With the Senate still stalling on legislation to end the bank-based system of delivering federally subsidized student loans, Education Secretary Arne Duncan is unloading some of his harshest rhetoric against the loan companies lobbying against the measure. In a statement quoted by The Washington Post, the secretary said executives of the industry leader, Sallie Mae, "have paid themselves hundreds of millions of dollars in the last decade while teachers, nurses, and scientists -- the backbone of the new economy -- face crushing debt because of...

United Arab Emirates University, which announced plans last year to offer Ph.D. programs as part of its effort to become a leading international research institution, is considering eliminating about 200 staff jobs so it can put more money into research, according to The National, an English-language newspaper in Abu Dhabi. The university is determined to improve its research output, the provost, Wyatt (Rory) Hume, said, and with government support expected to shrink or remain constant next year, the institution is looking to cut expenses in other areas. "People haven't been laid off," said Mr. Hume, a former provost of the...

A federal district judge in San Francisco has denied the NCAA's motion to dismiss a class-action lawsuit filed last July on behalf of former college athletes who believe they should be compensated for the use of their images and likenesses in videos and memorabilia. The ruling opens the door for lawyers to scrutinize the NCAA's licensing deals, estimated at more than $4-billion. The judge denied some claims made by the only named plaintiff in the case, Ed O'Bannon, a former basketball star at UCLA, and combined the lawsuit with one filed last May by a former University of Nebraska quarterback, Sam Keller. More players are expected to be named in the coming month, Jon King, a lawyer representing the players, told

A dozen people were arrested at the University of California at Irvine on Monday evening for disrupting a lecture by the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, according to a blog run by The Orange County Register, which also has photographs and video of the event. Mr. Oren was interrupted repeatedly by shouts from protesters irate over Israel's treatment of Palestinians and by the university's decision to play host to the talk. Mr. Oren was also occasionally interrupted by applause. The campus's Muslim Student Union had early condemned Mr. Oren's scheduled appearance. The university's chancellor, Michael V. Drake, told the audience he was embarrassed by the disruptions. An Irvine spokesman told the

In response to student complaints that a health-science professor at Fresno City College makes overtly religious and anti-gay statements in his lectures, the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the college today demanding that it ensure that all its health-science classes teach unbiased and medically accurate information. The letter also advises the college that it is legally required to prevent the professor from engaging in religious indoctrination in his classes. The college's president, Cynthia E. Azari, told The Fresno Bee that an internal investigagion was under way.

The Canadian government is halting the transfer of federal funds to the troubled First Nations University, citing concerns over finances and longstanding governance issues, according to a statement issued by Chuck Strahl, minister of Indian and Northern Affairs. The federal action follows a similar decision by the Saskatchewan government last week to end its support. Those actions will take away about half of the university's support as of April 1. Students and faculty members are shocked, according to

A federal appeals court today reinstated a gender-discrimination lawsuit filed by three female wrestlers against the University of California at Davis, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said the university had appeared to violate Title IX, a key federal gender-equity law in sports, when in 2000 it forced the women to compete against male wrestlers and then cut them from the varsity team. A district court had previously ruled in favor of the university. The university previously paid $725,000 to...

Rep. John P. Murtha, a powerful Pennsylvania congressman renowned for his prowess in bringing home pork-barrel spending to his district, has died from complications of gallbladder surgery, according to news reports. Mr. Murtha, a Democrat, was chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees military spending. Among the money he has steered to projects in his home state were controversial grants given to higher-education institutions, such as $50-million in earmarked, noncompetitive funds for a homeland-security institute at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and $2-million for a project to support the...

After fighting for nearly a year against NCAA penalties, Florida State University announced on Sunday that it would vacate wins and other records for its football and nine other teams from the 2006 and 2007 seasons, when the NCAA said 61 athletes benefited from an academic-fraud scheme. According to a report by the McClatchy Newspapers, Florida State told the NCAA it would give up a national title in men's track and field. The university also forfeited a bowl-game victory and other games that had enabled the head coach, Bobby Bowden, to match Penn State's coach, Joe Paterno, among the winningest coaches in college-football history. Florida State

Community-college students California will be able to fulfill some of their associate-degree requirements by taking single online courses from Kaplan University under an agreement announced today. Local community colleges will determine which online Kaplan courses meet their requirements. The state's 110 community colleges have been hurt by steep cuts in state support, and they have been unable to accommodate the huge demand for college courses generated by the recession. For-profit colleges have stepped in to fill in some of...