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Reports of a sudden and huge outbreak of H1N1 swine flu at Washington State University is reported by the college. According to health care personnel at the college, “it’s real”. H1N1 flu is believed to have affected 2000 students at Washington State University. According to the CDC, H1N1 flu is not as severe as regular flu, but uncertainties remain about the potential for complications. H1N1 flu symptoms include fever, generalized aches and pains, fatigue, and respiratory symptoms including sore throat that can become severe in younger individuals, as seen historically. The new outbreak at Washington State University is believed to...

SOUTH BEND, Indiana, September 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The president of a pro-life public interest law firm has issued an open letter to University of Notre Dame president Rev. John Jenkins, insisting that the school seek to drop the charges against 88 pro-lifers who await sentencing of up to one year in jail and a $5,000 fine for protesting the school's honoring pro-abortion President Obama last May. "[Notre Dame] should honor all who dare to speak out for the dignity of all human beings - born or unborn, wanted or unwanted, humble or exalted - not prosecute them!" wrote Thomas...

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009 Students Borrow More Than Ever for College Heavy Debt Loads Mean Many Young People Can't Live Life They Expected By ANNE MARIE CHAKER Students are borrowing dramatically more to pay for college, accelerating a trend that has wide-ranging implications for a generation of young people. New numbers from the U.S. Education Department show that federal student-loan disbursements—the total amount borrowed by students and received by schools—in the 2008-09 academic year grew about 25% over the previous year, to $75.1 billion. The amount of money students borrow has long been on the rise. But last year far surpassed...

When parents plunk down $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 and maybe $50,000 this fall for a year's worth of college room, board and tuition, it might be relevant to ask: What will their children learn in return? The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) ask that question in their recently released publication, "What Will They Learn: A Report on the General Education Requirements at 100 of the Nation's Leading Colleges and Universities." ACTA conducted research to see whether 100 major institutions require seven key subjects: English composition, literature, foreign language, U.S. government or history, economics, mathematics and science. What ACTA found...

Now, schools like Boston College, DePaul University and Tufts University also want to measure prospective students' personalities. Using recently developed evaluation systems, these schools and others are aiming to quantify so-called noncognitive traits such as leadership, resilience and creativity. Colleges say such assessments are boosting the admissions chances for some students who might not have qualified based solely on grades and traditional test scores. The noncognitive assessments also are being used to screen out students believed to be at a higher risk of dropping out, and to identify newly admitted students who might need extra tutoring. Big nonprofits that administer...

Poor, poor Harvard. The prestigious institution has once again found itself in the embarrassing position of defending a push for campus censorship. This round’s sad irony: student leaders are now the ones trying to throw the First Amendment out the school bus window. The Harvard Law Review, a student-edited publication claiming President Barack Obama and four current U.S. Supreme Court justices as alumni, recently endorsed a major screw up on its own pages after it ran an eight-page factually-void analysis of the nation’s latest First Amendment case law. The piece, authored and edited by unnamed students (consistent with the journal’s...

Colleges are generally known as safe, distinguished spaces for young people to explore their interests, prepare for a fulfilling career, and experience invaluable growth in their social, intellectual, spiritual, personal and professional lives. Sometimes, though, even the most reputable colleges are vulnerable to unethical, unfair practices that compromise the safety of students and integrity of the school’s reputation. Here, we’ll take a look at the top 10 college scandals of all time.

When parents plunk down $20, $30, $40 and maybe $50 thousand this fall for a year's worth of college room, board and tuition, it might be relevant to ask: What will their children learn in return? The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) ask that question in their recently released publication, "What Will They Learn: A Report on the General Education Requirements at 100 of the Nation's Leading Colleges and Universities." ACTA conducted research to see whether 100 major institutions require seven key subjects: English composition, literature, foreign language, U.S. government or history, economics, mathematics and science. What ACTA...

In the spring of 2008, I sat at my high-school graduation ceremony, wearing my navy-blue robes, with every stole and honorary pin achievable, looking every bit like the overachiever that I am. My enthusiasm surely made me look like a typical graduate. But my future appeared very different from that of my classmates. I am an undocumented person. Six months after I was born, my family emigrated from Mexico to Los Angeles illegally—with little more than one suitcase but great hopes for the future. My parents wanted to give their two daughters opportunities that weren't available back home.

During an economic slowdown, prices usually fall. But there’s just one sector of the economy that’s bizarrely insulated from reality: Academia. Tuition, room and board at Sarah Lawrence College just hit $53,166 per year. That’s like buying a C-Class Mercedes every year — without the car. Other colleges are comparable, with even state school tuition rising to levels some parents find impossible. We figure it’s worth it. Universities offer students not just a degree that’s valued in the marketplace, but a chance to broaden their interests and deepen their souls; to gain a solid grounding in the fundamentals that made...

