This article presents an open letter to Bill Gates. In his letter, the author suggests that Bill Gates should build a brand-new university, a great 21st-century institution of higher learning. This university will be unlike anything the world has ever seen. He asks Bill Gates not to stop helping existing colleges create the higher-education system…

In a statement issued in July, "Rebuilding Campus Community: the Wrong Imperative," the National Association of Scholars calls for exactly the right thing--a renewal of liberal education, that broad and deep education beyond students' majors on campuses--but misses the point about what is needed to achieve it. Claiming that liberal education has…

This article presents excerpts from this year's graduation speeches. These are from (1) J.K. Rowling, author, at Harvard University; (2) Mary E. Lyons, president of the University of San Diego, at the College of St. Catherine; (3) Samantha Power, journalist and professor of public policy at Harvard University, at Pitzer College; (4) E.J. Dionne,…

The American Association of University Professors and its Canadian counterpart jointly issued a statement last week calling on colleges with campuses abroad to protect the rights of overseas workers and give faculty members more say in planning foreign programs. The statement, adopted by the AAUP's committee on academic freedom and tenure and the…

In a warmly received address to Roman Catholic educators, including 200 college presidents, in April, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his "profound gratitude" for the educators' "selfless contributions," which "serve both your country and the church." Pope Benedict's talk also built an intellectual case for academic freedom that is based on a bedrock…

Melanie M. Morey is the senior director of research and consulting at NarrowGate Consulting, a division of the Catholic Education Institute. She is also the author, with John J. Piderit, of "Catholic Higher Education: A Culture in Crisis," which is based in part on a study of 124 administrators at 33 Roman Catholic colleges and universities in the…

Administrators at West Virginia University violated procedures and displayed poor judgment in their "seriously flawed" response to an inquiry about a high-profile academic transcript, according to a report issued last week by an independent panel. The harshly worded report found that when the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" raised…

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plans to spend several hundred million dollars over the next five years to double the number of low-income young people who complete a college degree or certificate program by age 26. Foundation officials described the ambitious plan to an exclusive group of education leaders, citing 2025 as a target goal. If…

The U.S. ambassador to India, in an interview with "The Chronicle" last week, criticized the opposition of some Indian government officials and politicians to legislation that would allow U.S. and other foreign universities to establish campuses or programs in the country. He spoke favorably, however, about India's willingness to take on…

What does it take to run an international-education office? A detailed understanding of obtuse federal regulations, the ability to recruit foreign students on a shoestring budget, and a talent for creating study-abroad programs that are both academically rigorous and highly popular. That was the message in dozens of sessions last week at the…

This year's annual conference of the nation's historically black colleges and universities appeared to be well timed for Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, coming just as President Bush prepared to sign into law the largest increase in federal student aid since the GI Bill. But while Ms. Spellings basked in the praise of several of the…

The global economic crisis has accelerated the fear that the United States' international power is fading. It has also made clear the need for American higher education to engage more deeply with the rest of the world, not run from it. That was the consensus among a group of presidents and provosts who met in New York this month as part of…

This article presents the suggestion of Merle S. King, chairman of the department of computer science and information systems at Kennesaw State University and also a director of Kennesaw State's Center for Elections Systems, which has helped establish a uniform statewide voting system in Georgia. On the last day of the conference sponsored by the…

U.S. Supreme Court justices struggled in a lively debate with how to balance the competing interests of the entertainment industry and developers of file-sharing technology. Some justices sharply questioned whether it was fair to hold inventors of a distribution technology liable for copyright infringement, while others suggested that it was wrong…

The text of the EDUCOM statement on software and intellectual rights that educators are being urged to adopt on campus is presented and discussed. (MSE)