'SUPERSTAR TEACHERS' ON TAPE
The Virginia-based Teaching Company sells adult-education courses on audiotape and videotape -- and pays good lecturers thousands of dollars to do the talking: A16

LAW SCHOOL CUTS FACULTY SLOTS
Declining enrollments have led the University of Detroit-Mercy to eliminate seven of its 25 full-time teaching positions: A18

• HARVARD UNIVERSITY has topped a ranking of research institutions that was compiled on the basis of how often the scholarship of its science and social-science professors was cited in major journals: A16

• A MUSIC PROFESSOR at the Eastman School of Music lost her tenure bid despite her efforts to broaden the audience for classical music: A16

• A LAW PROFESSOR fired by the University of Kansas for moral turpitude lost a part of his lawsuit against the university and 27 regents, administrators, and professors: A18

• BLUEFIELD STATE UNIVERSITY has been ordered to reinstate a professor whom it fired after he challenged its record on hiring minority people: A18

• PEER REVIEW: A70

  • The University of Georgia has made a key hire as part of its creation of a biotechnology program to improve the production of hogs and cattle.

  • The University of Virginia seems poised to lose more members of its law-school faculty.

'AUTOBIOGRAPHY' OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
New controversy over the legacy of the civil-rights leader is emerging with the publication of a narrative crafted by Clayborne Carson, a Stanford University historian and editor of King's papers: A19

NEW FRONTIERS IN AIDS STUDIES
Now that researchers have developed ways to treat the disease with an elaborate array of pills, scientists are working to simplify the regimens: A24

GENDER ROLES ON ELECTION DAY
Rebecca Edwards, a historian at Vassar College, has found that family values, particularly in regard to women, have long played an influential part in Presidential-election campaigns: A14

• SCIENTISTS have bred mutant fruit flies that can survive stress and live longer, in an effort to study the genetic basis of those abilities: A28

• EARTHQUAKES appear to trigger eruptions by distant volcanoes, a study has found: A28

• RELIGIOUS TEENAGERS tend to practice healthful behavior, according to two researchers at the University of Michigan: A28

• RESEARCHERS at Bellarmine College are investigating the effects of space travel on an artificial heart aboard the space shuttle that carried Sen. John Glenn into orbit: A12

• HOT TYPE: A26

  • The 50th anniversary of Harry S. Truman's upset victory over Thomas E. Dewey has prompted several new books.

  • A new volume on race and immigration in the United States takes a fresh look at whiteness studies.

  • Berklee Press has a new director and is offering new technologies, but its focus is still on music education.

• NEW SCHOLARLY BOOKS, briefly described: A29-31

  Nota Bene: Escapism, by Yi-Fu Tuan, a professor emeritus of geography at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The book is published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

• THE GETTY GRANT PROGRAM has announced the names of recipients of 1998-99 J. Paul Getty Postdoctoral Fellowships in the History of Art and the Humanities: A71

• THE SCHOMBURG CENTER for Research in Black Culture has awarded six 1998-99 fellowships through its Scholars-in-Residence Program: A71

• THE SPENCER FOUNDATION has announced the names of the 35 recipients of 1998 Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowships for Research Related to Education: A71

GETTING READY FOR ABILENE
The next-generation research network -- the world's fastest and least tested -- will be up and running in January, alongside other high-speed networks and the existing Internet: A33

IMPROVING ON-LINE VIDEO
Webcasts with high-quality sound and moving images could soon be a reality, if researchers succeed in developing technology that takes advantage of faster networks: A36

LAPTOPS FOR ALL
By forming partnerships with an Internet-service provider, a computer manufacturer, and others, two small Georgia colleges are offering portable computers to every student -- for a fee: A38

INTERNET FUND LIVES ON
In the mammoth new budget bill, Congress declined to block the National Science Foundation from using a $60-million account to make network grants to colleges: A40

'FATAL ERROR' MESSAGE ON GMAT
More than 400 business-school applicants were startled last month by a software glitch on the computerized test -- but testing officials insist that it didn't affect scores: A41

• THE NEW GROUP that is likely to take over the task of registering Internet addresses has named an interim leader: A33

