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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
More Than 1,100 Colleges Join Yellow Ribbon Program for Military Veterans
A total of 1,165 colleges have signed up for a federal effort to help military veterans attend college.
Record-Setting Jury Verdict Could Mean (More) Profits for NYU
New York University’s 2007 patent-royalty sale anticipated the potential for further payments.
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.
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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May 31, 2007
Iran to Academics: Meet Foreigners and You May Be Accused of Spying
Iran has warned its academics that they risk being charged with spying it they attend conferences with Western scholars, according to The Guardian, a British newspaper. The warning was made in a briefing to journalists by the director of counterespionage at Iran’s powerful Intelligence Ministry, although the official remained unnamed. The move came at a time of rising tension between Iran and the United States, and followed the recent arrest of two Iranian-American scholars, Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh, on charges of spying for the United States.
The Iranian official said even decent Iranian academics were in danger of being lured into espionage networks at academic meetings. “We are worried about many academic conferences which foreigners attend and establish relations” with Iranian academics, the official said. “Any foreigner who establishes relations is not trustworthy. Through their approaches, they first establish an academic relationship, but this soon changes into an intelligence relationship.”
The Guardian reported that some Iranian scholars see the warning as a pretext for coming purges of faculty members deemed too liberal at the country’s universities. Such fears were raised a year ago, when some of the 40 or so faculty members chosen by the University of Tehran for obligatory retirements were thought to have been removed for ideological reasons.
In a related development, the Middle East Studies Association of North America issued what it called an “unprecedented” warning to American scholars considering travel to Iran. The statement said the group “is gravely concerned by the escalating pattern of harassment and detention of American academic researchers and scholars by the Iranian government, and believes that there are significant risks for researchers who intend to travel to Iran, especially those holding dual Iranian-American citizenship.” —Burton Bollag
Posted on Thursday May 31, 2007 | Permalink |
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