during such an event, Aiello said.\nU.S. health officials have made no recommendation about wearing face masks. The government is stockpiling a vaccine officials hope would be effective against a pandemic flu strain, but there isn't enough. Cotton masks and hand sanitizer could be a first line of defense.\n"We know the clock is ticking. We just don't know when the alarm will go off," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University. "We already know there's going to be regular influenza annually, and even that's enough to grab our attention."\nThe results of the Michigan study "will be widely discussed, no matter the outcome," he said.\nSchaffner says the study has important "real life" circumstances at its base. College dormitories, where students eat, sleep and study together, are the perfect breeding ground for airborne illnesses, he said.\nIn Alice Lloyd Hall, one of the dorms chosen for the study, masked students can be seen behind the front desk, hurrying down hallways and studying. About 1,200 students on campus were signed up as of last Wednesday, and more are recruited every day.\nFor participating, they can receive $100, an incentive for many college students.\nSeveral students acknowledged they're only doing it for the money. Miguel said he'll save the cash for a trip to Peru this summer, while Alicja Sobilo, 18, said she's going shopping.\nSome worry that the students aren't taking the science seriously.\n"The importance of this research isn't a message that seems to be getting to all of them," said Allison Sponseller, 22, a resident adviser and study recruiter. "My biggest concern is in a week they will all forget about it and stop wearing the masks."\nBut Schaffner says that's one of the study's advantages.\n"That actually will add to the real life aspect of it," he said. "Those of us involved in real life public health know that we can never achieve perfection -- it's what we can do in a semi-controlled environment."\nAiello said the researchers are also hoping to get information on how students feel about the masks -- whether wearing them is "socially acceptable."\nSo far, it doesn't look good for the masks. Students say they're "goofy-looking," inconvenient or just plain annoying.\n"I wouldn't wear it outside the hall," said Jeff Van Laere, 20. "But I feel obligated to wear it in here. We know how important it is when we sign up for it and we honor that. I'm getting paid for this commitment"
(02/12/07 4:12am)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Barack Obama was the center of attention as former Syracuse University professor Ronald Walters gave a lecture about the junior senator from Illinois' run for the presidency Wednesday night in the Maxwell Auditorium. \nWalters tied in black political history with Obama's potential candidacy. \n"It puts black politics in the twilight zone," Walters said of Obama's run. \nWalters, a distinguished scholar, is a former professor at SU. He has written more than a hundred articles and is the author of eight books. \nWalters spoke about how he thinks the candidate's stance on the war in Iraq will choose who the next president is, not his race. \n"Forget about race," he said. "If he's going, he's going on a deep emotional issue like this (war), like it has done historically. Iraq is the concept of our times." \nWalters continued the lecture speaking about the hype around the presidential election. He said Obama and fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton, will be battling out the race well into 2008, even among minority voters. \n"I think the 2008 election is going to be difficult to know who is going to office," Walters said. "It's like the black community is split between Obama and the Clintons; it's like some of us have an allegiance to Bill Clinton, our first black president."\nWalters said some Americans may go to the poll ready to vote for Obama, get inside the booth and suffer a change of heart. \nAs of now, Walters said Hillary Clinton leads in a presidential election poll, with 41 percent of potential votes. Obama is in second place with 17 percent. \nWalters stated there is too much hype and entertainment involved in his election, and Obama needs to separate from that. \n"Race is going to be raised in this campaign whether he wants it to or not," he said. "Everything is still about race. Think of the Super Bowl with the two black coaches. They wanted to play the game, and everyone kept talking about their race." \nNo matter what the outcome, Walters said Obama's candidacy can still mark an important time in history. The way people react to his decision to run or not will be remembered for some time. \n"We're undergoing a very interesting period in American history with Barack Obama - Obama Mania," Walters said.
