As protesters across the Arab world demand an end to autocratic regimes that have drained universities of resources and suffocated critical thinking, scholars see some hope of an Arab renaissance and a new opening for American involvement. From the ancient Library of Alexandria to a new Islamic-arts museum in Qatar that holds 700-year-old…

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…

The television trucks and newspaper reporters, like locusts, swarmed last week into Blacksburg, Virginia, where Virginia Tech is located. The university's administrators and especially its public-relations staff members are steeling themselves for what will be a long and intense feeding frenzy. For the men and women who speak for colleges, being…

This article reports on reactions to the Association of American Publishers' new public-relations campaign, which has upset many university presses and research librarians, as well as open-access advocates. The effort, known as the "Partnership for Research Integrity in Science & Medicine," or Prism, is the latest tactic in a continuing…

The Association of American Publishers has hired a public-relations firm with a hard-hitting reputation to respond to the open-access-publishing movement, which campaigns for scientific results to be made freely available to the public. The firm, Dezenhall Resources, designs aggressive public-relations campaigns to counter activist groups. The…

All of the admissions research says that prospective students and their parents want to know something about the mysterious people who do the professing. They want to ask questions in a public forum; they want to visit classes; they want private meetings with department chairs; and they want admissions people to call them on the phone to explain…

To demand trustees take a moral position on a political issue asserts the primacy of political over other social and cultural values and denies the right of people of diverse views to pursue a non-political institution's interests cooperatively. (MSE)

Reports that, for black Americans, the "classic" football events between historically black colleges have become larger affairs featuring college fairs, Greek reunions, and networking in addition to the game. These events can be significant moneymakers for these athletics programs and often also include family activities, fashion…

A benefactor's business practices, involvement with political groups, or personal activities can bring protests and negative publicity to a college and raise ethical questions about accepting some donations. (Author/MSE)

Susan Young, wife of the chancellor of the University of California at Los Angeles, is seen as the quintessential college president's spouse, choosing to devote herself to her husband's job. She believes the female spouses of college presidents deserve more recognition and was instrumental in pressing for spouses' benefits. (MLW)

Since 1985, when Memphis State University was cited as having the lowest graduation rate in the nation for basketball players and was accused of exploiting Black athletes, academic and athletics administrators have instituted a strict academic support program for all athletes, with encouraging results. (MSE)

Discusses how Columbia University is rethinking its judicial code after being embarrassed over criticism led by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a civil liberties group with a flair for public relations. (EV)

Reports that many college and university athletics departments are utilizing one of two companies, Fansonly or Total Sports, for their Web site development and maintenance. The companies propose to deliver advertising profits, merchandising revenues, and donations to the university but so far monetary gains have been slight, as the sites face…

The University of Miami has established 19 new rules aimed at orienting student-athletes to the campus, preparing them for the pressures of college athletics, and ending incidents of embarrassing athlete behavior. (MSE)

As news reports continue to describe questionable charges for indirect costs in government-sponsored research, academic officials try to explain the rates, which vary greatly by institution and are based on complicated accounting formulas, to the press, alumni, trustees, and state legislators. Overhead rates, ranging from 37 percent to 77 percent,…