Before all those extracurricular activities and community-service projects listed on college applications, there were play groups, library hours, Pop Warner football games, swimming lessons, ballet, drama, soccer. Not to mention preparation for high-stakes tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind law, or the mounting minutes, even hours, of…

Since joining her city's first flat-track roller-derby league more than a year ago, the author relates that she discovered some surprising, interesting things about her university's tolerance for its employees' "second lives." To be taken seriously, the author relates that she offsets any possible concerns about her professional legitimacy by…

Reports on efforts at several colleges (Ithaca College, New York; Princeton University, New Jersey; Luther College, Iowa; and Vassar College, New York) to end such school traditions as nude streaking or naked soccer, usually accompanied by heavy drinking. School officials see such activities as significant threats to students' health and safety.…

The college admissions process teaches students how to express themselves during interviews, how to describe their best qualities in application essays. It may also make them wary of college marketing campaigns, and skeptical of being treated as a statistics, due to the large role played by standardized-test scores and grade-point averages. Such…

Student characteristics, attitudes, and activities are highlighted, based on responses of 204,000 students who entered college in the fall of 1986. (MLW)

International Churches of Christ, not affiliated with the mainline Church of Christ, actively recruits college students and proselytizes to a degree that some consider harassment and intimidation. Some major institutions have banned the groups from campuses. Some religious groups hesitate to call the International Churches of Christ a cult,…

Increasingly, new college student groups, most conservative, are demanding redistribution of student fees to support more conservative student activities. Previous court decisions complicate administrative determinations. Institutions have adopted innovative and sometimes controversial ways of allocating funds. (MSE)

A study that looked at how colleges and universities encourage students to get involved in outside activities is discussed. Students who are actively involved in academic and out-of-class activities are better integrated into the institution. Student affairs officers, faculty members, and students were interviewed. (MLW)

A proposed state policy requiring college students to maintain a 2.0 grade point average to participate in extracurricular activities is seen by supporters of athletics as discriminating against athletes and endangering Oklahoma's teams' success. If the extracurricular activities provision is removed, grade standards for good academic standing…

The fact that colleges are providing a rich environment for learning at a relatively low annual fee should be enough evidence of their commitment to good management to satisfy the public and the Department of Education in its demand for efficiency in higher education. (MSE)

An annual survey of college freshmen (n=237,777 in 1994) shows they have less interest than ever in keeping up with politics. Survey data on student demographics, anticipated majors, opinions, activities, and personal goals are tabulated. (MSE)

The new student union at George Mason University (Virginia) integrates traditional functions (food services, meeting rooms, offices, study areas, bookstore) with recreational activities (movie theater, dance studios) and academic uses (library, department offices, classrooms). Administrators hope the facility will bring faculty, staff, and…

Data from an annual national survey of 251,232 college freshmen are presented, including demographic and family characteristics, intended majors, educational attitudes and objectives, political attitudes, non-school activities, reasons for college attendance, probable careers, personal goals, and income. (MSE)

Data from an annual Higher Education Research Institute survey of college freshmen (n=275,811) at 469 institutions are summarized, including student demographic and educational characteristics, educational and career plans, majors, principal social and extracurricular activities, political and social attitudes, and personal objectives. (MSE)

Data from a 1997 national survey of 464 two- and four-year colleges and universities concerning freshman characteristics, opinions, activities, and goals are reported. Information includes age, ethnic background, religion, academic record, college distance from home, parent background, college planning and choice, educational goals, career goals,…