A Guide to the February 2, 1996, Issue
of The Chronicle of Higher Education

INTERNATIONAL

ALSO IN THE U.S., A CLOSING AT STANFORD
The university's plan to eliminate a 75-year-old food-research center has dismayed its many supporters in developing countries worldwide.

IN ISRAEL, BONES OF CONTENTION
Archaeologists and rabbis are criticizing a proposal that would allow the Prime Minister to halt excavations of gravesites.

• IN GREECE, Education Minister George Papandreou may back off of plans to reform the country's higher-education system now that his father has resigned as Prime Minister.

• IN THE UNITED STATES, the University of Southern California is strengthening its ties to Asia in an effort to bolster its reputation as a "global university."

RESEARCH & PUBLISHING

BEYOND SHYLOCK
Shakespeare and the Jews, a new book by James Shapiro, a literature professor at Columbia University, explores the significance of anti-Semitic images in English society.

"DELIBERATIVE POLLING"
James S. Fishkin, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, sees research potential and promise of a better-informed citizenry in the results of a "National Issues Convention" held last month.

A QUESTION OF SEMANTICS
Slang and Sociability: In-Group Language Among College Students, by Connie Eble, a linguist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, argues that students' private language provides them with common social ground.

THE LANGUAGE THEY LIVE BY
Iceland's scholars are working to preserve their mother tongue out of respect for their nation's medieval past.

DEALING WITH DESPAIR
In Speaking of Sadness: Depression, Disconnection, and the Meaning of Illness, David A. Karp, a sociologist at Boston College, examines the disorder from the perspective of those who suffer from it -- himself included.

UNETHICAL RESEARCH
The federal government has been urged to take a stand against scientific journals that publish the results of studies conducted in violation of ethical rules.

• THE SHAKESPEARE FORUM has moved from the University of California's Berkeley campus to its Los Angeles campus.

• THE WINTER ISSUE of The Shakespeare Newsletter contains an article supporting the Bard's authorship of a poem attributed to him since 1981.

• A TWO-HEADED SNAPPING TURTLE that was donated to Thomas Nelson Community College has raised intriguing questions for researchers worldwide.

  HOT TYPE.

  • Steven C. Dubin, a sociologist at the State University of New York at Purchase, has been embroiled in a battle with Mattel Inc. over his scholarship on its Barbie doll.

  • Oxford University Press has been chastised by The Times of London for publishing Fetish: Fashion, Sex, and Power, by Valerie Steele.

  • The journal New Art Examiner has published its first book -- a 79-page compilation of essays from a 1994 conference on the artist in society.

• 71 NEW SCHOLARLY BOOKS, briefly described.

• Nota Bene: Going Negative: How Attack Ads Shrink and Polarize the Electorate, by Stephen Ansolabehere, an associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The book is published by the Free Press.

• FOUR SCHOLARS have won awards from Phi Beta Kappa for outstanding books in the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences and mathematics; all four are listed in this issue of The Chronicle.

PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS

QUESTIONS ABOUT CREDENTIALS
Jesse L. Burns has resigned as president of Edward Waters College amid reports that he had falsified his resume.

HIGH-TECH TUTORIALS
Brown University is conducting an experiment to see if on-line tutorials can teach organic chemistry as effectively as traditional classroom methods.

DEALING WITH DESPAIR
In Speaking of Sadness: Depression, Disconnection, and the Meaning of Illness, David A. Karp, a sociologist at Boston College, examines the disorder from the perspective of those who suffer from it -- himself included.

• DEREK WALCOTT, a Boston University professor who won the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature, has been accused for the third time of sexually harassing a student.

• THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS has issued a report asserting that heavier faculty workloads mandated by state lawmakers will not improve college education.

• A VALDOSTA STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR is denying allegations that he showed a student a nude photograph of himself.

• THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRON'S FACULTY SENATE has accused the institution of violating its own hiring policies.

• A LEGAL-WRITING INSTRUCTOR at the University of Pittsburgh is suing the institution because it has refused to provide health benefits to her same-sex partner.

• A NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for graduate and professional students has created an electronic job bank for its members.

• FEDERAL OFFICIALS ARE TRYING TO TRACE the origin of a mail bomb that was sent to an instructor at the University of California at Berkeley.

• A WINTHROP UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEE and a Winthrop student have been found guilty of changing grades for money.

• A FORMER PROFESSOR AT THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY has been indicted for smuggling medieval documents stolen from the Vatican.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

MAN, MEDICINE, AND MACHINE
Through the National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project, Internet users can view thousands of detailed anatomical maps of the human body.

• THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA shut off access to a student's World-Wide Web page last month because it contained links to pornographic images.

• A FORMER GEOLOGY PROFESSOR at Eastern Washington University has been indicted for receiving child pornography with his state-owned office computer.

• THE CREATORS OF JAVA, a new programming language for the Internet, are sponsoring a contest on "applet" programs.

• A SOCIOLOGY PROFESSOR AT TRINITY UNIVERSITY in Texas is using the World-Wide Web to help his students learn about death.

• THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER has developed an on-line resource center containing facts and figures about American higher education.

• COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY'S DIGITAL DANTE PROJECT has put the "Divine Comedy" on line; a Gopher service at Dartmouth College has commentaries about the 14th-century poem.

