Economic news today is filled with discussion about whether the United States has entered a recession. For the author and other presidents of public colleges and universities, whether the downturn can be labeled a recession is far less important than dealing with the effects of economic conditions on institutions. During hard times, both public…

As state tax revenues plummet, some lawmakers and higher-education leaders are once again looking at loosening the bonds between state governments and public colleges to save money and give colleges the freedom to bolster their bottom lines in new ways. Over the past two decades, college officials have often lamented the growing need to secure…

This article talks about a course at Texas A&M University at College Station that teaches students how to detect spin in political blogs. In the new course, "Communication and Political Blogging," students are analyzing blogs from the far right of the political spectrum all the way to the far left. They are also writing their own…

Jeff Rickey is a numbers guy. But three years ago, a colleague asked him about something he'd never counted: applicants who came out of nowhere. The question intrigued Mr. Rickey, dean of admissions and financial aid at Earlham College in Indiana. He found that 17 percent of the college's applicants that year had not called, taken a tour, or…

High-school seniors have only until May 1 to decide where they will go to college. While it is still too soon to tell if widespread predictions that seniors will flock to lower-cost institutions were accurate, two new surveys and conversations with guidance counselors suggest that the economic situation is indeed playing a large role in students'…

With plans for a sweeping federal immigration bill stuck in Congress, Arizona and a growing number of states have decided to try to deal with the in-state-tuition issue themselves. This spring lawmakers in at least 22 states have already considered or are debating legislation concerning in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. In about half of…

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 case pending in a federal court of appeals in California may clarify a surprisingly murky question: Do faculty members at public universities enjoy a special privilege to speak freely about institutional matters, or, as far as the First Amendment is concerned, are they just another category of government hirelings? Juan Hong, a professor of…

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…

It is hardly a secret that the United Arab Emirates has recruited universities from around the world to set up outposts in the Persian Gulf. Less well known is that it is also tapping Western academics to run its public higher-education system. Westerners are also filling key positions on the faculty at these institutions and in government…

Wisconsin's stagnating state higher-education budget has forced the university to keep faculty salaries far below average. When professors get feelers from elsewhere, they learn that a move can easily mean a 100-percent salary increase--sometimes more. Budget problems have also depleted money for perks that keep faculty members on board--funds for…

Over the past decade, an increasing number of public institutions have raised the pay and benefits of presidents with contributions from private sources, including foundations. This article presents the findings of a survey conducted by "The Chronicle" that reflected this trend. The median compensation for public-university presidents included in…

Critics of affirmative action announced last week efforts to get bans on racial and ethnic preferences on the ballots in four states--Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, and Oklahoma--as part of a plan to thrust the issue into the national spotlight in the November 2008 elections. Ward Connerly, the prominent anti-affirmative-action activist who played a…

In the 1980s, when the "U.S. News & World Report" rankings of colleges were based solely on reputation, the nation's public universities were well represented at the top. However, as soon as the magazine began including its "measures of excellence," statistics intended to define quality, public universities nearly disappeared from the top. As the…

An analysis of spending trends that is designed to discourage policy makers' focus on finding new revenue rather than reining in spending suggests that the model for financing colleges has reinforced educational inequities and failed to increase the rate at which students graduate. According to the analysis, "serious fault lines" in the current…