The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which houses the Albert Einstein archive and owns the rights to his image, is being urged not to renew its $2.66-million contract with the Walt Disney Company's Baby Einstein series when it comes up for renewal, in 2010, according to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, an American group of educators, health experts, and parents, says the Baby Einstein series and other videos for toddlers are actually harmful. "Parents believe baby media is educational, an impression that was fostered by Baby Einstein's marketing," said Nancy-Carlsson-Paige, a professor of education at Lesley University, in Massachusetts. In 2003 the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that children under two years of age not watch television.

To make sure its hiring process is legal, the governing board of the Utah College of Applied Technology plans to withdraw its decision to rehire a controversial past president, Robert O. Brems, as the institution's leader, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. The full board will interview Mr. Brems and another finalist at its next meeting and then make a new decision, its chairman told the newspaper. The chairman said that the board was taking those steps because of allegations that it had violated Utah's open-meetings law in its decision last month, and not because of backlash over Mr. Brems's past. He had stepped down as president two years ago after controversies over the use of a campus's money for a political parade float...

About 70 students who had been occupying an administrative building at the University of California at Santa Cruz since Thursday afternoon to protest a 32-percent tuition increase left the building this morning, but accounts differed on how the protest ended. The university reported that the students had left voluntarily following a demand from the campus police. Witnesses told the Santa Cruz Sentinel, however, that officers in riot gear had moved in and used their batons to forcibly push the students out. One faculty member who was observing the scene was injured after falling over a railing. No arrests were reported.

Phyllis Wise, provost of the University of Washington, has accepted a position on the board of directors of Nike, which last year signed a 10-year contract to provide the university's athletics department with all its footwear, apparel, and some equipment. The Associated Press reports that some students are not happy with Ms. Wise's decision. They have been urging the university to pressure Nike to stop its reported abuses of workers.

University of California at Berkeley students protesting a planned 32-percent increase in tuition ended their occupation of an academic building on Friday night, escorted out by county sheriffs, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The protesters will face misdemeanor trespassing charges. Protests at the University of California at Santa Cruz continued on Saturday, according to the Associated Press.

Andrew Knicely, chairman of Fairmont State University's Board of Governors, resigned Friday for having verbally harangued the university's head football coach after a game last month, The Charleston Gazette reports. Mr. Knicely had apologized for the incident, in which he yelled at the coach over his son's lack of playing time in the game.

About 50 to 100 protesters took over a prominent building at the University of California at Berkeley this morning and barricaded themselves inside, The Daily Californian reported. The action, one day after the system's Board of Regents approved a 32-percent increase in tuition, culminated several days of protests over the impact of the state's dire finances on university campuses. Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau sent an e-mail message urging employees working in the building, Wheeler Hall, which houses several academic departments, to avoid it until further notice. Protesters have also started a

The University of Nebraska's Board of Regents, despite heavy lobbying by religious groups, narrowly voted today to uphold the expansion of research on human embryonic stem cells as permitted by the Obama administration. The regents voted, 4 to 4, on a proposal to observe limits on stem-cell research imposed by the Bush administration, and a tie vote meant the resolution failed.

The federal judge overseeing the Google Book Search case has given preliminary approval to the revised settlement submitted late last Friday by the parties to the lawsuit. The new version is "within the range of possible approval," according to a court order issued yesterday. The order also set February 18, 2010, as the date for a final fairness hearing on the deal.

In the aftermath of an audit that raised questions about spending practices at Kansas State University, the institution's president, Kirk H. Schulz, reported to the Kansas Board of Regents today on what his administration has done to ensure that sound business and management practices are in place. The regents had commissioned the audit as an exit review upon the retirement of Mr. Schulz's predecessor, Jon Wefald. Among other findings, the review flagged $845,000 in questionable payments. According to the Associated Press, Mr. Schulz said that compensation for the university's football coach accounted for most of that,...