In his first book, "Acts of Faith," Eboo Patel describes his early encounters with interfaith events in the late 1990s. He was not impressed. "They were excruciatingly boring," he writes. Why so much talk and so little action, his restless, twenty-something self had wondered. "And where were the young people?" Fast forward a dozen years. Now 37,…

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is no stranger to criticism. This article reports that during a meeting of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, some higher-education officials questioned the NCAA's handling of a CBS fantasy football league, announced over the summer, that would use college athletes' names. Many…

With the average age of college presidents a hair above 60 years old, a large portion of today's campus leaders were undergraduate or graduate students during the heightened years of protest in the 1960s and early 1970s. As a student during those protest-laden times, the author spoke out about peace, the Vietnam War, civil rights, and the status…

Reports on changes at the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF), the dominant force in the higher education pension market, to counter declining investment by younger professors. Changes include addition of retail mutual funds and making some products available to the general public. Critics…

Explores why, although Golden Key has gained a large membership, many other honor societies question its mission. Its founder has been ousted amid charges of lax standards and improper encounters with students. (EV)

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is hoping to stem member institution defections to the National Collegiate Athletic Association by reorganizing national staff, emphasizing regional competition, and helping members with local marketing efforts. The organization's 340 members are primarily small regional public and private…

Discusses issues addressed at the 94th annual convention of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, including changes in how coaches recruit athletes, changes in types of athletes recruited, offers of more money for needy athletes, changes in the organization's governance, and more money for colleges. (DB)

Discusses the increasing influence that the graduate student caucus is having on the Modern Language Association. Graduate students are now well represented on the organization's delegate assembly and executive council. Critics see the students as using fear and intimidation to press their needs in a bleak job market over other organizational…

The presidents' commission of the National Collegiate Athletic Association proposed fewer and smaller changes than expected in rules for intercollegiate athletics, especially in the revenue-producing sports in the highest division, but the panel plans a series of studies of the more difficult problems facing college sports. (MSE)

Reports that greater numbers of scholarly societies, though American in name, are increasingly international in membership and outlook. Suggests that this trend has been driven by the expanding global outlook of scholars, the collapse of communism, and growth of the Internet. Efforts to encourage local professional societies, fears of American…

Black fraternities decline to participate in interfraternity councils because other members don't understand the traditions of the black organizations, say the officers of eight black national organizations at a conference at Michigan State University. The purpose of the conference was to improve communications between university administrators…

At the annual meeting of the National Interfraternity Conference, the national presidents of 59 fraternities voted to study alternatives to pledging. Some think that pledging has become synonymous with hazing, and that eliminating pledging would reduce the chances for abuse. (MLW)

The National Congress of Black Faculty is expected to address the problems of the recruitment and promotion of black faculty members, research and publication issues, and the recruitment and retention of black students. (MLW)

Reports that current trends, including development of World Wide Web sites for college-bound students and decreased emphasis on Scholastic Assessment Tests by state universities, threaten the College Board's predominant position. Notes priorities of the Board's new president includes development of its own web site. Questions are raised about the…

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…