University of Minnesota’s proposed free speech protections would be “the most comprehensive to date”

Last week the University of Minnesota Senate began to take up the issue of free speech on campus. The proposed statement condemns efforts to shut down controversial speakers and declares free speech paramount to other values like maintaining a positive campus “climate.” During the meeting, one faculty member also called for “discursive affirmative action” to correct perceived imbalances of power and influence among speakers, a concept explicitly rejected by the core principles draft.  

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Hearing Officer Awards $175K to Harassed MSU-Northern Dean

Diverse Issues in Higher Education

HAVRE, Mont. ― A hearing officer with the Montana Human Rights Commission has awarded $175,000 to a dean at Montana State University-Northern who complained that the former provost sexually harassed him.

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Survey: African-American students cite poor diversity in turning down UC

By Fermin Leal, EdSource

Many African-American students admitted to University of California campuses said they chose to enroll at other universities because of the UC system’s lack of diversity, its high costs to attend and poor outreach to them while they applied, according to a new UC survey.

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Victory is Defeat: The Ironic Consequence of Justice Scalia's Death for Fisher v. University of Texas

By Vinay Harpalani, Savannah Law School

With the recent death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the U.S. Supreme Court would seemingly be at a 4-4 impasse on many charged cases. However, in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin II — the pending case about race-conscious university admissions at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), Justice Scalia’s death actually eliminates the possibility of a tie, because Justice Elena Kagan recused herself from the case. Seven Justices will now decide the fate of Fisher II, with Justice Anthony Kennedy in his usual role of swing vote. If Kennedy votes to strike down UT’s race-conscious admissions policy, then Scalia’s absence will not matter much. Under that scenario, Kennedy’s opinion would control Fisher II either with Scalia (5-3 vote, commanding a majority on the Court) or without him (4-3 majority on the Court). Either of these would reverse the 5th Circuit and set precedent. However, if Kennedy votes to uphold UT’s policy, then Scalia’s absence matters, because rather than a 4-4 tie with no precedential value, Kennedy could write a 4-3 majority opinion. Moreover, because UT’s policy is more modest than the University of Michigan Law School policy upheld in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), Kennedy could actually uphold it and still further limit the scope of constitutionally acceptable race-conscious admissions policies. If that happens, proponents of affirmative action will have to wonder whether to call it victory or defeat.

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Gender Pay Gap Grows For College Graduates: Women Now Earning $8,000 Less Than Male Peers

By Lydia Tomkiw, International Business Times

There’s more bad news for women about the gender pay gap. Although more women are graduating from American colleges and universities than ever before, they are still being paid less than their male counterparts when they enter the workforce, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) indicated in a new report Thursday.

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Related content:

• Why Women Job Hope More Than Men (Fast Company)

Justice Dept. Slams U. of New Mexico Over Sexual-Assault Policies

The Chronicle of Higher Education

The U.S. Department of Justice has found that the University of New Mexico violates federal law in how it responds to reports of sexual harassment and assault, the department said on Friday in a news release. <> Read the story here.

UC president calls for stronger steps in faculty sexual harassment cases

By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times

A review of sexual harassment policies involving faculty at the University of California has failed to make sure that investigations are effective, cases are consistently handled and sanctions are strong enough to fit the offense, according to UC President Janet Napolitano.

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Related content:

• University Officials Face History of Sexual Harassment Allegations (DiversityInc)
• More Review of U of California Harassment Investigations (Inside Higher Ed)

Race, Graffiti and an Arrest

U of Wisconsin police pull black student from class to arrest him for allegedly spray-painting anti-racist messages across campus, prompting criticism that university cares more about graffiti than bigotry.

By Jake New, Inside Higher Ed

Prompting widespread anger from faculty and students, University of Wisconsin at Madison police on Thursday pulled a black student from class and arrested him for allegedly spray-painting anti-racist messages across campus.

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Related content:

• Diversifying the Humanities (Inside Higher Ed)
• Inside How Missouri’s Leadership Scrambled to Quell a Campus Crisis (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

Brigham Young Student Who Sought Immunity for Assault Victims Files Title IX Complaint

The Chronicle of Higher Education

The Brigham Young University student who started an online petition to demand that an immunity clause for victims of sexual assault be added to the Mormon institution’s strict honor code has now filed a federal Title IX complaint against the university, the Huffington Post reports.

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Related content:

• At Brigham Young, a Cost in Reporting a Rape (The New York Times)
• As Protests Grow, BYU Releases Unusual Video to Defend Sex-Assault Response (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

Beyond a Deficit View

Administrators and faculty members desperately need a new language to characterize minority, low-income and first-generation students -- one that frees us from dependence on labels such as “disadvantaged,” argues Byron P. White.

By Byron P. White, Inside Higher Ed

One of the most perplexing features of the studies and reports on student success that have emerged in recent years in higher education is that many are dominated by discussion of student failure. Often, these documents included a section with a title like “Barriers to Persistence and Completion.” These narratives fixate on factors that identify students as “at-risk,” “vulnerable” or “disadvantaged.”

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Related content:

• How Colleges Are Turning Their Racist Pasts Into Teaching Opportunities (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
• How One University Took Its Student Protesters Seriously (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
• One University’s Response to Students’ Demands on Race: Radical Transparency (The Chronicle of Higher Education - requires paid subscription)
• What Lawmakers in One State Talk About When They Talk About Diversity (The Chronicle of Higher Education - requires paid subscription)

Is Affirmative Action Failing the Students It Was Designed For?

