In response to widespread criticism of its hiring of Rick O'Donnell, a proponent of controversial higher education reforms, as a special adviser to the University of Texas System Board of Regents, the system's leadership has decided to move him into a new position that will exist for only a matter of months. O'Donnell, the former executive director of Colorado's...Read More >>

A University of South Carolina benefactor ousted from the school's Board of Trustees shrugged off the snub Thursday and promised to give the school $5 million for a new aerospace research center. Gov. Nikki Haley removed Wall Street financier Darla Moore and replaced her with a campaign donor two weeks ago, saying the board needed a new perspective. The...Read More >>

The University of Iowa today defended its decision to pay an outside consultant more than a half-million dollars to help create a new job title and compensation system for 5,200 professional and scientific employees, many of whom are nervous about the change. The university paid Buck Consultants $106,000 to study the system and recommend an overhaul in 2007, and...Read More >>

Sports agent David Falk, who represented Michael Jordan and other top basketball players, has pledged $15 million to Syracuse University. In return, SU will change the name of the College of Human Ecology to the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, college officials said. The money from Falk and his wife, Rhonda, both SU graduates, will be used...Read More >>

Two weeks ago when Ohio State suspended football coach Jim Tressel for the first two games of the season for committing a major rules violation, the school president was asked if firing his enormously successful coach ever crossed his mind. "No, are you kidding me?" Ohio State President Gordon Gee said during a news conference. "I'm just hopeful that the coach...Read More >>

University of Connecticut trustees are launching a review of top officials' salaries after criticism over the paychecks of its top police brass. The board voted unanimously Wednesday to create a committee to compare UConn non-faculty employees' compensation against similar jobs elsewhere. It will also recommend ways to make the process of granting raises more...Read More >>

University of Massachusetts Amherst, seeking to reach out to immigrants, low-income families, and first-generation college students, will announce today a new effort to recruit community college graduates to the state university’s flagship campus. Starting this fall, UMass will offer students who transfer from Massachusetts community colleges with a minimum 2.5...Read More >>

The latest proposed drafts of the American Bar Association's law school accreditation standards are out, and they would change how schools report graduate employment information, impose tougher bar passage rate requirements and ease limits on the number credit hours students may take through distance education. The drafts retain controversial changes that have...Read More >>

California State University plans to enroll 10,000 fewer students next year, slash spending in the chancellor's office and reduce faculty and staff to contend with a proposed $500-million cut in state funding, officials said Tuesday. At a meeting of the Board of Trustees in Long Beach, Cal State administrators outlined a series of actions that will probably mean...Read More >>

A former adjunct professor of religion at Chestnut Hill College who was dismissed from his post because he is gay announced this afternoon that a settlement has been reached between himself and the Catholic-based institution. Father James St. George, 45, said in a statement issued by his publicist that he had reached "an amicable resolution with Chestnut Hill...Read More >>

A $100 million cash gift, the largest ever made to a Michigan college or university, will be used to give birth to a private medical school at a public institution--Western Michigan University. Announced today by WMU President John M. Dunn, the anonymous gift is among the 10 largest cash gifts ever made to an American public university and the 15th largest in the...Read More >>

A technology engineer who was forced to resign a prominent post at the University of Minnesota 11 years ago for misappropriating research money remains on the university's payroll at $112,660 a year, despite working full time for the federal government in Maryland. The dual employment of Dennis Polla is raising eyebrows at the State Capitol, where a deep budget...Read More >>

An Oakland psychologist has accused Pleasant Hill-based John F. Kennedy University in a federal lawsuit of unfairly firing her from an assistant professor job because she participated in a burlesque show. Sheila Addison sued the university, President Steven Stargardter and an affiliated company, National University Services LLC of San Diego, in federal court in...Read More >>

Indiana University is drafting plans to offer thousands of university employees a voluntary retirement buyout. School spokesman Larry MacIntyre tells WTHR-TV in Indianapolis that IU hopes to offer the proposal to eligible faculty and staff within the next month. The package will include part of the employee's salary and a health care bridge, but details are still...Read More >>

North Dakota State University President Dean Bresciani announced late Thursday that he will delay closing the campus child care center and ask faculty leaders to find a permanent solution. The announcement just before 10 p.m. Thursday came after Bresciani received numerous pleas from parents and faculty groups on campus and while employees were planning a rally to...Read More >>

A faculty panel at Widener University Law School in Wilmington has recommended that the college drop its effort to fire an associate professor accused of making violent and discriminatory statements during class, according to a letter signed by the committee. Lawrence J. Connell, 58, is accused of using hypothetical examples describing the shooting death of law...Read More >>

Longtime supporters and international philanthropists Dana and David Dornsife have given the largest endowment gift in University of Southern California history -- $200 million -- attaching their names to USC's College of Letters, Arts and Sciences in the process. It now will be called the USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences after a...Read More >>

