Andrew S. Rosen, the chief executive of Kaplan Inc., wrote to Education Secretary Arne Duncan this week, suggesting that by making the introductory portion of its programs "risk-free" and refunding the tuition, the company could counter criticism of how it recruits students. The letter, dated September 8 and reported late Friday by The Washington Post, was part of the company's official comments on the federal government's proposed new "gainful employment" rule.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell, of Connecticut, wants the Connecticut State University System to rescind recent raises given to top administrators, the the Connecticut Mirror reported Friday. In a letter to the chairman of the system's board of trustees, she wrote, "Frankly, I am at a loss to understand why, in these difficult financial times, the trustees would approve salary increases of as much as 8 percent, 10 percent, or 10.27 percent for people who are paid between $285,000 and $360,000 a year." The chairman later announced that the board's executive committee would meet Monday to discuss salary adjustments.

Northern Illinois University released a 300-page report this week that attempts to explain what led to the mass shooting on that campus in 2008 and summarizes the lessons the university learned during the crisis. On February 14, 2008, Steven Kazmierczak, a former graduate student, killed five people in a lecture hall before shooting himself to death. According to the Chicago Tribune, the new report includes a 27-page profile of the shooter, written by an independent psychologist, and provides a detailed account of his troubled life.

Amy Bishop's court-appointed lawyer says the professor accused of killing three of her colleagues appears to have paranoid schizophrenia and while she is "aware of what she's done" and is full of remorse, she can't remember the shootings. Roy W. Miller, the lawyer, told the Associated Press that her failure to get tenure at the University of Alabama at Huntsville was the likely key to the shootings.

"Obviously she was very distraught and concerned over that tenure," Mr. Miller said. "It insulted her and slapped her in the face, and it's probably tied in with the Harvard mentality. She brooded and brooded and brooded over it, and then, 'bingo.'"

A Northern Illinois University student was shot and wounded early this morning near a campus residence hall. The police took the alleged shooter into custody around 4:30 a.m., saying that it appeared to be "an isolated incident between two individuals," according to the university's Web site. Two years ago, a graduate student killed five students in a mass shooting at Northern Illinois before shooting himself to death.

By Robin Wilson

Huntsville, Ala.--David Williams, president of the University of Alabama's campus here, told an overflow crowd gathered at a campus prayer service this afternoon that people who were in the room when Amy Bishop is alleged to have shot her colleagues took "heroic actions" and "attempted to disarm their assailant."

Mr. Williams said those who tried to stop Ms. Bishop "saved their colleagues and friends from further harm."

In an interview after the service, Mr. Williams said he was referring to a single person who he said had tried to intervene to stop the shooting. But he said that person did not want to be named.

Mr. Williams told The Chronicle he couldn't talk about the shootings because the matter is "under legal review." He did say, though, that professors from across the University of Alabama system have offered to teach classes so that students in Huntsville's...

According to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Mike Leach, Texas Tech University's head football coach, ordered a player to stand in a shed for two hours because he felt the player was faking an injury. He then repeated the punishment two days later. Craig James, a former professional football player, confirmed to the Associated Press that it was his son, Adam, a wide receiver on the team, who was injured during a practice on December 16 and later complained about his treatment. The AP reported that Adam James suffered a concussion during a scrimmage.

The University of Hawaii and its faculty union have been negotiating for 15 months, but talks have stalled. According to the Honolulu Advertiser, President M.R.C. Greenwood wrote to professors on Monday to tell them that, given the budget deficit the university faces, it had no other viable option and would move forward with instituting its final offer.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is claiming a victory today, saying that the group's pressure has forced the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities to back away from what critics saw as a political litmus test for students in the education school. In a letter to the group, the university's general counsel wrote that "no university policy or practice ever will mandate any particular beliefs, or screen out people with 'wrong beliefs' from the university."