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"Some college administrators seem so distracted with fund raising, academic infighting, and community initiatives that they set up their emergency communications departments very poorly. Training is poor to nonexistent, secretaries are pressed into service with tremendous responsibilities for running 'notification systems' 24/7 and on weekends because no one else knows how to do it and the administration won’t pay for additional staff. Procedures are seat-of-the-pants and dependent on HIPPO (highest paid person’s opinion), except when something like Virginia Tech happens and there is some sort of scramble to do something different." --Donna
Most Colleges Avoid Risk Management, Report Says
Jill Biden Shines a Global Spotlight on American Community Colleges
Speaking at a Unesco conference in Paris, the vice president’s wife stressed the importance of two-year institutions to the nation’s educational goals.
Connecticut Public Colleges Lose 200 Professors to Early Retirement
Administrators are scrambling to plug holes in their course schedules for fall, with most expecting to do so by hiring more adjuncts or increasing class sizes.
U. of Georgia Paid 2 Fraternities $2.4-Million to Relocate, Contracts Show
The two were among five with houses on property where the university plans to build new academic facilities.
New Allegations in Admissions Controversy at U. of Illinois Suggest Ex-Provost Played a Role
Linda P.B. Katehi, the incoming chancellor of the University of California at Davis, has insisted she knew nothing of the admission of politically connected applicants at Illinois.
Sonoma State U. Foundation May Lose $350,000 on Loan to Former Board Member
The foundation will be forced to issue fewer scholarships in the 2010-11 academic year because of a diminished endowment, a university official said.
College Suspends Student for Working in Gay Pornography | 58
President Obama's Visit to Notre Dame Carries Barely a Hint of Controversy That Preceded It | 58
Drug Sting Nabs 21 Students at U. of Illinois | 57
Faculty Members and Union Protest Staff Layoffs at Temple U. as 'Cruel' | 57
North Dakota Board's Vote Puts 'Fighting Sioux' Mascot on Thinner Ice | 57
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September 21, 2006
Education Department Works on Student-Record Database That Would Ease Privacy Concerns
The U.S. Education Department’s research division, the Institute of Education Sciences, is developing a database that would track students’ progress through college while protecting their privacy, the division’s director, Grover J. (Russ) Whitehurst, said this week. Speaking to the institute’s board, Mr. Whitehurst said the database would resolve many of the privacy concerns that derailed the Bush administration’s plan to create a “unit record” database using students’ Social Security numbers (The Chronicle, July 7).
Still, he told the board, “right now this is just a design exercise,” not a full-fledged program all but ready to roll out.
According to Mr. Whitehurst, here is how the new database would work: First, encrypted college-transcript data would be sent to a “trusted third party” outside of the Education Department. That party would know students’ names and Social Security numbers, but would not be able to decrypt the transcript information. The third party would strip the names and Social Security numbers from the data, and assign each student record a new identification number. It would return the revised record to the Education Department, which could then decrypt the transcript data.
The idea, Mr. Whitehurst explained, is that no one player would be able to see both the identifying data and the transcript data.
Mr. Whitehurst also said that the department was laying the groundwork for a major redesign of its College Opportunities Online Locator Web site, known as Cool. He said that the redesign would give students and parents the ability to create their own “league tables” of colleges based on the criteria important to them. The secretary of education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education recommended the creation of such a “searchable, consumer-friendly database” in its final draft report (The Chronicle, August 11).
Posted on Thursday September 21, 2006 | Permalink |
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