BreakDrink

Daily Dose of Higher Education for May 21st [Audio]

Welcome to the May 21st edition of the Daily Dose of Higher Education for BreakDrink.com.  I’m Shawn Brackett with today’s news in one minute or less.

Our first story tonight: the government of China has banned the discussion of seven subjects in classrooms.  Included in the ban are freedom of the press, mistakes of the Chinese Communist Party, and the wealth of top party leaders.  Not included in the ban are how institutions are supposed to enforce the ban. http://chronicle.com/article/China-Bans-7-Topics-in/139407/?key=Gm52dARjaXNEZyxmNjlCYDpTYXE6NExxMnJJYnomblFREg%3D%3D [story]

Next, a former player on Baylor’s basketball team has stated Coach Kim Mulkey pressured players to hide their sexuality.  Brittney Griner, a player on the team, said that the coach and other staff wanted players to keep sexuality private to not harm recruiting efforts. http://espn.go.com/wnba/story/_/id/9289080/brittney-griner-says-baylor-coach-kim-mulkey-told-players-keep-quiet-sexuality [story]

Next, a college reinstates an instructor after a student slaughtered a chicken in public for a course art project. The Alberta College of Art and Design has reversed its decision to fire Gord Ferguson, the chair of sculpture at the institution after public outcries over allegations the dismissal violated Ferugson’s academic freedom. http://www.calgaryherald.com/ACAD+reinstates+teacher+fired+after+chicken+slaughter/8390756/story.html [story]

Lastly tonight, a piece by the Denver Post on how the state of Colorado is struggling to retain high-profile faculty at public universities. The story notes how Colorado universities compensate faculty at 5% to 35% lower than peer institutions in other states. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_23286956/colorado-research-universities-struggle-stop-poaching-faculty [story]

Have a good night and a pleasant tomorrow.

{ 0 comments }

Click here to listen to the podcast!

Welcome to the Daily Dose of Higher Education from BreakDrink.com. This is the Thursday, May 9th edition and I’m Sue Caulfield. Thanks for tuning in as we bring you the latest and greatest in the world of today’s colleges and universities.

Publisher Threatens to Sue Blogger for $1-Billion

http://chronicle.com/article/Publisher-Threatens-to-Sue/139243/  [story]

http://scholarlyoa.com  [source]

http://chronicle.com/article/Predatory-Online-Journals/131047/  [source]

Follow the story on Twitter: #beallslist #scholarlyoa #openaccess

By day, Jeffrey Beall poses at the University of Colorado as the metadata librarian. By night, he provides the academic world with some justice through his well-known blog “Scholarly Open Access.” Now, Beall is being sued by an India based company, the OMICS Publishing Group,for being listed on his blog as a questionable open access publisher. Beall received a “poorly written threatening letter” from the publisher, stating that his claims against the company were demeaning and against the India Information Technology Act. OMICS is suing for $1 billion and Beall could spend up to three years in India in jail. This is not the first time OMICS has been featured in a negative light; OMICS has appeared in The Chronicle for similar practices that Beall had cited the company for in his blog. False advertising, claiming to be associated with accredited organizations, and overcharging authors to publish their pieces are some of the reputations that are associated with OMICS. OMICS Publishing Group plans to proceed with the lawsuit but it is unclear as to whether it will take place in the United States or India.

Holistic Mental-Health Care Can Earn Colleges a New Accolade

http://chronicle.com/article/Holistic-Mental-Health-Care/139285/  [story]

http://www.jedcampus.org/  [source]

Follow the story on Twitter: #mentalhealth #jedfoundation @jedfoundation

Mental health counseling is something that varies from institution to institution across the United States. Lately, it has become a hot topic in higher education as colleges report that student levels of anxiety are on the rise. The Jed Foundation is looking to fix this by promoting their new program, JedCampus. This program will offer a standardized way of assessing mental health training across an institution’s staff. The goal is to have every member of the college community trained to look for signs of distress amongst the students they come into contact with. Institutions can earn the JedCampus Seal by applying for the program, which has a fee of $650 and an 80 question assessment test. Information is gathered from this and the Jed Foundation then gives recommendations and tools to each institution, using the Suicide Prevention Resource Center’s resources as a guide. John MacPhee, the foundation’s director says they believe this will work because it can be tailored to each institution.  ”Every school is different,” MacPhee says. “We want to see that the school has a plan.”

