The author reports on the ruling of a divided appellate court that held that the state law unconstitutionally made it harder for minorities to seek preferences than for other groups. The court struck down a voter-passed ban on the use of race-conscious admissions by Michigan's public colleges, holding that the measure had unconstitutionally put…

Recent court rulings have challenged the long-held concept of academic freedom for faculty members. As an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Kevin J. Renken says he felt obliged to speak out about his belief that administrators there were mishandling a National Science Foundation grant to him…

The status of Michigan's new ban on affirmative-action preferences remained uncertain last week as lawyers fought over whether the measure should be enforced immediately, down the road, or never. Proposal 2, approved by 58 percent of Michigan voters in the November 7 elections, amends the state's Constitution to bar public colleges and other state…

A Texas court's recent ruling that allowed a negligence lawsuit to proceed against 12 former administrators at Texas A&M University has some higher-education legal experts concerned about campus officials' liability in a variety of situations, including fraternity initiations, housing accidents, and student suicides. The decision was in favor…

In 1991 three Christian students sued the University of Virginia after they were denied funds for their evangelical newspaper. The students said the case was about free speech; the university argued it was about separation of church and state. The U.S. Supreme Court found in favor of the students, a landmark ruling that guaranteed equal treatment…

Born out of one legal battle over affirmative action, the Texas college-admissions policy known as the "top 10 percent plan" is now at the center of another. The University of Texas at Austin is being challenged in U.S. District Court over its 2004 decision to return to using race-conscious admissions criteria after years without them.…

Discusses how two affirmative action cases before the Supreme Court involving a public university (the University of Michigan) are expected to also affect private colleges in terms of admissions and financial aid. (EV)

Reports on ongoing efforts in Mississippi and Maryland to integrate public colleges 47 years after "separate but equal" was declared unconstitutional. Notes controversy over the role of historically black colleges. In 10 states continuing college desegregation cases are in the courts. A graphic summarizes the status of these cases by…

The growing restiveness and political force of the Mexican-American population is strengthening state institutions in South Texas, whose enrollments are predominantly Mexican-American and who are fighting discrimination in the state legislature. (MSE)

The U.S. Justice Department is renewing its charge, overturned last year, that Alabama's public colleges are racially segregated, focusing on discrimination in individual programs receiving federal funds. (MSE)

In a major victory for civil rights groups, a federal appeals court has revived the lawsuit that forced the Education Department to monitor the desegregation of public colleges in 18 southern and border states, claiming the groups bringing the suit still had the legal standing to pursue it. (MSE)

The Supreme Court will not hear an appeal by a software publisher suing the University of California at Los Angeles for copying its computer programs, upholding state rights in copyright law. However, federal legislation paving the way for such suits in the future is being drafted. (MSE)

A federal appeals court decision suggests that public colleges may not be covered by the Constitution's 11th amendment prohibiting state governments from being sued in federal court. By the ruling, the institution loses immunity by having funds other than state appropriations with which to pay damages in the lawsuits. (MSE)

Throughout the nation, increased state appropriations to public colleges are common; at least seven states are giving double-digit percentage increases. Lawmakers are linking funding to state goals and demanding greater accountability, and governors are willing to veto expenditures they consider excessive. Other funding issues include tuition cuts…

Administrators at several public institutions have filed complaints with state labor relations boards, claiming that their faculty have managerial status and should be barred from collective bargaining, as in a 1980 Supreme Court case concerning the private Yeshiva University. (MSE)