The Ticker

Pa. College Can Exclude Birth Control From Student Health Plan, Judge Rules

Nick DeSantis — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:59:56 +0000

Geneva College, in Beaver Falls, Pa., can offer its students a health-insurance plan that does not cover birth control, such as the morning-after pill, while it continues to challenge the new federal health-care law that requires insurers to pay for those options, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. The Christian college is one of many institutions that have filed lawsuits objecting to the law. Judge Joy Flowers Conti of the U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh first dismissed Geneva’s lawsuit, but reinstated it last month after agreeing with the college’s argument that it had to decide soon whether it would drop its student-health plan. Judge Conti’s ruling on Tuesday does not address the college’s employee plan because the health-care law will not require employee plans to cover the types of birth control in question until January.

Source: Post-gazette

While Geneva does not oppose contraception, its president, Kenneth Smith, said when the suit was filed, “It’s about the government requiring us and other religious organizations to provide services against which we have a religious and morally based conviction.”

Jury Awards Former Student $13-Million in Suit Against Vatterott College

Nick DeSantis — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:05:08 +0000

Jennifer Kerr had accused Vatterott College, a for-profit institution based in Missouri, of misleading her about what health-care degree program she was enrolled in. A jury in Missouri last week found in favor of Ms. Kerr, ordering Vatterott Educational Centers Inc. to pay the 42-year-old former student $27,676 in actual damages and $13-million in punitive damages. The punitive amount the jury awarded far exceeds the maximum allowed under state law, and Ms. Kerr’s lawyer said the decision is certain to be appealed.

Source: Kansascity

Vatterott was represented by James Monafo, a lawyer out of St. Louis with the Husch Blackwell firm. He referred calls to the school, which responded with an emailed statement:“We cannot comment on pending litigation. We are confident at Vatterott that our systems and admission processes are handled professionally. Our mission is to transform and better the lives of our students through quality, career education. We are proud of this mission and will continue to pursue it with professionalism and integrity.”

Missouri Southern State U. and Its President Part Ways

Xarissa Holdaway — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:16:33 +0000

Bruce Speck is no longer president of Missouri Southern State University, the institution’s Board of Governors announced in a terse statement on the university’s Web site. The board’s chairwoman, Sherry Buchanan, says in the statement that Mr. Speck is leaving “by mutual agreement” of the parties. According to The Joplin Globe, he had two years left on his contract. Neither Mr. Speck nor the university provided any details on the reasons for his departure or information on any severance package he will receive.

Mr. Speck had an early clash with the faculty during his five years in office. In 2009, a year after he was hired, the faculty voted no confidence in him, citing budget cuts and accusing him of withholding information from the faculty. Later, however, he received praise for having formed an agreement with the Red Cross, which resulted in the campus’s being used as a temporary refuge for people affected by the 2011 tornado in Joplin, which killed more than 150 people.

Departing North Dakota Chancellor Blasts 3 Campus Presidents

Brock Read — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:30:46 +0000

Hamid A. Shirvani lasted less than a year as chancellor of North Dakota’s university system before the State Board of Higher Education this month bought out his contract. But on his way out the door, Mr. Shirvani has taken the time to sharply criticize three campus presidents working under him.

The Dickinson Press reports that the departing chancellor has delivered damning performance reviews to the presidents of the University of North Dakota, North Dakota State University, and Minot State University. He urges that Robert O. Kelley and Dean Bresciani, the leaders at UND and NDSU, face “full 360 reviews” from outside groups. And he recommends that Mr. Kelley and David Fuller, the Minot State president, not receive raises.

Mr. Fuller, a staunch critic of Mr. Shirvani, received an especially harsh review. Mr. Shirvani chided the president for “a form of myopic leadership that has probably served you well among certain elements in Minot but reinforced among your peers a growing exasperation.”

During his tumultuous year as chancellor, Mr. Shirvani has been dogged by a rocky relationship with campus leaders, no-confidence votes, complaints to accreditors, and allegations that he circumvented open-records laws.

The higher-education board said that it would discuss the evaluations and that its conclusions might differ from Mr. Shirvani’s.

NYU’s Perks for Its Stars Include Loans for Vacation Homes

Charles Huckabee — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:02:45 +0000

John E. Sexton, the university’s controversial president, is among a handful of executives, deans, and faculty members who have received loans to help purchase expensive properties in the Hamptons, Fire Island, or Connecticut, The New York Times reports.

While it’s not unusual for selective institutions in expensive cities to help key professors or executives with home loans, aid in purchasing vacation properties is all but unheard of in higher education, several experts told the Times. Some called the practice a bold new frontier for lavish university compensation.

NYU’s considerable perks for executives made headlines this year during the confirmation hearings for Secretary of the Treasury Jacob J. Lew, a former executive vice president of the university.

Source: Nytimes

“That’s getting to be a little too sexy even for me, and I have a good sense of humor about these things,” said Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, a former president of George Washington University who has publicly defended high salaries for professors and university executives. “… I don’t think that’s prudent. I don’t mind paying someone a robust salary, but I think you have to be able to pass a red-face test.”

Transylvania U. President, Who Clashed With Faculty, Will Step Down Next Year

Charles Huckabee — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:23:37 +0000

The decision by the president, R. Owen Williams, came less than a month after the faculty overwhelmingly approved a resolution of no confidence in his leadership. Mr. Williams had, however, retained the support of the university’s Board of Trustees, which accepted his resignation “with regret.”