Follow-up: #FreeCooperUnion story

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/5/16/debate_what_caused_cooper_unions_fiscal  [story]

Follow the story on Twitter: #freecooperunion @freecooperunion

In follow up to the story from last week, the students of Cooper Union have had members of the student body protesting in the presidents office for nine days now. The live stream during the first 48 hours attracted attention from all over the world. The link above shows what has transpired since this first day, including a formal address by the students to the administration stressing that they could no longer support the college President, the President’s response, and other responses from the administration. It should be noted that not all students are in agreement with these actions; three students drafted a letter to the student body stating they supported the efforts of the administration and looked forward to a time when Cooper Union could return to a tuition-free state.  We’ll continue to follow this story as it progresses.

Thats it for today! Don’t forget to tune in next week for the next edition of Daily Dose. Happy Thursday!

Follow the conversation: #DailyDose @BreakDrink

{ 0 comments }

Welcome to the Daily Dose of Higher Education from BreakDrink.com. This is the Thursday, May 9th edition and I’m Sue Caulfield. Thanks for tuning in as we bring you the latest and greatest in the world of today’s colleges and universities.

Cooper Union to Charge Undergraduates Tuition [Breaking] 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/nyregion/cooper-union-to-charge-undergraduates-tuition.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0 [source]

http://freecooperunion.com/ [source]

http://cusos.org/students-take-presidents-office/ [source]

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/32619423 [source]

https://twitter.com/FreeCooperUnion [Twitter page]

Follow the story on Twitter: #FreeCooperUnion #CooperUnion @FreeCooperUnion

On April 23rd, Cooper Union announced that it would begin to develop a policy to charge their undergraduate students tuition for the first time in the institution’s history. The college has expressed that it would charge students on a sliding scale, with the highest tuition bill topping out at $20,000. This would begin for the class of 2014 in the fall semester. Since then, students, alumni, and some members of the staff and administration have expressed their frustration and concern that this would clash with the university’s mission.  Student groups have mobilized using social media, with their most publicized act taking place this afternoon. The links above show the student organization “Cooper Union Student Action to Save Our School’s” webpage. A group of students have been sitting in President Jamshed Bharuch’s in silent protest since noon yesterday. They were addressed by the administration at about 5PM today. Please stay tuned to the livestream and follow the story on Twitter for updates. We wish for the safety for all the students, administration and staff involved.

As MOOC Debate Simmers at San Jose State, American U. Calls a Halt

http://chronicle.com/article/As-MOOC-Debate-Simmers-at-San/139147/ [source]

http://chronicle.com/article/Faculty-Backlash-Grows-Against/139049/ [source]

http://chronicle.com/article/San-Jose-State-Us-Faculty/139139/ [source - memo]

http://chronicle.com/article/The-Memo-American-Us-MOOC/139137/ [source - memo]

Follow the story on Twitter: #MOOC #edX #udacity #faculty

Following up on the great MOOC debate, our next story highlights a story from San Jose State University’s chapter of the California Faculty Association. Faculty expressed their deep distrust for the online learning model, stating that companies such as edX and Udacity are offering ways for public universities to replace faculty positions ‘for free.’ The university has made an effort to ‘highly recommend’ that many departments use content from edX or Udacity courses; the philosophy department has refused, and the faculty union quickly backed their efforts in a public written statement. Meanwhile in Washington D.C., American University faculty and staff received a memo from the provost, stating that the institution would not dive into the world of MOOCs before investigating the benefits and flaws. In this memo, the provost worked with the Faculty Senate to provide a list of terms which governed how professors may teach on a freelance basis. We will continue to follow the story of the big bad – or good – MOOCs, in the next editions of Daily Dose.

Amid Security Worries, Student Visas Come Under New Scrutiny

http://chronicle.com/article/Amid-Security-Worries-Student/139149/ [source]

Follow the story on Twitter: #internationalstudents #studentvisa #campussafety

With the acceptance of our school’s first international student, this article hit home tonight. One of the outcomes of the Boston Marathon bombings has been a call for increased security and procedure when dealing with international students. Higher education officials have expressed concern that students with student visas will be subject to unnecessary scrutiny because the bombing suspects were students, and their accomplice owned an expired student visa. This is expected to link to immigration reform and be used as an example. Educators state that the problem is not within the policy, but the system itself; custom officers often lack access to real-time information in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information system, the electronic student-visa database. One must also remember that it is an institution’s job to maintain records, not enforce the law; college administrators fear that this one example will cause a reaction to try to fix a system that is not broken, or be used as a political platform against a population that does not have the right to vote to begin with. The Department of Homeland Security is currently working to fix the system to give all border agents access to the database, instead of initiating a manual check.

Thats it for today! Don’t forget to tune in on Tuesday as Shawn Brackett brings you the news in one minute or less. Happy Thursday!

Follow the conversation: #DailyDose @BreakDrink

{ 0 comments }