Harvard University quietly started offering women-only gym hours early this semester. But since the news broke several weeks ago, it has prompted an onslaught of media attention. Harvard's move, however, is not unique. In recent years, women at several colleges across the country have requested women-only workout times. Some of those women have…

Welcome to the Centennial Conference: 11 small, private liberal-arts colleges in the mid-Atlantic region that belong to the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III, where there are no sports scholarships to lure top-notch players. Instead, the contest to recruit the best athletes--a high-stakes game that has long defined only the…

This article describes the result of a recent report from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) which has raised the hackles of some college officials who charge that the data are incomplete and that the NCAA has clouded the real fiscal value of sports programs. The study revealed the growing financial support colleges provide to…

Adelaide Zoo, already home to 3,400 animals representing nearly 300 species of exotic and native mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish, just acquired a new specimen: Homo exhibitionist. For 28 days, four sets of six volunteers get to spend a week living the life of an animal, foraging and playing and partying like it's 1999 million years ago. The…

Colleges are building luxurious wellness, fitness, and recreation centers in part to attract and retain students. They offer such features as rock-climbing walls, water slides, hot tubs, elevated tracks, massage rooms, racquetball courts, and wellness resource laboratories. Many college officials believe that investments in recreation are…

George Mason University's new Patriot Center arena is built and owned by the university but managed and in part designed by operators of a local sports and entertainment complex. This allows the university to have the arena's benefits without having to learn the business of operating it. (MSE)

The new student union at George Mason University (Virginia) integrates traditional functions (food services, meeting rooms, offices, study areas, bookstore) with recreational activities (movie theater, dance studios) and academic uses (library, department offices, classrooms). Administrators hope the facility will bring faculty, staff, and…

Cornell University (New York) plans to use the icy waters of nearby Cayuga Lake to air-condition the campus, but recognizes they can do so only with the community's cooperation. Critics fear the move will change the lake's ecological balance. The university's decision and a subsequent public relations campaign is viewed by some as arrogant. (MSE)