The Catholic nun who stole more than $850,000 from Iona College pleaded guilty Wednesday in Manhattan federal court to embezzlement. Sister Marie Thornton, the former chief financial officer for the New Rochelle college, faces up to 10 years in prison, though sentencing guidelines will likely call for a term of three years or less. She was fired in 2009 after...Read More >>

The Metropolitan State College Board of Trustees this morning voted 5-2 to change the school's name to Denver State University. If the General Assembly approves the name change, students could be attending DSU as soon as fall 2012. Maria Garcia-Berry, who opposed the measure, said she is concerned the change could lead to a shift in the school's mission to...Read More >>

Two University of Minnesota professors were indicted Tuesday by a Georgia county grand jury for an alleged scheme to continue to receive payments from former employer Georgia Tech after starting work at the University. Francois Sainfort and wife Julie Jacko of the University’s School of Public Health each are facing several counts of conspiracy to defraud, theft...Read More >>

Ohio University professor Jay Gunasekera has settled a lawsuit over his role in a plagiarism scandal that has stained the school since 2004. Gunasekera will receive $32,501 in the settlement that was finalized Monday on top of the $118,238 that was awarded to him last month for attorney's fees. He was chairman of the Ohio University's mechanical-engineering...Read More >>

Less than two years after becoming president of Palm Beach Atlantic University, Lu Hardin resigned Friday. University officials said Hardin cited "personal and family reasons" for his abrupt departure. But Robert Simpson, chairman of the PBAU board of trustees, said the resignation could be related to an investigation at the University of Central Arkansas, where...Read More >>

William Carey University plans to reinstate its faculty senate, after at least a four-year period in which that governing body lay dormant. A 10-member faculty committee, appointed by the school administration last fall at the suggestion of several faculty members, voted unanimously to reinstate the senate. It had not met since the presidency of Larry Kennedy,...Read More >>

The Northwestern University professor who allowed a live sex demonstration on-campus last month issued a new statement on the controversial decision today, apologizing for "upsetting so many people" and vowing to "allow nothing like it to happen again" while still saying he sees "no harm" in what he did. J. Michael Bailey, a psychology professor, has been under...Read More >>

A Loyola University Chicago professor will serve a year's probation for his part in a scheme to plunder artifacts from an archaeological site in New Mexico, the U.S. attorney's office there said in a statement Tuesday. Daniel Amick pleaded guilty Friday to violating the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, admitting to removing 17 artifacts, including...Read More >>

In a move that infuriated some students, Chestnut Hill College abruptly terminated the teaching contract of an adjunct professor, saying his 15-year relationship with another man defied Roman Catholic Church teachings. The Rev. James St. George, 45, of Lansdale, was due to teach two courses - world religions, and theology and justice - starting Tuesday at the...Read More >>

Colby Bohannan said that when he first applied to college, his family didn't have a huge stockpile of money set aside to pay for school. He found many scholarships for women and minorities, but none aimed at people like him: white men. "I felt excluded," said Bohannan, a Texas State University student. "If everyone else can find scholarships, why are we left...Read More >>

Lambuth University in Jackson won a preliminary injunction in federal court this week, delaying loss of its accreditation while it struggles to remain afloat. The injunction issued Thursday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta returns the 168-year-old college to accreditation probation status with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Lambuth filed for...Read More >>

A retired professor at Wichita State University is honoring his late wife with a $300,000 gift that will fund graduate fellowships. The university announced the donation Friday from Ed Sawan, a professor emeritus of electrical engineering and computer science. The Maha Maggie Sawan Fellowship for International Students will fund two annual fellowships....Read More >>

The University of Louisiana System approved new rules Friday to let colleges layoff faculty, including tenured professors, more quickly and easily during times of budget cuts and academic program eliminations. Despite objections of faculty from UL System schools and LSU, UL System President Randy Moffett said campuses need flexibility during difficult financial...Read More >>

The $2.5 million beach house in Avalon is gone. So is the $500,000 home in Blue Bell. Stephen C. Greb's only home now is a prison cell. Greb, 59, was sentenced Tuesday to 55 to 111 months in prison for stealing about $5.6 million from his former employer, La Salle University. He was immediately escorted to jail. The money disappeared bit by bit, largely...Read More >>

About 20 current and retired faculty members at UC Davis have joined a group of 100 UC Irvine faculty members in asking the Orange County district attorney to drop criminal charges against 11 Muslim students who disrupted a speech by the Israeli ambassador to the United States. The UC Davis faculty members sent a letter to the district attorney’s office Tuesday...Read More >>

UW Health is investigating reports of doctors writing sick notes last weekend to excuse Capitol protesters from work, and the Wisconsin Medical Society has criticized the doctors' actions. "These charges are very serious," a statement by UW Health said. "These UW Health physicians were acting on their own and without the knowledge or approval of UW Health." The...Read More >>