Source: Kentucky

R. Owen Williams (right) will leave at the end of the 2013-14 academic year after four years at the helm.

In an email to alumni on Monday, William T. Young Jr., chairman of the Lexington, Ky., institution’s Board of Trustees, urged the Transy community to work together in coming months.

“The differences that have divided us over the last few months are being addressed in good faith, and now it is time to put them behind us and move forward together,” Young wrote. “Transylvania will require all of our support even more in the competitive environment which we are facing today and will certainly face in the future.”

St. Mary’s College of Md. Names Interim President

Brock Read — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:05:48 +0000

Ian Newbould, who served most recently as interim provost at the University of Mary Washington, will take over the presidency from Joseph R. Urgo. Earlier this month Mr. Urgo, who had faced intense scrutiny over an enrollment shortfall of about 150 students, asked the college’s Board of Trustees not to renew his contract.

Source: Somdnews

The college is planning $3.5 million in budget cuts — some permanent and some temporary — to make up for the shortfall in tuition now expected next year.

U. of Missouri to Offer Benefits to Employees’ Domestic Partners

Brock Read — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:11:05 +0000

The University of Missouri’s Board of Curators has approved a plan to extend health insurance and other benefits to the same-sex or opposite-sex domestic partners of university employees. The shift in policy brings the flagship in line with several of its nearby competitors, including the University of Kentucky, whose benefits plan, adopted almost exactly six years ago, has been cited as a model for Missouri’s.

Source: Riverfronttimes

“They were at a distinct disadvantage in being able to recruit and retain staff and faculty,” A.J. Bockelman, executive director of PROMO, Missouri’s LGBT advocacy group, tells Daily RFT. “This has become fairly standard.”

Texas Governor Vetoes Bill That Sought to Rein In University Governing Boards

Charles Huckabee — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 08:56:34 +0000

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has vetoed a bill that sought to rein in some powers of the governing boards of the state’s public universities, The Texas Tribune reported.

The bill was crafted in response to friction between legislators and members of the University of Texas system’s Board of Regents over the board’s alleged “micromanaging” of the system’s flagship, at Austin, according to The Alcalde, the university’s alumni magazine. Legislators have been strong defenders of the flagship’s president, William C. Powers Jr., whose performance has been under scrutiny by the board, all of whose members were appointed by Governor Perry, a Republican.

The measure, Senate Bill 15, would bar regents from firing a campus president without first getting a recommendation from the university system’s chancellor. Other provisions would require that regents be appointed while the Legislature is in session, so lawmakers could review them earlier.

In a statement explaining his veto, Mr. Perry said that limiting the authority of a board of regents would be “a step in the wrong direction.”

Chinese Dissident Says NYU Is Forcing Him to Leave Over His Activism

Brock Read — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 02:19:34 +0000

[Updated (6/16/2013, 10:19 p.m.) with news of Mr. Chen's and NYU's statements on Sunday.]

Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese dissident who has spent the past year as a visiting fellow at New York University, said in a statement released on Sunday that he was being forced to leave that post at the end of the month because his outspoken criticism of China was hurting the university’s educational ventures there.

According to The New York Times, Mr. Chen, whose departure from China last year followed a diplomatic crisis, said in the statement that “the work of the Chinese Communists within academic circles in the United States is far greater than what people imagine, and some scholars have no option but to hold themselves back. Academic independence and academic freedom in the United States are being greatly threatened by a totalitarian regime.”

NYU has opened a liberal-arts campus in Shanghai, a move that has been controversial on its home campus, and NYU faculty members are engaged in research and other projects in China for which they need visas.

Word of Mr. Chen’s departure as involuntary was first reported last week by the New York Post, but the allegation was strongly denied by the professor who brokered the deal that had brought him to the United States.

NYU officials also vehemently denied the allegation. Mr. Chen’s stay at the university was never meant to be a long-term engagement, they told the Post. In a statement released on Sunday, NYU said it was “puzzled and saddened” by the accusations.

“We are very discouraged to learn of Mr. Chen’s statement, which contains a number of speculations about the role of the Chinese government in NYU’s decision making that are both false and contradicted by the well-established facts,” the statement said, according to the Times. An NYU spokesman said the university would continue to help Mr. Chen even after his one-year fellowship concludes.

The spokesman, John Beckman, said Mr. Chen’s departure “had nothing to do with the Chinese government—all fellowships come to an end.”

Mr. Chen’s statement did not specify how China had exerted pressure on NYU, and he refused an interview request from the Times. But friends of his interviewed by the newspaper said he had become frustrated over what he considered the university’s efforts to manage his activism, including meetings on Capitol Hill. The NYU statement said Mr. Chen had been provided with opportunities to “pursue his advocacy.”

A spokesman for Fordham University, in New York, told the Associated Press that Mr. Chen was “in negotiations” for an unspecified position at the university’s law school.

Mr. Chen found himself at the center of an international dispute last year, when he escaped house arrest in China and sought refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. The blind activist—who had pressed legal challenges in support of women who had suffered forced abortions—eventually made his way to the university thanks largely to the efforts of Jerome A. Cohen, an NYU law professor.

Mr. Cohen was even more forceful in denouncing suggestions of impropriety. “No political refugee, even Albert Einstein, has received better treatment by an American academic institution than that received by Chen from NYU,” he told The Washington Post.