The Writer's Almanac notes that Franklin Hiram King was born on this day in 1848. He was an early advocate of sustainable agriculture and a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he studied soil and soil fertility.

Last year I happened to pick up a copy of Farmers of Forty Centuries, which documents King's travels through Japan, China, and Korea and his reflections on how farmers there had managed to feed so many people on so little land for so long. The book, first published in 1911, is amazing—required reading for anyone interested in sustainable agriculture or sustainability generally. Among the subjects: the reuse of waste material in the soil (including human manure, and the sanitation problems that go with that), the growing of rice, the production of silk, the struggle to find sufficient fuel, and local customs and diets (largely vegetarian).

King, who saw ...

The Oregonian reports that the University of Oregon will once again accept money for athletics facilities from Phil Knight, a founder of Nike. The university will take the money, this time for a football facility, even amid recent questions from lawmakers about a lack of oversight on an arena project now under way, also supported by Mr. Knight. The newspaper notes that Mr. Knight has given more than $200-million to the university over the years, mainly to athletics projects. (See a Chronicle story about the transformation of Oregon's athletics program here.)

At a meeting of the State Board of Higher Education held to approve the project, the university's president, Richard Lariviere, told the members that if they didn't approve the project, they would be unlikely to get money for similar projects in the future, the article says. 

"If we don't accept this gift, what will be the negative...

This isn't exactly college-level reading, but anyone who has dealt with a starchitecture project might appreciate this: We recently received a version of The Three Little Pigs, but the pigs look quite a bit like some of the most famous architects of the past 100 years—Frank Gehry, Philip Johnson, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

There is a certain genius to this reimagining. After all, the original children's tale was grounded in the lessons of choosing good materials and planning well. Modern architects haven't always followed those ethics, resulting in nightmares for various building owners (and entertaining stories for people who love to hate starchitects). If Frank Gehry's buildings couldn't stand up to Boston winters, then how would they survive the Big Bad Wolf (especially one wolf dressed in a black leather jacket, buzzing around on a Voxan GTV 1200)?

Not well, it turns out. You see, "...

My cousin goes to Carleton College, in Minnesota, and I would be proud if he had something to do with this: A group of Carleton students has turned the campus's Goodsell Observatory into a giant R2-D2. The pranksters apparently climbed up the side of the observatory and hung what appear to be bedsheets that were colored and stitched together to match R2's blue components. Classic, but it has been done before -- notably at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (This one's better, though. Chalk that up to the liberal-arts grounding.)

It seems that the sheets were taken down yesterday morning, soon after they were discovered. At the moment, there's not a lot of information available about who did this and what happened to them -- but we have asked the college for details.

"There was a rumor going around that the students had been fined, and that is not true," said Eric Sieger, a...

Lesley University has gotten praise from The Chronicle and other publications in the past for its willingness to work with neighbors to avoid conflict. But it seems conflict could not be averted in one of its most recent town-gown deals: The Boston Globe reports that a group of neighbors are suing Lesley over plans to move a 165-year-old church and relocate the Art Institute of Boston to its site. The Art Institute is part of Lesley.

University officials say the move would help revitalize the neighborhood and preserve the church building, which would be transformed into a library. But a lawyer for the neighbors calls the plans a "a classic case of spot zoning, which the courts in numerous cases have held as illegal," and he charges that the Cambridge City Council has made zoning laws more lenient to help Lesley.

Mike Murray, a lawyer for Lesley, said that the university and the city he...

The Globe and Mail reports that the family of a Canadian sculptor, Haydn Davies, and the Lambton College of Applied Arts and Technology have settled a $1.2-million lawsuit over the destruction of one of the artist's most famous works. Davies's monumental scuplture Homage, made of laminated western red cedar, was razed in 2005.

Details of the settlement were not available, but The Globe and Mail reports that the settlement will result in an annual cash award for one sculpture student from the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, where Davies studied in the 1940s. The lawsuit has also inspired a play, which is set to open in Toronto in June.

At the time of its destruction, Homage was deemed structurally unsafe by college officials. Animals like raccoons and hornets had taken up residence in the holes in the artwork, according to reports at the time. However, fans of the...

The Tallahassee Democrat reports that leaders of Florida colleges are worried that Gov. Charlie Crist will strike money for their building projects out of the state budget. The governor, a Republican, wants to direct more money to transportation projects. He must sign the budget by Saturday.

"This governor has been incredibly supportive of higher education, but everyone gets nervous during the veto portion of the process for these projects," said Frank T. Brogan, chancellor of the Board of Governors, which oversees the colleges. "It is our hope that he will see his way clear to support as many of these projects as he possibly can."

The paper mentions two institutions in particular: Florida State University and Florida A&M University. Florida A&M is planning to construct a $23-million College of Pharmacy building; the university's president, James H. Ammons, met with the governor's...

The University of Texas at Austin is considering developing 350 acres of its green space to help weather the effects of recession and budget cuts, reports The Dallas Morning News. The problem is that the green space in question is much beloved by the people of Austin.

The Brackenridge Tract, as the land along the Colorado River is known, was given to the university by a regent 100 years ago and is now home to a popular golf course. The university earns about $1-million through lease agreements on the land but will not specify how much it could gain by turning the land over to developers. (The state has told the university to cut $29-million in spending over the next 18 months.)

A plan to develop the land could blossom into "a full-blown fight over contentious issues such as zoning, clean drinking water, and Austin's struggle to preserve its sense of community," which involves business ...

Wim Wiewel, the president of Portland State University, might have been prospecting for a new donor when he met Jack Joyce, the founder and owner of Rogue Ales, over a beer. The meeting resulted in an unusual tribute: a line of India pale ales dedicated to the university's green image.

The Portland State IPA—pictured here in a buzz-inducing 22-ounce bottle with a sporty bicycle on the label—honors the university's drive for sustainability. Portland State has undertaken a number of notable sustainability-oriented efforts in recent years, including landing a multimillion grant for the support of sustainability education, pushing for sustainable energy and transportation, and planning to build one of the nation's greenest buildings.

Scott Gallagher, a university spokesman who once worked for Rogue, says that the beer company has a great admiration for the local/sustainable ethic. The...

This week's Chronicle features an article about Elizabethtown College, which is (for the third time in recent years) mulling whether to sign the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment. The discussion on the campus is coming down to a serious debate over the college's goals and resources.

Coincidentally, Swarthmore College, which also has spent years deliberating whether to sign, took a leap last week and joined other colleges in the commitment. "I guess in a nutshell the answer is that we weren't in a hurry," said Maurice G. Eldridge, vice president for college and community relations, when asked why the college signed now, years after the commitment was first announced and after nearly 700 other colleges had already signed up. "The timing seemed right. We are a pretty deliberative and consensus-based community."

E. Carr Everbach, a professor of engineering who is...