TO: UNC-Wilmington Students FR: Mike Adams Welcome back! I am so glad to start another semester here at UNC by the Sea. I just got back from teaching at Summit Ministries in Manitou Springs, Colorado. I also had some time off last week, which I spent considering some new policies for the new semester. There will be several minor as well as two major changes this semester. The purpose of this email is to explain the first of the two major changes in class policy. On my day off last week, I pulled up a chair on the front porch...

A new educational benefit for veterans kicked in at the beginning of this month, marking the first time since 1984’s revamping of the Montgomery GI Bill that Congress has acted to improve education opportunities for servicemen and women after separation. This new program, known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill, is exclusively available to military veterans (and the dependents of veterans) who served on or after September 11, 2001. Sponsored in the Senate last year by former Navy Secretary and current Virginia Democrat Jim Webb, the “Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act” (S.22) rewrote and rebuilt the entire veterans’ educational benefit structure....

Bill Clinton: Make college campuses greener August 13, 2009 7:51 PM | No Comments Former President Bill Clinton spoke about the environment today in Chicago, offering his reputation, his folksy wit and his foundation's Rolodex to university and college presidents seeking green technologies to retrofit their campuses. Former President Bill Clinton speaks at the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment Summit at the Palmer House Hilton today (Tribune / Abel Uribe) Clinton spoke to the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment, some 250 university presidents and top managers looking to green up their campuses, train students for a...

It used to be that the worst grade you could receive in school was an F, and that was bad enough. But B.C.'s Simon Fraser University is taking punishment to a whole new level, introducing a grade of FD -- meaning failure with dishonesty -- the worst possible grade a student can receive. Dr. Rob Gordon, director of criminology at SFU and acting chair of the senate committee on academic integrity, says the new grading is intended to curtail cheating using the internet. "What used to be a lot of cheating in libraries has changed quite significantly," he told ctvbc.ca....

Photo Credit: courtesy. The cover of Forbe's Aug. 24 issue features West Point cadets and names the academy as the nation's best college. WEST POINT, N.Y. (Army News Service, Aug. 7, 200) - A report released Wednesday by Forbes magazine ranked the U.S. Military Academy as the top college in the country in their America's Best College review. "Marked by an intense work ethic and drive to succeed on all fronts, the West Point undergraduate experience also allows graduates to leave without a penny of tuition loans to repay," Forbes stated in its release. In the Forbes rating, West...

They passed their TAKS exit exams and collected their high school diplomas – yet a troubling number of Texas students struggle their first year in college. At some North Texas high schools, half or more of graduates who go to college earn less than a C average their first year, based on a Dallas Morning News analysis of state data. < snip > ...Some changes ahead: The state will replace TAKS tests with more rigorous end-of-course exams starting with freshmen in 2011-12. Students also now need four years of math and science to graduate, which means they can't blow off...

Poor students to be given two grade 'head start' when applying for university places DANIEL MARTIN 09th August 2009 Unfair: Middle class students are losing out as they are not given priority Children from poorer backgrounds applying to university could be given a two-grade 'head start' under plans being examined by Lord Mandelson. Told by ministers to widen access, some colleges and medical schools are already lowering entry requirements for working-class applicants by as much as two A-level grades, it emerged yesterday. This means school leavers from middle-class households are being turned down for places despite doing better in exams...

If you’re serious about pursuing an extended education in science, you may want to set your sights on one of the U.S. campuses that have been identified as having the best science graduate programs. In April, US News&World Report released the results of their 3-year study that ranked the best science schools in the nation. Rankings were based on the results of surveys sent to academics in computer science, mathematics, and physics during the fall of 2007, in biological sciences and chemistry during fall 2006, and in other fields during fall 2005. The individuals rated the quality of the program...

Over the past five years, taxpayers have paid about $8 million to 117 administrators who either returned to the faculty or left the university. In 24 cases, the payouts were for $100,000 or more. A News & Observer review found that these agreements, along with other transitional payments, offered sizable sums of money with few or no strings attached, in at least three cases violated UNC system policies and in some cases rewarded administrators with as much as a year's salary for a job poorly done.

...Forbes Magazine — in its “second annual” college rankings issue — has just awarded its top spot to an institution that doesn’t tend to win such beauty contests: the United States Military Academy at West Point. As Forbes sees things, West Point tops Princeton (No. 2), the California Institute of Technology (No. 3), Williams College (No. 4) and Harvard (No. 5.)