• ACADEMIC-COUNSELING GUIDEBOOKS can be consulted on line, thanks to a World-Wide Web site developed by a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin.

• A NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for graduate and professional students has created an electronic job bank for its members.

• A GUIDE TO WORLD-WIDE WEB SITES maintained by community colleges is now available on the Internet.

• EIGHT SOFTWARE PROGRAMS, Internet mailing lists, and other Internet resources.

FEDERAL & STATE GOVERNMENTS (U.S.A.)

UNETHICAL RESEARCH
The federal government has been urged to take a stand against scientific journals that publish the results of studies conducted in violation of ethical rules.

TOO MANY DOCTORS?
A panel of experts affiliated with the National Academy of Sciences has called for a freeze on enrollments at American medical schools and a ban on federal funds for foreign medical residents training in U.S. hospitals.

PAYING UP
The U.S. Education Department announced last week a sharp drop in the rate of student-loan defaults.

ANOTHER YEAR FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Richard C. Atkinson, president of the University of California system, plans to delay ending admissions policies based on race at the undergraduate level.

EFFICIENCY MOVES
Minnesota's public colleges gained more autonomy when Gov. Arne Carlson agreed last month to reduce state oversight.

• THE TEMPORARY FEDERAL-BUDGET AGREEMENT will increase the maximum Pell Grant award and bar government spending on human-embryo research.

• REGENTS AT NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY are taking flak from Gov. Gary Johnson for going on expensive trips to root for campus sports teams.

• BROWN UNIVERSITY IS BEING INVESTIGATED by the federal government over charges that its department of psychiatry and human behavior falsified information on a grant application.

• THE U.S. CONGRESS IS BACKING the University of Arizona's telescope project despite opposition from environmentalists and American Indians.

• GOV. M.J. FOSTER OF LOUISIANA has proposed a plan to split up the nation's only system of historically black public colleges.

• ALABAMA'S GOVERNOR, FOB JAMES, JR., has withdrawn his appeal of a 15-year-old college-desegregation lawsuit.

• CENTRAL STATE UNIVERSITY'S FACULTY UNION may challenge in court the budget cuts proposed by its interim president.

BUSINESS & PHILANTHROPY

TAKING THE BLAME
A report has faulted the Common Fund, which advises colleges on their investments, for not being sufficiently skeptical of a company that employed a rogue trader who lost $138-million.

"HAPPY EPIDEMIC"
Several colleges are benefiting from a series of surprise gifts from donors who were never solicited.

DIVERSIFYING THE WHARTON SCHOOL
Black alumni of the University of Pennsylvania's business school have endowed a professorship in the hope of attracting a leading black scholar.

• THE FOUNDER OF THE "NEW ERA" PHILANTHROPY, John G. Bennett, Jr., is giving up his house and car to help settle claims against the bankrupt fund.

• VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY'S Owen Graduate School of Management has received $33.5-million from a former American Express executive and his wife.

• CORNELL UNIVERSITY ANNOUNCED last week the end of a five-year capital campaign that brought in $1.5-billion.

• PINE MANOR COLLEGE has announced that it will cut in-state tuition by 38 per cent.

• SEVERAL EASTERN COLLEGES were forced to close or to evacuate students last week, when they were struck by floods caused by heavy rains and melting snow.

• THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA'S presidential residence was nearly destroyed by fire last month.

• A TWO-HEADED SNAPPING TURTLE that was donated to Thomas Nelson Community College has raised intriguing questions for researchers worldwide.

STUDENTS

A QUESTION OF SEMANTICS
Slang and Sociability: In-Group Language Among College Students, by Connie Eble, a linguist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, argues that students' private language provides them with common social ground.

LIVING UNDER ONE ROOF
The University of Toledo's International House helps students from around the world find common ground despite their cultural differences.

• DARTMOUTH COLLEGE'S BUSINESS SCHOOL has been accused by a former employee of inflating job-placement data on its graduates.

• PINE MANOR COLLEGE has announced that it will cut in-state tuition by 38 per cent.

• TWO OGLETHORPE UNIVERSITY SOPHOMORES won tickets to Super Bowl XXX in the National Tabletop Football Championship.

• MUMIA ABU-JAMAL, a death-row inmate convicted of killing a police officer, has earned a degree in Goddard College's off-campus, independent-study program.

• WHAT THEY'RE READING ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES: a list of best-selling books.

ATHLETICS

STANDARDS QUESTIONED
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has been told by a state court to restore the eligibility of a basketball player at California State University at Fresno.

• FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY WAS FOUND not to have committed major rules violations by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

• NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY IS INVESTIGATING anti-Semitic and racial insults aimed at a basketball coach from California State University at Long Beach and some of his players.

• REGENTS AT NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY are taking flak from Gov. Gary Johnson for going on expensive trips to root for campus sports teams.

• LEHIGH UNIVERSITY IS TAKING PRIDE in its first mascot -- the mountain hawk.

OPINION & LETTERS

LAW AND DISORDER
The education and licensing of lawyers must be overhauled to keep the supply of practitioners in line with the demand, writes Robert L. Potts, president of the University of North Alabama.

• MARGINALIA.

  LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

• Student lobbying and direct lending.
• Tenure and adjuncts in an imperfect world.

THE ARTS

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