As many as 1 million college students nationwide meet the criteria for alcohol dependency, according to studies measuring substance abuse. And a national study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in 2007 showed that about one-third of the 1.8 million admissions to alcohol and drug treatment programs are for people 18 to 29 years...Read More >>

For those who wonder how college tuition costs manage to keep rising year after year, apparently defying laws of economic gravity, Sewanee, a liberal arts college in Tennessee, has an answer: they can’t. On Wednesday, Sewanee announced that it will cut its $46,000 annual bill for students by 10 percent in the fall. The college, formally Sewanee: The...Read More >>

Facing the likelihood of budget cuts, Ohio University hopes to persuade 195 employees to take a buyout or early retirement, saving the school about $8.7 million a year. Trustees are to vote on the early separation plan - the first offered to faculty and staff members - at their Friday board meeting. Classified and administrative employees have typically been...Read More >>

A recent pay boost for Texas Tech football coach Tommy Tuberville has miffed some professors whose own pay has stagnated against a spartan state funding backdrop. Several professors at a faculty senate meeting Wednesday questioned the university’s January announcement it will increase Tuberville’s annual pay by $500,000 through 2015, one of the university’s...Read More >>

John O'Connor, the first-year head men's basketball coach at Holy Family, has been suspended pending an investigation into allegations that he assaulted a player. Tom Durso, a university spokesman, confirmed yesterday that the suspension was effective Thursday. He would not comment on the reason for the suspension, or for how long it would last. According to a...Read More >>

The University of Arizona — whose Tucson campus President Obama used for his nationwide address on civility after the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords last month — will announce on Monday that it is establishing an institute to promote compromise among opposing political parties and views, the organization’s director said on Sunday. The...Read More >>

The University of Iowa has started proceedings that could lead to the firing of a radiology professor who sent dozens of "prejudiced, insulting and inflammatory" e-mails to colleagues accusing them of being anti-Arab and threatening to sue and embarrass them, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. Dr. Malik Juweid compared his department's...Read More >>

A longtime Murray State University professor has decided to retire after referring to slavery while making a point about tardiness to two black students last semester, the school said Friday. Political science professor Mark Wattier has filed his retirement application with the state, with an effective date of March 1, university spokeswoman Catherine Sivills...Read More >>

A Loyola University Maryland economics professor is denying ties to a group that endorses a second Southern secession after he came under fire from a Missouri congressman because of the alleged association. Thomas DiLorenzo, a Loyola professor since 1992, was in Washington on Wednesday to testify at a House subcommittee hearing on the Federal Reserve Bank. But...Read More >>

A tenured economics professor at Colby College was forced to resign late last month after allegations surfaced that he set up a hidden surveillance camera to take photos of female students in a bathroom while chaperoning an international student trip, according to court documents. Philip H. Brown, an associate professor of economics who has taught at Colby since...Read More >>

Following up on a faculty salary equity study conducted on race and gender nine years ago, the University is preparing for another campus-wide review that will examine a wider variety of factors. Laurie McNeil, chairwoman of the committee, said the survey will aim to broaden the categories reviewed to gauge salary disparities, including the time it takes to reach...Read More >>

University of Alaska President Pat Gamble is recommending the system’s non-discrimination policies be changed to include sexual orientation as a protected status. Some UA students and employees have lobbied for the change for years, routinely speaking at Board of Regents meetings to request the policy be amended to include homosexual, bisexual and transgender...Read More >>

Metropolitan State College is considering a name change that could incorporate the word "university." In addition to it's current name, Metro is considering three new names: Metropolitan State University of Denver, University of Central Colorado and Denver State University. An assessment commissed by Metro last year found that the current name does not reflect...Read More >>

Stevens Institute of Technology has reached a deal to have its former president pay off more than $721,000 in controversial low-interest loans the school gave him to buy a Shore house and a vacation home in Vermont. Harold Raveché, who stepped down last year after 22 years as president, will use cash from his university retirement plan to settle the mortgages on...Read More >>

Mariana and Jorge, two Pitt County high school students, want to go to college, but their dreams are being threatened by legislation before the General Assembly. Mariana, a 10th-grader, and Jorge, an 11th-grader, were brought to the United States illegally by their parents. House Bill 11, introduced last week in the General Assembly, would prevent them from...Read More >>

In a unanimous vote Tuesday, state House members passed the Higher Education Transparency Act and will soon forward it to the state Senate for final approval. Under the proposed law, colleges and universities that receive state support will have to post a monthly register of expenditures online at an easy-to-find link on their websites. The law has had...Read More >>

Until now, tenured faculty at Nevada's universities have avoided the budget guillotine that has chopped away at the state budget. They escaped salary cuts during the past session due to rules governing their pay. So when Gov. Brian Sandoval asked all state workers to take a 5 percent pay cut, his office received lots of replies from state workers about tenured...Read More >>