College senior Raymond Vetter gets up at dawn to fit in a run or a workout. Then, hair shorn neatly and pants pressed, he marches into breakfast, where he sits in an assigned seat. After six hours of instruction in such subjects as Japanese literature and systems engineering, two hours of intramural sports and another family-style meal with underclassmen, Vetter rushes to return to his room by the 11:30 p.m. curfew. Most college students, we think, do not march to meals. A goodly number of them drink into the wee hours, duck morning classes and fail to hit the gym...

The best public and private colleges and universities--from the student's point of view. The best college in America has an 11:30 p.m. curfew. It doesn't allow alcohol in the dorms, which must be kept meticulously clean. Students have to keep their hair neat, their shoes shined, their clothes crisply pressed. They also receive a world-class education, at no cost, and incur no debt--except for a duty to their country. The college is the U.S. Military Academy, or West Point, and it tops our second-annual ranking of America's Best Colleges, compiled by Forbes and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity....

Burt Folsom takse a look at the future of the economy, as some say it is showing signs of improvement. He also discusses his book, “New Deal or Raw Deal: How FDR’s Economic Legacy has Damaged America,” and his speech today at the Young America Foundation’s conference.

Cute, and gratifying that they got along well enough that he can be light-hearted about what happened, but this reminds me of what his daughter said about Crowley’s daughter’s “heavy and charmingly untrained amount of green eyeliner.”

And now, unbeknownst to many, as we deal with banking and housing issues. . . are three more bubbles that'll pop. . . and soon. #1: Higher education will be next So say Joseph Marr Cronin, secretary of education in Massachusetts, and Howard E. Horton, president of Boston's New England College of Business and Finance. And we agree. The next bubble to burst will be higher education. No doubt about it. You see, higher education is big money for institutions and lenders alike. . . and they're in big trouble. What most people who are not directly involved with higher...

She has given new meaning to a class-action lawsuit. Trina Thompson gave it the old college try, but couldn't find work. Now she thinks her sheepskin wasn't worth her time, and is suing her alma mater for her money back. The Monroe College grad wants the $70,000 she spent on tuition because she hasn't found gainful employment since earning her bachelor's degree in April, according to a suit filed in Bronx Supreme Court on July 24.

She went to college to boost her chances of finding a great job once she got out of school, but now that that hasn't happened, Trina Thompson wants her money back. Thompson, a graduate of Monroe College, is suing her school for the $70,000 she spent on tuition because she hasn't found solid employment since receiving her bachelor's degree in April, according to a published report. The business-oriented school in the Bronx didn't do enough to help her find a job, Thompson alleges, so she wants a refund. The college says it does plenty for grads. The 27-year-old information-technology student...

She has given new meaning to a class-action lawsuit. Trina Thompson gave it the old college try, but couldn't find work. Now she thinks her sheepskin wasn't worth her time, and is suing her alma mater for her money back. The Monroe College grad wants the $70,000 she spent on tuition because she hasn't found gainful employment since earning her bachelor's degree in April, according to a suit filed in Bronx Supreme Court on July 24. The 27-year-old alleges the business-oriented Bronx school hasn't lived up to its end of the bargain, and has not done enough to find her...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—College students who major in the social sciences and humanities are likely to become less religious, while those majoring in education are likely to become more religious. But students majoring in biology and physical sciences remain just about as religious as they were when they started college. Those are among key findings of a University of Michigan study on the connection between college attendance, college major and religiosity released this week (July 27) by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The study, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, is based on long-term data from the Monitoring the Future...

In urging professors at Southern Methodist University to “teach naked,” José A. Bowen is not suggesting they doff their pants. Instead, SMU’s dean of the Meadow School of the Arts is asking teachers to shed classroom computers, tedious PowerPoints and long-winded lectures. Nor should his decision to strip computers from SMU classrooms be considered evidence of a lunatic anti-technology bias. A jazz musician by training, Bowen is a longtime champion of smart technology on campus, penning a compelling article on the topic for the National Teaching & Learning Forum (www.ntlf.com/html/ti/naked.htm). Last week, Bowen revisited the theme in an interview with...

The president of America's oldest black sorority is being sued over claims she misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars, including spending £550,000 on a wax statue of herself. In a lawsuit filed in Washington, members of Alpha Kappa Alpha allege that Barbara McKinzie, their international president, bought designer clothing, jewellery and lingerie with the sorority American Express card. She then redeemed points the purchases earned on the card to buy a big-screen television and gym equipment, the lawsuit said. The wax statue – along with another of AKA's first international president – was commissioned for the National Great Blacks in...

