James M. Fadool, an associate professor of biology at Florida State University, got a federal grant of more than $300,000 to study eye defects using zebra-fish. Some of that money went to pay another researcher, $1,536 biweekly, to assist with the research and manage the lab where the fish were kept. But an audit by the Office of Inspector General…

Student-conduct administrators around the country are hailing restorative justice as the next big thing. A blend of mediation and restitution, it seeks to resolve a conflict by identifying the harms caused and devising, with suggestions from both victims and offenders, an agreement to repair them. That approach to discipline grabs campus officials…

Eight years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq and a few months after the withdrawal of the military forces from the country, Iraq's universities, devastated by years of dictatorship, sanctions, and war, are still struggling to recover. The security situation has improved since the deadly, dark days of 2006 and 2007, when the country teetered on the…

Despite years of prodding from officials at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to bolster athletes' performance in the classroom, nearly 10 percent of all athletics teams in the NCAA's top division failed to meet the association's annual benchmark for academic progress, new data show. Of the 6,300 or so teams in Division I, the…

When people gathered last May for the commencement ceremony at the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law, they were greeted by chanting activists from the National Lawyers Guild and other left-wing groups. The university, protesters shouted, should fire John C. Yoo, a tenured professor who has taught at the law school…

This article reports that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has penalized fewer teams than it expected this year over athletes' poor academic performance. For years, officials with the NCAA have predicted that strikingly high numbers of college sports teams could be at risk of losing scholarships this year because of their…

This article offers a glimpse into one of the many ways in which the Egyptian government and the campus administrators it appoints are slowly and persistently squeezing the life out of universities in Cairo, Egypt. Classroom discussions are monitored, faculty appointments and academic research are scrutinized, and faculty participation in outside…

There is no doubt that as technology continues to change, the generation of students will change also. The best preparation, then, is to train one's own mind to think digitally so that one can best create policies, programs, and interactions that enable a student to connect the two worlds in ways that are productive, satisfying, and meaningful.…

On March 2, Michael J. D'Andrea, professor of counselor education at the University of Hawaii Manoa campus, received a letter informing him that "effective immediately upon your receipt of this letter, you are being reassigned to work at home with pay while the University of Hawaii ... addresses several issues concerning your alleged…

This fall the Academic Progress Rate, a formula that the National Collegiate Athletic Association developed to measure the academic performance of its member teams, will go into full effect. Known as the APR, the formula consists of two variables: academic performance (which requires satisfactory grades and timely progress to a degree) and student…

Describes how, in the past three months, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has put more bite into penalties imposed on colleges that violate rules. Explores what is behind the pattern. (EV)

A list of 22 institutions under NCAA sanctions is provided with their violations and penalties described. (MLW)

The National Collegiate Athletic Association barred Southern Methodist University from playing football next season and restricted its schedule for the season after that. The penalties are intended to eliminate a program that was built on a legacy of wrongdoing, deceit, and rules violations. (MLW)

Debate exists over the appropriate role of the regional accreditation agency in higher education. Some feel the agencies do colleges and universities a favor by holding them to specific standards, and others feel the agencies were not intended for a consumer protection function. Accreditation criteria, quantifiable and subjective, are also…

A partial text of the report of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Committee on Infractions in the case of Southern Methodist University is presented. Findings of violations, factors considered in judgment of case, and penalties are discussed. (MLW)