A new Congressional report calls for greater controls on the practice of medical ghostwriting, The New York Times reports. The report was issued this week by Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. It calls on medical journals, medical schools, and the National Institutes of Health to keep a closer watch on the widespread practice, in which prominent researchers are listed as authors of journal articles developed by third-party medical-education companies. The articles are often written by, or at least heavily influenced by, manufacturers of drugs and medical devices, but the connection usually isn't clear to readers. "Manipulation of medical literature could lead physicians to prescribe drugs that are more costly or may even harm patients," the report says.

Two schools of theology -- Andover Newton Theological School, outside Boston, and Unitarian Universalist Meadville Lombard Theological School, in Chicago -- announced on Tuesday that they were merging into an "interreligious 'theological university'" open to students of any faith, the Associated Press reported. The news, which follows an announcement two weeks ago that Claremont School of Theology, in California, would also offer training to Muslim and Jewish students, suggests a period of ferment among seminaries hit hard by the economic downturn. The new university, which will be based at Andover Newton, said that each constituent school would keep its faith identity and that the new institution was looking for other schools that might want to join as well.

A federal judge has tossed out the Institute for Creation Research Graduate School's lawsuit against the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board over the board's decision, in 2008, to reject the institute's bid to offer a master's degree in science education. In a ruling issued last Friday, Judge Sam Sparks of the U.S. District Court in Austin, Tex., dismissed the institute's lawsuit summarily, writing that it "has not put forth evidence sufficient to raise a genuine issue of material fact with respect to any claim it brings." According to the institute's Web site, its mission is to equip "believers with evidence of the Bible's accuracy and authority through scientific research, educational programs, and media presentations, all conducted within a thoroughly biblical framework."

In a victory for college bookstores and other retailers, Democratic negotiators in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate have reached agreement on a plan to limit the fees that banks charge merchants when their customers pay with debit cards. The language, which is part of a vast regulatory-reform bill being finalized by a House-Senate conference committee, would require the Federal Reserve to establish "reasonable and proportionate" fees for debit cards. In a concession to banks, the agreement would exempt prepaid cards and allow the Fed to take into account fraud-prevention costs when capping the fees.

Loyola Law School Los Angeles isn't the only law school to choose intentional grade inflation as the best way to make its alumni competitive in the grim race for jobs in the recessionary economy. According to today's New York Times, at least 10 law schools -- including those at Georgetown, New York, and Tulane Universities -- have taken the same step, with moves by lower-ranking institutions influencing the top-tier schools to do the same in order to preserve their status. And as The Chronicle reported last year, some schools are also providing a range of other services, from extended health insurance to special academic programs, to ease graduates' bumpy transition into the work force.

The Community College of Baltimore County will pay $50,000 to settle an age-discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The Baltimore Sun reported. The lawsuit said the college's Owings Mills campus had refused to hire a woman for a part-time English-as-a-second-language advisory post because she was 60 years old, according to a news release issued by the commission. The Maryland college will also require managers on the campus to undergo training in federal antidiscrimination laws and age-bias policies.

Harvard Medical School and five top teaching hospitals in Boston have reached an agreement in which the independent hospitals will provide the financially strapped medical school with more than $30-million over the next three years, The Boston Globe reported today. The medical school is unusual in American higher education for neither owning its own teaching hospital nor drawing significant financial support from one, even though its faculty members teach and conduct research at the Boston hospitals and they, in turn, benefit from connections with the Harvard name. The medical school hopes to reach similar agreements with 12 other teaching hospitals, bringing the total three-year contribution to $36-million.

Faculty members and other nonclassified employees at public colleges across Arkansas will not receive pay raises they were expecting to get during the 2011 fiscal year after the director of the state's Department of Finance and Administration announced on Thursday that such raises would be suspended for state agencies, including colleges and universities. The state official, Richard Weiss, invoked a provision of Arkansas law that allows him to take such action based on revenue forecasts for the fiscal year, which begins on July 1. The situation was described in a news release issued by Arkansas State University at Jonesboro and in an article published in the Log Cabin Democrat.

The No. 3 administrator at Texas A&M University's flagship campus resigned today after The Bryan College Station Eagle, a local newspaper, raised questions about two claims on his résumé. The official, Alexander Kemos, who was senior vice president for administration, stated on his résumé that he had been a Navy SEAL and had earned a doctorate at Tufts University. According to the newspaper, Navy records showed that Mr. Kemos had never served in the elite military unit and Tufts records showed he had not completed his master's degree, let alone his doctorate. A master's degree is a requirement for the $300,000-a-year job at A&M. Mr. Kemos did not immediately respond to the paper's request for comment.

The Alabama Supreme Court has upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss a lawsuit against Alabama A&M University by Robert R. Jennings, who was fired as its president in 2008. According to The Huntsville Times, the Supreme Court decided unanimously today not to review a circuit-court judge's 2009 ruling to throw out the case. Mr. Jennings was fired for what the university's board said was a failure to follow procedure. In his lawsuit, Mr. Jennings denied the allegations and said the board had acted illegally in dismissing him. The Supreme Court did not issue a written decision.