Stanford University’s Teacher Education Program (STEP) has finally let dissenting student-blogger Michele Kerr graduate. When Stanford tried to revoke Kerr’s admission after she voiced disagreement with “progressive” views held by STEP administrators, Kerr turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help. Kerr sought FIRE’s aid a second time after Stanford School of Education administrators demanded the password to her private blog and threatened to expel her for her opinions and teaching philosophy. The shameful story of Kerr’s travails is featured online in The Washington Post today by education columnist Jay Mathews. “From before even her first...

WASHINGTON -- The University of Chicago released a statement Thursday saying Sen. Barack Obama "served as a professor" in the law school -- but that is a title Obama, who taught courses there part-time, never held, a spokesman for the school confirmed on Friday. "He did not hold the title of professor of law," said Marsha Ferziger Nagorsky, an assistant dean for communications and lecturer in law at the school. The U. of C. statement was posted on the school's Web site two days after the Clinton campaign issued a memo headlined: "Just Embellished Words: Senator Obama's Record of Exaggerations...

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania — Penn State University is now the No. 1 U.S. party school. The school known partly for its football tailgate weekends and fraternity and sorority scene snatched the title away from the University of Florida in the 2009 Princeton Review survey of 122,000 students nationwide. Florida, last year's winner, finished second in the annual survey released Monday. It's the first time Penn State has finished first in the dubious category. The school has been on the list the last seven years and ranked third in 2008. The listing covers Penn State's main University Park campus in State...

College is viewed by many people these days as a diploma factory. You show up go to certain classes in a certain order, and eventually receive a diploma. There’s not a lot of love for learning for learning’s sake anymore. But that hasn’t stopped many colleges from offering plenty of quirky unique classes that go over non standard educational topics. A lot of the odd courses we found sound like lots of fun, but with tuition costs skyrocketing is it really worth it to spend thousands of dollars on fun diversions? Read on and decide.

Students at these schools don’t venture far off the path that leads to the right. Religion plays a big role in the campus activities, generally, as do morals and character profiles that would make any parent proud. The Princeton Review's survey of 122,000 college students for the 2010 edition of the "Best 371 Colleges" book revealed the top 10 colleges that have conservative campus cultures, especially regarding political persuasion, the use of drugs and alcohol and the level of acceptance of the gay community on campus.

Note to the reader: Dr. Henry Louis Gates has reach and influence in the academy, and that reach can–and has–severely damage careers. A pseudonym, in this case, is essential. Notes from a Phantom Negro. The Ivy League is not real life. College in general is not real life, and the Ivy League is a more fantastic version of college. The amenities are better, the rules are flexible and everyone, student and faculty alike, is well aware that the realities of life as most people know it are merely a peculiar footnote to the day to day of campus life. I...

“Nearly All My Professors Are Democrats. Isn’t That a Problem?” is the title of a wonderful opinion piece at the Christian Science Monitor by University of Oregon journalism student Dan Lawton. Lawton’s investigation into the liberally funded diversity program at the University of Oregon yielded some interesting results: “The University of Oregon (UO), where I study journalism, invested millions annually in a diversity program that explicitly included "political affiliation" as a component. Yet, out of the 111 registered Oregon voters in the departments of journalism, law, political science, economics, and sociology, there were only two registered Republicans.” When Lawton published...

Iraq Plans to Send 10,000 Students to Colleges in U.S., Abroad July 25, 2009 WASHINGTON — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says his country plans to send up to 10,000 Iraqi students a year to colleges in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia over the next five years as a part of a new scholarship program. Al-Maliki says stability in Iraq has allowed the country to focus on education after years of war. He says there's great ambition behind the new program "because our needs are great." The Iraqi government is funding the scholarship program. It will allow students...

JERUSALEM – The lawyer representing Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Harvard professor at the center of a national race controversy, was a mentor of both Barack and Michelle Obama and served on the president's black advisory council. Charles Ogletree Jr., himself a Harvard University professor, is closely linked to the Black Panthers and to radical black ideology. He is a key member of the reparations movement and once pursued the possibility of bringing a class action lawsuit to win reparations for descendants of African slaves. "I met Barack when he arrived at Harvard Law School in fall of 1988. He...

More goodies in the Obamacare Bill. Money for Community Health Organizations includes billions for ACORN. Federal money to med schools will be based upon their proving they are "properly diverse in admissions" and in sending doctors to the proper inner-city communities. (Goodie! More affirmative action doctors!) Will create a new organization to track healthcare to find "racial discrimination" in medical treatment outcome -- to be passed to DOJ for prosecution. Beck also mentioned something about reparations, but at that point I went deaf with horror.