• A SURVEY of distance-education students at Greenfield Community College found mixed views of the learning experience: A33

• A NEW WORLD-WIDE WEB SITE is designed to help history teachers and professors in the classroom: A43

• FOUR NEW MAGAZINES related to information technology and seven other Internet resources: A43

DEFAULTS ARE DOWN
The Clinton Administration announced the sixth consecutive annual drop in the rate at which borrowers of student loans fail to repay them: A45

• A list of institutions that could lose all or some eligibility for federal student-aid programs: A45

• Federal officials say some trade schools are using questionable methods to cut their default rates: A46

STATE AID FOR RELIGIOUS COLLEGES
A ruling by a federal appeals court may make it more difficult to bar sectarian institutions from programs that are designed to help private colleges: A48

A NEW SOURCE OF PORK
Congress raised the budget of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education so that it could support the pet projects of a number of lawmakers: A50

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE GAINS AT NIH
Despite opposition from many scientists, Congress has elevated the status of the division devoted to the controversial research field: A51

INTERNET FUND LIVES ON
In the mammoth new budget bill, Congress declined to block the National Science Foundation from using a $60-million account to make network grants to colleges: A40

A CUT FOR THE FULBRIGHT PROGRAM
Many officials involved in academic exchanges are disappointed by the final numbers that appeared in the federal budget for fiscal 1999: A67

• PENNSYLVANIA'S Secretary of Education is drawing fire for his role in an outside report that criticized the core curriculum at the state's public universities: A45

• NEBRASKA'S GOVERNOR, Ben Nelson, will continue his efforts to stanch the state's "brain drain" after he leaves office: A45

• A FEDERAL APPEALS COURT declined to reconsider a ruling that barred the University of Wisconsin at Madison from using mandatory student fees to finance political groups on the campus: A49

• THE ILLINOIS Community College Board voted unanimously to close Metropolitan Community College, a troubled two-year institution: A49

• A COMMITTEE of health-policy experts urged the elimination of federal aid to foreign medical students: A50

• THE AMERICAN COUNCIL on Education is starting a campaign to tell the public that college is affordable: A50

GIVING CAMPUSES 'CHARACTER'
Whether working for a research university or a community college, the architect Adam Gross goes for the green between the buildings: A52

• TIAA-CREF is offering its participants the option of voting their proxies electronically, to save money: A52

• A $39.5-MILLION GIFT from the foundation created by the founder of Wal-Mart has doubled the size of the University of the Ozarks' endowment: A52

• DREXEL UNIVERSITY has changed its mind and agreed to manage the bankrupt Allegheny University of the Health Sciences, in partnership with a health-care company: A56

• CORNELL UNIVERSITY has announced a $400-million campaign to improve the undergraduate curriculum and help insure the maintenance of need-blind admissions: A56

• THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA is suing an art foundation in Los Angeles, charging that it has tried to micromanage how a university museum displays artworks donated by the man who created the foundation: A12

• BOB JONES UNIVERSITY is threatening to arrest a gay alumnus if he sets foot on the South Carolina campus: A14

• FOUNDATION GRANTS; gifts and bequests: A56

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE WHEN ALCOHOL KILLS?
The Chronicle examines three cases in which students died after drinking heavily at fraternity events. Each incident raises the question of blame, which juries will soon be facing: A57-62

• Critics say the policies and inaction of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology contributed to the death of a freshman last year: A57

• A bar near Louisiana State University is the focus of criminal charges and civil lawsuits over whether it shares the blame for a student's death last year: A59

• The death of a fraternity pledge at the University of Iowa has renewed questions about the role that Greek organizations play in excessive drinking: A60

'FATAL ERROR' MESSAGE ON GMAT
More than 400 business-school applicants were startled last month by a software glitch on the computerized test -- but testing officials insist that it didn't affect scores: A41

• IN A RECENT ISSUE of Business Week, editors said they had foiled an attempt by some business-school students to inflate their schools' rankings in the magazine: A57

• ADMINISTRATORS at the University of New Hampshire criticized the student newspaper for publishing a steamy advertisement for condoms: A57

• STUDENTS at the University of Texas at Austin staged an overnight sit-in to protest what the called the university's lack of commitment to affirmative action: A12

