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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 that 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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February 13, 2008
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Passes Study-Abroad Bill
Washington — After months of inertia, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee today passed the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act, which would expand nearly fivefold the number of college students who participate in overseas education.
The House of Representatives approved the bill last June. It was introduced by Rep. Tom Lantos, a Democrat of California, who died on Monday. The Foreign Relations Committee passed the House’s version of the bill.
The legislation would create a foundation whose goal would be to send one million American students abroad each year within the next 10 years. Only 224,000 students studied abroad during the 2005 academic year, the latest for which figures are available.
The bill would authorize Congress to appropriate $80-million annually for the foundation, which would distribute the money largely in the form of grants to students through universities and other study-abroad providers.
One of the bill’s goals is to bring more diversity to study abroad, both in terms of where students travel and who goes overseas. It seeks to raise the number of community-college, low-income, and minority students who study abroad, and increase the number of students who go to developing countries.
The bill has received the backing of international-education groups as well as an advisory panel convened by the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security. The panel was charged with helping the departments maintain secure borders while ensuring that the country remains open to international visitors.
The bill, which has strong bipartisan support in the Senate, must now be voted on by the full Senate. —Beth McMurtrie
Posted on Wednesday February 13, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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Oh Great, now there will be enough kids on the French Riviera to put together a “Girls gone wild” episode! Yep, it’s ridiculous crap like this bill that’ll turn me into a tax protester. My tax dollars should be used to teach these “minority” students to read and write. If there’s any money left over maybe we can attempt to teach them to add and subtract. Anything other than that is nothing more than another socialist attempt to redistribute our wealth; and I am oh so sick of it.
— Joseph Spretnjak Feb 14, 10:04 AM #
Joseph’s response is not the one I expected. In fact, the more American students study abroad, the more aware we as a nation become of the fact that we are not the world’s wise men or paternalistic uncles or superior race. Bush-Chaney-Wolfowitz seem to have had that impression. The emphasis in this bill on encouraging poor and minority students to study abroad is particularly welcome; in my experience, the poorer the student and the more socially or economically marginalized, the more he/she benefits from a semester abroad. I only wish we could do something to overcome the dollar-euro disparity that is impeding Americans of all sorts from traveling in Europe.
— Burt Feb 14, 11:09 AM #
3. I totally agree with you on this issue. Seing the world gives you the big picture and a new respect for the world. It gives you wisdom and humility and an awareness that there are many ways of solving problems. It opens your horizons. The more traveled, the better read person is less likely to be a fanatic or presumptious or be selfrighteous and believe there is only one way to solve issues. We have so much more that unites us than that divides us. How do you know what kind of world we live in unless you experience it first hand?
Seing the world helps you understand it and appreciate it. It enriches your concept of what it means to be a human on this earth at this time. Certainly, sometimes it will puzzle you or sadden you. It will always amaze you. The bottom line is you will see it as it is. That truth will set you free. Free to form your very own opinion. Eventually it will help define you to be your very own unique person. Hopefully, this knowledge will graduate you to your very place in this world, what your unique contribution will be to this world. What a blessing!
— Mahire Feb 19, 11:48 AM #