(02/12/07 4:10am)
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Two Southern Illinois University-Carbondale professors and the faculty union filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Illinois' inspector general, demanding the state drop possible discipline over an ethics exam that 159 university employees failed in the fall. \nThe suit -- filed against Inspector General James Wright and the Executive Ethics Commission -- claims the state acted illegally by threatening to discipline faculty members who failed the online test.\nState officials claimed those who failed took the test too quickly, while the lawsuit states the minimum time requirement was not listed in the Ethics Act.\nThe Illinois Office of the Executive Inspector General in November found 65 Southern Illinois faculty members in violation of a minimum time limit set on a statewide ethics test every state employee had to complete. A form was given to all failed test takers to sign, which would mark them as noncompliant. \nSigning the form could have brought discipline, including firing.\n"We're contending that the state violated its own ethics law by doing what they did to me," Faculty Association President Marvin Zeman said. "If you violate the ethics law, then you are unethical." \nWhile most employees who failed signed the form, Zeman did not. \nRalph Loewenstein of the Hagen and Smith, P.C. law firm is representing Zeman, mathematics professor Walter Wallis and the faculty union. Loewenstein said he found the inspector general's office in violation of the Ethics Act, and said Zeman has a strong case. \n"It's our position that the ethics commission and the executive inspector general lack the authority to establish a minimum time in which to complete the ethics training," he said. \nInspector General spokesman Gilbert Jimenez said he had no comment because he had not talked with Zeman's attorneys or seen the lawsuit, which was filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court in Springfield, Ill. \nThe ethics exam, required for all state employees under the 2003 Ethics Act, included about 80 Web pages of information and 10 questions based on the information. Some questions asked test takers if they should look away or tell a supervisor if they see a co-worker abusing office resources. Zeman said the inspector general's office also violated a collective bargaining agreement with Southern Illionis because it threatened discipline -- including termination of employment -- for employees who didn't sign the form. Zeman said the university is in charge of punishment, not the state.\nSIUC spokesman Rod Sievers said the university supports the rights of individual's to "seek redress" for wrongs suffered. \n"Anybody can file a suit if they feel they've been wronged," he said. "The university recognizes there were perhaps some problems with the test."\nSievers said the university recognizes there were problems with the time requirement on the ethics exam. He said administrators would have to see what comes of the lawsuit before deciding what action to take.\nZeman said the lawsuit seeks to get the state to drop all possible disciplinary actions, admit it violated the Ethics Act and pay for attorney fees. \n"All we are asking is that they stop doing what they are doing," he said.
(02/06/07 4:37am)
Mid-career professionals from the United Arab Emirates and surrounding countries can also benefit from an IU education.\nThe School of Public and Environmental Affairs helped to develop the Executive Masters in Public Administration, offered through Zayed University in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.\n"The first of its kind" in the United Arab Emirates, according to SPEA. The program had about 24 government administrators present at its first class, which took place Jan. 27. The joint program has been a yearlong process.\nZayed University approached SPEA in September 2005 asking for help in developing and teaching the Executive Masters in Public Administration, said Craig Hartzer, clinical professor and director of the Executive Education Program for SPEA at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis. \n"They approached SPEA because of its reputation and national ranking as one of the best schools in the nation," Hartzer said.\nHe also said that the memorandum of understanding between the universities was signed in October 2006.\nHartzer said SPEA has existing relationships with universities around the world. He highlighted reasons why IU established the latest program with Zayed.\n"IU agreed to work with Zayed to help modernize public administration around the world in the Gulf region. This helps IU-SPEA to continue its mission," Hartzer said. \nThe purpose of the course is for "existing public officials in the area to get a graduate degree to prepare them to reach their goals," IU Media Relations spokeswoman Elisabeth Andrews said. "There is a new style of government emerging, and this gives them more options." \nSPEA professors will travel to Abu Dhabi to teach weeklong seminars, which will provide professional training.\nSPEA professor Matt Auer will be heading there this spring, according to an IU news release.\n"The course compares how public administration works there versus here and other countries," Auer said. "There are not very many countries with professional degree programs."\nSome of the government systems that will be studied include health care, waste management and governmental affairs, Auer said.\n"At the end of the day, students can take away what they want from the program," Auer said. "This is not a formula to impose the Western style, but to demonstrate how public administration works."\nAuer said that training government officials from the bottom up can make all the difference in the world.\n"The United Arab Emirates is changing very fast," he said. "This is a constructive way to promote knowledge, friendship and state-of-the-art training for the future"
(02/06/07 4:33am)
--From IDS reports\nThe IU Police Department was called to Denny's restaurant, 2160 N. Walnut St. Saturday after a Bloomington shuttle bus driver reported being assaulted.\nThe driver told the IUPD that he was assaulted inside the bus while it was at the intersection of Third Street and Jordan Avenue, according to an IUPD report.\nThe driver reported that the assailant was screaming and yelling on the bus, despite being asked to stop by the driver, the report said. At the intersection of Third Street and Jordan Avenue, he turned around to tell the assaulter to leave the bus shortly before the assailant struck him in the head with a closed fist, the driver told the IUPD.\nThe assailant was described as a white male, 5 feet 9 inches tall, medium build, with short, blond hair. He was wearing a white button-down shirt and dark-colored pants, according to the report. The male fled the scene on foot.
(02/05/07 3:02am)
IU Student Association candidate applications will be accepted until 4 p.m. Wednesday.\nThe original deadline was last Friday, but IUSA Vice President Andrew Lauck said the association granted the extension after a student complained about receiving the wrong application and deadline information.\n"Better to be safe than sorry," Lauck said. "We have plenty of time before the all-candidates meeting."\nThe application deadline is the only thing that has been changed in the election process, he said.\nThe all-candidates meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Maple Room of the Indiana Memorial Union.\nStudents interested in running for an IUSA executive or congress position can get applications from the IUSA office, IMU 387, or at www.indiana.edu/~iusa.