SHE'S tired of the 'bullying' and 'torrent of abuse' she has received for her views on homosexuality. She questions why her detractors have chosen to attack her personally and jeopardise her job, instead of focusing their attack on her views. And she asks if people can appreciate the cost she has paid for holding on to her convictions and principles. Dr Thio Li-ann expressed these views in an 18-point memo she sent to the dean of the New York University (NYU) law school and some faculty members, a copy of which has been posted on a US legal blog....

Guns are now legal for students on public university campuses in South Carolina. The signs say "guns prohibited" on the College of Charleston's campus, but according to bill 593 that's about to change. Lawmakers approved the bill last month. It says cars on public college campuses are now acceptable places for concealed weapons permit holders to store guns. But that makes some students feel uneasy. "Why makes guns more easily accessible after the violence we just saw at virginia tech and nationwide?" asked student Rachel Kutler. Kutler transferred to the College of Charleston after the Virginia Tech massacre. She doesn't...

At Harvard University, they have lowered thermostats during the winter months from 72 degrees to 68 degrees. Hot breakfasts are no longer served on weekdays at undergraduate residential houses. Instead of bacon, poached eggs, and waffles, students have to get by on cold ham, cottage cheese, cereal, and fruit. These are just some steps Harvard is taking to battle serious financial problems. Part of the blame belongs to President Obama's top economic adviser Larry Summers. In a story for Vanity Fair, Nina Munk details the crisis. Harvard College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Engineering...

Syndicated advice columnist Amy Dickinson sided with an un-named college today that told an incoming freshman he must room with a gay student despite his objections. Ms. Dickinson answered a letter of a mother of an 18-year old son: "I agree with your school's policy not to discriminate. You could help your son by assuming that he will have a successful roommate experience, but let him know what his options are if he doesn't. Sometimes students are held hostage by their roommates' nighttime schedule, alcohol use, or indiscriminate dating life. That's why the school permits students to switch roommates after...

BOSTON — Henry Louis Gates Jr., the nation's pre-eminent black scholar, is accusing Cambridge police of racism after he was arrested while trying to force open the locked front door of his home near Harvard University. Cambridge police were called to the home Thursday afternoon after a woman reported seeing a man "wedging his shoulder into the front door as to pry the door open," according to a police report. An officer ordered the man to identify himself, and Gates refused, according to the report. Gates began calling the officer a racist and said repeatedly, "This is what happens to...

(LifeSiteNews.com) - A US District Judge has blocked the Los Angeles Community College District from enforcing its sexual harassment policy, which the judge ruled had promoted a hostile environment for the free speech rights of a Christian student. U.S. District Judge George H. King agreed with Jonathan Lopez, a student attending Los Angeles City College (LACC), that the District's policy as written had created the environment that emboldened his speech professor to call Lopez a "fascist ba***rd" for explaining his Christian beliefs and how they related to his views against same-sex "marriage."

I can only guess what this knowledge transcript would look like -- something like a résumé or credit report, perhaps. I picture a scrawny tree drawn on a page, with the branches representing the fields of learning and the student tasked with extending them. Perhaps vocational certificates would be listed, too. Maybe, once the tree reached a prescribed fatness, we'd call the student a bachelor of arts. But employers could select whatever tree shapes suited them, and college would no longer be a degree-or-nothing affair. Learning would be available everywhere and at a moment's notice, and would be rewarded right...

The Jack Welch MBA by: Deborah Lambert, July 15, 2009 In the case of former GE CEO Jack Welch, you name a degree after him. The Wall Street Journal reported that Welch is “paying more than $2 million for a 12 percent stake in Chancellor University System LLC, which is converting a formerly bankrupt university into an online entity—and naming its Business Administration Program the “Jack Welch Institute.” This didn’t happen overnight. Welch, a former skeptic of online programs, had to be convinced that this one would be a high quality product, worthy of his name. The Chancellor project is...

When I began examining the political affiliation of faculty at the University of Oregon, the lone conservative professor I spoke with cautioned that I would "make a lot of people unhappy." Though I mostly brushed off his warning – assuming that academia would be interested in such discourse – I was careful to frame my research for a column for the school newspaper diplomatically. The University of Oregon (UO), where I study journalism, invested millions annually in a diversity program that explicitly included "political affiliation" as a component. Yet, out of the 111 registered Oregon voters in the departments of...