Marquette University's Academic Senate approved a resolution on Monday condemning the institution's decision to rescind its offer of a dean's job to Jodi O'Brien, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Among other provisions, the resolution also recommended scheduling a vote of no confidence in the university's president, the Rev. Robert A. Wild, in the fall if the university fails to reassure faculty members that their advancement will not be hindered by the topics they research.

Ms. O'Brien is a sociologist at Seattle University and a lesbian who has written about gender and sexual-identity issues. In rescinding the offer for her to become dean of Marquette's College of Arts and Sciences, a Marquette spokeswoman said administrators were concerned about how some of Ms. O'Brien's writings related "to Catholic mission and identity."

The Ohio National Guardsmen who fired on students and antiwar protesters at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, were given an order to "prepare to fire," according to two experts who analyzed a 40-year-old audio tape of the day's tragic events for The Plain Dealer, a newspaper in Cleveland. Such a command could explain a mystery in the case: Why did 28 Guardsmen pivot in unison, raise their weapons, and fire 67 times? Several witnesses said at the time that they heard something that sounded like an order to fire, but most of the soldiers who acknowledged using their weapons later testified that they acted spontaneously.

Doris Krause, the mother of one of the four students who died, said a prepare-to-fire command "had to be," but wished "there was better proof." William Gordon, author of an exhaustive 1995 book on the shootings, Four Dead in Ohio, said the new analysis was potentially ...

At the request of a state senator whose son has an interest in the case, Wisconsin's Legislative Audit Bureau has started an inquiry into whether the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point has complied with state law and university policy on the oversight of student fees, the Associated Press reported. The office of the Senate majority leader, Russ Decker, said the senator had requested the audit after being contacted by several students. His son, Jeffrey Decker, is a former student who for years has accused campus administrators of reducing the role of students in deciding how their fees are spent.

The University of North Dakota has started the process of replacing its Fighting Sioux nickname and mascot, The Grand Forks Herald reported. The university's president outlined the transition process today, announcing the appointment of two committees: one to consider how to honor "the history and traditions of the Sioux name and logo,” and another to “reach out" to students, alumni, and other constituent groups. A third group will be named to plan the process of selecting a new mascot. For the coming year, though, the controversial imagery will still be seen on jerseys and other gear. Equipment for next fall has already been ordered.

The American Association of University Professors and the ACLU of Virginia are urging the University of Virginia to fight a demand from the attorney general of Virginia for documents related to research by a former professor, the climate scientist Michael E. Mann. The attorney general is seeking a wide range of documents related to grants Mr. Mann sought while at Virginia, including correspondence between him and 39 other scientists. Rachel Levinson, senior counsel with the AAUP, said the breadth of the request "suggests that it is meant to intimidate faculty members and discourage them from pursuing politically controversial work." She criticized the "injection of politics into the academic arena" as counter to the interests of scholars "and to the public interest as a whole in vigorous debate.” A spokeswoman for UVa told The Washington Post that the university would "respond to the...

Marquette University has withdrawn an employment offer it made to a prospective new dean for its College of Arts and Sciences, provoking sharp criticism from several faculty members who see the move as a blow to academic freedom and diversity at the Jesuit institution, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The rejected hiree, Jodi O'Brien, is a sociologist at Seattle University and a lesbian who has written about gender and sexual-identity issues. A university spokeswoman said the withdrawal was not about the quality of Ms. O'Brien's scholarly work or her sexual identity, but about how some of her writings related "to Catholic mission and identity." Faculty critics are not convinced. Nancy E. Snow, a philosophy professor, said she believes the move is "all about her sexual orientation" and was motivated by fears of upsetting donors.

In an e-mail message to the Associated Press, Ms....

Overspending on presidents' houses continues to haunt the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University. In a report released on Wednesday, the state auditor faulted both institutions for failing to monitor capital projects adequately, and singled out missteps in those projects and others for criticism, The Forum, a newspaper in Fargo, reported. In a section on North Dakota State, the auditor's report lists examples of extras that added to the cost of the house, including heated sidewalks, automated blinds in the bedrooms, and outdoor restrooms, and notes that the project remains unfinished. A public uproar over the house contributed to Joseph A. Chapman's decision to resign as president of North Dakota State last year. In January he talked to The Chronicle about the controversy.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked one-day furloughs scheduled for next week for employees of New York State, including public-university professors, The New York Times reported. Unions representing more than 50,000 faculty and staff members at the State University of New York and the City University of New York had filed legal challenges to the furlough plan, which Gov. David A. Paterson says is necessary to keep the state from running out of money this month. In an order issued on Wednesday, Judge Lawrence E. Kahn of the U.S. District Court in Albany also barred Mr. Paterson from seeking any further furloughs pending a hearing set for May 26.

Drake College of Business, a for-profit higher-education company based in New Jersey, is suspending its practice of recruiting students from homeless shelters and offering them cash stipends based on attendance grades, Bloomberg News reported. The action comes nearly a week after Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported that Drake and other for-profit colleges were pressuring shelter residents to enroll and take out federal student loans to pay tuition. In an e-mail message to Bloomberg News today, Drake's president, Ziad Fadel, said that the college's recruiters had done nothing illegal or unethical, but that Drake was halting any recruiting at shelters while its accreditor examined the practice.

A federal judge has ordered a former professor at the University of Nevada at Reno and his former lawyer to pay more than $1.2-million to reimburse the state for the cost of defending lawsuits against the university, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported. The professor, Hussein S. Hussein, "transformed what could have and should have been a straightforward employment matter into a full-scale assault against nearly everyone who crossed his path at the university,” U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan wrote in his order. The university fired Mr. Hussein in 2008. Neither he nor his former lawyer, Jeffrey Dickerson, could be reached for comment.