• FIVE STUDENTS at Murray State University were among those indicted in connection with a dormitory fire that killed a student in September: A12

• STUDENTS at the University of Redlands played the part of radical 1960s protesters during the recent filming of a television miniseries on the campus: A14

COACH-PLAYER RELATIONS QUESTIONED
The women's soccer team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is No. 1, but its long-time coach is now facing a sexual-harassment lawsuit by some former players: A63

• THE NATIONAL COLLEGIATE Athletic Association is juggling a membership application by a Canadian institution, Simon Fraser University: A63

• DUKE UNIVERSITY is seeking to impose limits on the tent cities that sprout before every men's basketball game at home: A63

CLOSED DOORS FOR AFGHAN REFUGEES
Pakistan has shut down border institutions founded to educate people from Afghanistan, where the Taliban militia denies women the right to study: A65

A CUT FOR THE FULBRIGHT PROGRAM
Many officials involved in academic exchanges are disappointed by the final numbers that appeared in the federal budget for fiscal 1999: A67

NEW ZEALAND'S U-TURN
Under pressure to match the success of Australia in attracting fee-paying college students from Asia, the government has eased immigration laws: A68

THE ART OF WINEMAKING
At South Africa's University of Stellenbosch, several black students are hoping to earn degrees in the subject, but the institution's Afrikaans-language heritage remains an obstacle: B2

• THREE GROUPS involved in study-abroad programs have issued new guidelines to insure the health and safety of U.S. students overseas: A65

• ISRAELI SCHOLARS, intellectuals, and writers have mounted a successful effort to save the Bialik Institute, one of the country's most important academic presses: A65

• ISRAELI STUDENTS began a boycott of classes to demand a cut in tuition: A68

• A JAPANESE PANEL has urged major reforms in university governance, administration, evaluation, grading, and scheduling: A69

• CANADIAN GRADUATES in the humanities and social sciences do quite well in the job market, in contrast to popular perceptions, according to a new study: A69

• THE U.S. NATIONAL COLLEGIATE Athletic Association is juggling a membership application by a Canadian institution, Simon Fraser University: A63

• AN EXPATRIATE CHINESE researcher at Stanford University was detained in China 10 months ago, the university has confirmed: A14

PROFESSORS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Academics who remain remote from society's challenges will become irrelevant in the very arenas in which their findings might have the most impact, argues Carl Safina, a lecturer in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University and the director of the Living Oceans Program at the National Audubon Society: A80

REMEMBERING OKLAHOMA CITY
Edward T. Linenthal, a professor of religious studies at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, writes that efforts to plan a memorial to mark the deadly bombing have much to tell us about our attitudes toward historical memory: B4

RETHINKING FILM THEORY
Rather than weighty, postmodern analysts, the study of film needs more scholars who appreciate the medium's sensibility and understand it as art, says Gilberto Perez, a professor of film studies at Sarah Lawrence College: B6

ENCOURAGING ARTISTRY
Fine-arts schools and programs should provide their students with career skills, not just instruction in technique and theory, writes Daniel Grant, the author of books on careers in the arts: B8

• MARGINALIA: A12

• Freedom of speech for professors is "an axiom of academic life": B3
• Assessing programs that train teachers: B9
• Similarities in private and public education: B9
• South Dakota's version of proficiency exams: B9
• Using student fees for lobbying: B9
• Modern slavery in Africa: B9
• Venture-capital fund at University of Illinois: B9

NON-TRENDY TRIO
Collaborative works by William Allan, Robert Hudson, and William T. Wiley are on display at Florida International University's Art Museum: B120

RETHINKING FILM THEORY
Rather than weighty, postmodern analysts, the study of film needs more scholars who appreciate the medium's sensibility and understand it as art, says Gilberto Perez, a professor of film studies at Sarah Lawrence College: B6

• APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS on U.S. campuses.

• DEATHS of people in academe.

• COMING EVENTS: conferences, workshops, and seminars.

• DEADLINES for fellowships, grants, the submission of papers, and more.

DETAILS OF AVAILABLE POSTS, including teaching and research positions in higher education, administrative and executive jobs, and openings outside academe.