While most of the national focus following charges of child sex abuse at Pennsylvania State University has centered on its coaches and administrators, the scandal has reached deep into the professoriate as well. Responding to constant questions has taken an emotional toll on the university's faculty members, who have been asked by neighbors,…

The Jones Theatre at Washington State University is getting a $500,000 face-lift this summer. A construction crew has already ripped out its 500 orange and blue seats and is replacing them with new ones covered in a wine-colored fabric. The theater's walls are being painted a light beige, and a new set of black velour curtains will grace the…

The number of colleges freezing faculty hiring seems to grow each week. Yet some institutions are going against the grain of the poor economy and appointing new professors. This decision has given those campuses an edge, yielding top-quality candidates who might not have been within reach in a more-competitive job market. In the nation's few flush…

The day after a Virginia Tech student gunned down 32 people last April, a young alumnus named Johnson Wagner donned a baseball cap with the VT logo. Then a rookie golfer on the PGA Tour, Mr. Wagner wore the hat while competing in a tournament in South Carolina. There, he voiced a concern shared by many people in Blacksburg, Virginia: "I simply…

This article reports on an unsettled tenure case at Columbia University. The high-profile and controversial tenure bid of Joseph A. Massad, a Palestinian-American professor of Arab politics, was turned down by Columbia University's provost, Alan Brinkley. Mr. Massad's case follows closely on two other high-profile tenure bids affected by the…

Results of a new survey of family-friendly benefits by the Center for the Education of Women at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor show that stopping the tenure clock has become the most common family-friendly benefit in higher education, following paid maternity leave. Other family-friendly policies that top the list in academe allow…

This article reports on the findings of the state panel on the Virginia Tech massacre. A state panel that investigated last spring's massacre at Virginia Tech has issued a harshly worded report that says the university erred in the way it handled a mentally disabled student who became a killer and in how it dealt with the immediate aftermath of…

Wilson reports on the resignation of Lawrence H. Summers from the presidency of Harvard University and discusses what Mr. Summers' action may indicate about the power afforded faculty members and whether an outspoken president can ever lead the renowned university. Wilson interviews individuals on both sides of the debate, contrasting the image of…

Overall college and university enrollments have increased this fall due to returning and transfer students despite a reduction in incoming freshman numbers. A number of schools have difficulty accommodating larger populations. Some have had success in recruiting minority students, but others are frustrated by smaller high school graduating…

About 150 colleges and universities have created benefit programs for employees' domestic partners, but few eligible employees have enrolled, either because the partners have benefits elsewhere or prefer not to use the program. However, the impacts on enrollees' lives can be substantial. Most institutions require domestic partners to complete…

Under the College Housing Loan Program, the Education Department lends money to colleges to build and refurbish dormitories and other student facilities. Problems plaguing the loan program are discussed. Both colleges and the federal government have broken most of the rules governing the program. (MLW)

A new program at Mercy College (New York) links faculty salaries to student enrollment and is designed to help the college through a financial crisis. Supporters see the policy as making good business sense, and faculty are finding ways to encourage students to enroll and persist. Critics feel the policy will encourage faculty to give higher…

The University of Wisconsin Madison has a speech code that punishes faculty who make offensive remarks in the classroom. The code, declared unconstitutional in 1991 by a federal judge, has now been revised by a panel of professors, administrators, and students to allow faculty to teach controversial subjects, even if some students are offended in…

In an effort to eliminate the part-time teaching track for all faculty except those who hold professional jobs outside academe, Georgia State University created 95 new full-time faculty positions and filled 62 of these positions with former part-time faculty. For the time being, however, all the positions are non-tenure-track "visiting"…

The revised immigration system, the requirement that administrators verify the accuracy of information on student aid applications before they distribute money, and demands on administrators to spend more time helping students to budget their money were discussed at the annual meeting of the National Association of Student Financial Aid…