Because of their tax-free status, nonprofit colleges must avoid most forms of participation in political campaigns. With the 2008 election season heating up, the Internal Revenue Service has issued a set of guidelines to help colleges avoid running afoul of the rules.

The guidelines feature 21 case studies of actual campaign controversies involving colleges and other nonprofit organizations. No names are mentioned in the cases. In one of them, a college president urged a candidate’s re-election in a “My Views” column published in an alumni newsletter. Although the president paid personally for the cost of printing the column, the IRS deemed his actions “campaign intervention” because the article appeared in an official university publication. —Paul Fain