By Kevin Brown, Diverse Issues in Higher Education

According to the 1960 census, Whites constituted 88.8 percent of all Americans, with an additional 10.6 percent classified as Black. In addition, less than 1 percent of Blacks who were married were married outside of the race and interracial marriage was still illegal in over 20 states. Also, the 125,000 foreign-born Blacks in the United States comprised only 0.7 percent of the Black population.

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Related content:

• Students, staff of color critical to institutional success (Education Dive)

Are Colleges Too Obsessed with Smartness?

By Eric Hoover, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Alexander W. Astin has something to say — a lot to say, really — about smartness. He knows some people won’t want to hear it, especially if they happen to teach college students for a living.

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Related content:

• In Admission Decisions, the Deciders’ Own Backgrounds Play a Big Role (The Chronicle of Higher Education - requires paid subscription)
• After Protests Over Race, Kansas Experiments with a Multicultural Student Governments (The Chronicle of Higher Education - requires paid subscription)

Illinois reaches settlements with Tim Beckman, former women's basketball players

By Shannon Ryan, Chicago Tribune

Illinois has reached financial settlements totaling $625,000 with former football coach Tim Beckman and seven former women's basketball players, the university said in separate news releases Tuesday.

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The Pillaging of America's State Universities

The financial struggle of public research institutions may be a matter of choice—not necessity, as public leaders say.

By Jonathan Cole, The Atlantic

America’s great public research universities, which produce path-breaking discoveries and train some of the country’s most talented young students, are under siege. The result may be a significant weakening of the nation’s preeminence in higher education. Dramatic cuts in public spending for state flagship universities seem to be at odds with widespread public sentiment. Americans say they strongly believe in exceptional educational systems; they want their kids to attend excellent and selective colleges and to get good, well-paying, prestigious jobs. They also support university research. After 15 years of surveys, Research! America found in 2015 that 70 percent of American adults supported government-sponsored basic scientific research like that produced by public universities, while a significant plurality (44 percent) supported paying higher taxes for medical research designed to cure diseases like cancer or Alzheimer’s. Nonetheless, many state legislators seem to be ignoring public opinion as they essentially starve some of the best universities—those that educate about two-thirds of American college students.

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NADOHE, Higher Education Organizations Announce Opposition to “Religious Freedom” Laws

By Alexandra Vollman, INSIGHT Into Diversity

In reaction to a string of recently approved and proposed “religious freedom” bills by legislatures in a handful of southern states, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) released a statement, along with three other organizations, announcing its opposition to these laws, which many say legalize discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

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Colleges Spending Millions to Deal With Sexual Misconduct Complaints

By Anemona Hartocollis The New York Times

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In a brightly lit classroom here at Harvard, Mia Karvonides was trying to explain to a group of bemused student leaders the difference between a romantic encounter and “unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature,” as the university’s relatively new code of sexual misconduct defines it.

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Related content:

• UC Berkeley Again Accused of Being Soft on Harassment (Inside Higher Ed)
• April is Sexual Awareness Month (National Sexual Violence Resource Center)
• Community Colleges Face Special Challenges in Complying with Title IX (The Chronicle of Higher Education - requires paid subscription)

How an Attempt to Boost Diversity at Texas Colleges Could Kill Affirmative Action

By by Matthew Watkins and Neena Satija, Texas Tribune

On Dec. 9, a lawyer for Abigail Fisher stood before the U.S. Supreme Court ready to argue that the University of Texas at Austin was discriminating against white applicants.

He planned to make the case that his client was unfairly denied admission into the university because of her race. And affirmative action opponents hoped that Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin would bring an end to the use of race as a factor in college admissions.

But less than 90 seconds into his introduction, Fisher’s lawyer was interrupted by a question about Texas’ Top 10 Percent Rule. And for much of the next hour, the justices and attorneys argued over the intricacies of the state’s unusual college admissions law, which guarantees a spot in any state college to Texans who graduate near the top of their high school senior class.

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Title IX as a Threat to Academic Freedom

AAUP attempts to reframe debate and put focus on due process and the importance of faculty freedom of speech.

By Colleen Flaherty

The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights brought needed attention to the problem of sexual assault and harassment on college campuses with its 2011 letter telling institutions to enforce the law. But in so doing, the office has created a slew of new problems with implications for free speech and academic freedom. That’s the premise of a lengthy new report from the American Association of University Professors.

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Related content:

• Tenure Rights and the Rise of Title IX: a Looming Culture Clash (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
• Title IX Interpretations Could Threaten Academic Freedom, Report Says (The Harvard Crimson)
• AAUP Slams Education Dept. and Colleges Over Title IX Enforcement (Chronicle of Higher Education)

ED Secretary: U.S. Higher Ed Becoming ‘Caste System’

By Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Diverse Issues in Higher Education

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King praised colleges and universities that do an exceptional job when it comes to admitting and graduating students who rely on Pell Grants but also called on leaders of those institutions to do more to encourage others to follow suit.

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Higher Ed Leaders See Modest Salary Increases, but Gender Disparity Emerges as a Key Issue

By David Bellm, HigherEdJobs

Senior leaders in higher education saw pay raises this academic year, but the rate of increase dropped somewhat and is accompanied by a sharpening salary gap between genders, according to the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR).

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