Higher Education in the News
From the New York Times, Oct. 22
In a speech at Columbia University’s Teachers College, Education Secretary Arne Duncan called for an overhaul of college programs that prepare teachers, citing current teacher programs as inadequate. Duncan called many preparatory programs mediocre, and said that because of low overhead and large enrollment, many teaching programs are treated as cash cows. Duncan implored teaching programs to vastly improve their education, saying that many teachers are inadequately prepared with practical classroom behavior training.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 22
Public colleges in Pennsylvania are on the road to receiving $62.8 million in additional stimulus funds to help bandage gaps in university budgets created by cuts in state appropriation. Gov. Edward Rendell applied for the extra funds through the U.S. Department of Education. The $62.8 million is in addition to $93.2 million already budgeted for public universities.
From APSCUF’s News, Oct. 23
Jonathan B. Mack has been appointed to PASSHE’s Board of Governors. Mack has been a practicing attorney since 1983. He is also a member of Indiana University’s Council of Trustees. Mack graduated from Dickinson College with bachelor’s degrees in English and Spanish with a minor and geology. He also studied law at the University of Toledo.
From the New York Times, Oct. 24
Prosecutors in Cook County, Illinois, have subpoenaed the grades, grading criteria, class syllabus, expense reports, and e-mail messages of students at Northwest University’s journalism school. Some journalism courses at the school are devoted to having students investigate past crimes, and a three-year student investigation of the case of Anthony McKinnely, convicted of murdering a security guard in 1978, has led a judge to review the conviction. Prosecutors have issued the subpoena to investigate whether it’s possible that students are motivated by the belief that if their evidence is used to free McKinnely, their grades would be higher. The university has called the subpoenas insulting and charges that they are a breach of federal privacy statutes and state protections for journalists.
