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"Measuring graduation rates is indeed a charade. Yes, some programs have a “respectable” rate of graduating athletes, but these grads often take gut courses, major in fields that have little academic rigor (coaching, general studies), and are placed in courses taught by profs who wouldn’t recognize an academic standard if it slept in their bed. The whole enterprise ought to be called academic gerrymandering."
—Gary
NCAA Imposes Stiffer Penalties for Academic Performance of Midlevel Division I Teams
U. of Nevada at Reno, Facing Dozens of Lawsuits, Spends Big on Outside Legal Help
The university, which says most of the complaints are meritless, has spent about $1.7-million on lawyers to help in just four of the cases.
Canadian Panel to Investigate University's Halting of Controversial Research
The university had approved a study of assisted suicides, but changed its mind after getting legal opinions.
Dispute Over Academic Freedom Roils Turkish-Studies Institute
Some scholars say the Turkish government, which supports the center, forced a former board chairman to resign because of his published views on the massacre of Armenians in 1915.
U. of Evansville President Arrested on Drunken-Driving Charges
In a statement released today by the university, Stephen G. Jennings acknowledged making “a very serious mistake” and apologized.
Petitions Are Filed for Arizona and Nebraska Referenda on Affirmative Action
The backers of a similar measure in Colorado filed petitions months ago, but legal challenges may complicate such campaigns.
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November 27, 2007
New York Medical College Will Halt Use of Dogs in Labs
New York Medical College says it will no longer use live dogs in a physiology teaching lab, The Journal News reported today.
The institution had come under fire from students, animal-rights groups, and politicians for being the only medical college in the state to still use live animals in its teaching labs.
Beginning early next year, students will use simulators and echocardiography, or heart ultrasounds, in the first-year physiology lab, college officials announced on Monday.
Only 11 allopathic medical schools still use live animals in teaching, according to John J. Pippin, a cardiologist in Dallas who works with a group called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Karl Adler, president of the college, said high-tech substitutes now make it possible to teach students skills that they had been learning by opening a dog’s heart and watching it beat. “The reason why the dogs were used in the past is that the students could actually see a beating heart, and understand the physiology of how the heart works,” he said. “It’s the only internal organ where there’s actually movement that you can understand the physiology of.”
Beginning in 2008, students will use simulators that mimic cardiac arrest or the effects of a drug, and portable machines that allow them to attach electrodes to a student’s chest and watch the heart’s activity on a video monitor. —Katherine Mangan
Posted on Tuesday November 27, 2007 | Permalink |Comments
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In the future please remind me to ask the doctor where he/she went to medical school. I personally don’t want to receive treatment from anyone who has not been trained on living tissue. Computer programs are only as reliable as those who program them.
— Valerie Cole Nov 28, 12:02 PM #
Valerie, I don’t believe this story was meant to imply that the schools are eliminating EVERY form of medical education that might involve real tissue, and replacing them all with man-made computer programs.
I think there are clearly some purposes where computer simulations or alternative (non-invasive) forms of live observation can provide viable (pun not intended!) substitutes. For something as straightforward as observing the mechanics of a heartbeat: if you can use a portable monitor to watch your classmate’s real live heart tissue beating, then that seems vastly preferable to cutting open some poor animal just to make the same observation.
— Erin Nov 28, 06:19 PM #