Rice University sets aside $33 million to settle price-fixing lawsuit [ Texas Tribune ]

The flava:

Rice University has set aside $33.75 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit filed against 17 prestigious
private universities across the country accused of illegally running a scheme that limited the amount of financial aid given to students, according to the school’s financial statements for last year.

The Houston-based university’s financial statement for last fiscal year, first reported by Inside Higher Ed and the Houston Chronicle, says the school will use the money to settle “a class action lawsuit in which it had been named a co-defendant along with sixteen other universities.”

The article:

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/19/rice-university-price-fixing-lawsuit/

And you think your students are bad with their phones in the classroom?

"He sat in this courthouse this morning. And while he was sitting there, he posted more defamatory statements, more lies about Ms. Carroll and this case. By our count, by our last count, 22 posts just today. Think about that. Think about that when you consider how much money will it take to get him to stop."

--Shawn Crowley, lawyer in defamation case

The article:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/e-jean-carroll-testify-damages-trial-donald-trump-expected-attendance-rcna134221

House Investigations of Harvard, Others Mark a ‘Watershed Moment’ [ InsideHigherEd.com ]

The flava:

When a congressional committee announced late last month that it wanted documents and emails that would reveal how Harvard University responded to accusations of plagiarism by its then president Claudine Gay, the demand set off alarms in higher education circles.

“The idea that the House of Representatives has the legal or moral authority to investigate the internal proceedings of a private university is outrageous,” said Ethan Ris, associate professor of higher education administration at the University of Nevada at Reno.

In the same month, Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee launched investigations into antisemitism at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—inquiries that could grow in number and scope to include every aspect of an institution. Essentially, House Republicans have declared everything that happens on campuses fair game for oversight, as evidenced by the plagiarism review.

That declaration worries experts who fear the investigations could undermine the system of higher education, infringe on the independence of colleges and universities and threaten their federal funding. The committee’s work represents a significant shift in how Congress deals with institutions, they say, and is part of a broader attack on higher education—though committee leaders say it’s not a radical departure.

The article:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2024/01/11/house-probes-harvard-others-mark-watershed-moment

Colorado becomes one of the first to employ an incarcerated professor [ Chalkbeat ]

The flava:

On a late-November afternoon, at the head of a cramped classroom, David Carrillo stood at a small podium and quizzed 17 students on macroeconomic terminology.

For the two-hour class, Carrillo, the adjunct professor teaching for Adams State University, mostly kept his hands in his pockets as he lectured students in green uniforms, some bright and others faded with time. His lecture came rapid-fire, allowing just enough time for students to answer questions or let them ask a question of him. One of the lessons on that day: banking.

“Banks keep track of all of their transactions on their balance sheet, but they use a specific type of accounting tool to keep track of all this. What’s that accounting tool?” Carrillo asked his class.

Like his students at the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility, Carrillo, 49, also wears green. He holds a position that is extremely rare in prison: He’s an incarcerated professor teaching in a prison bachelor’s degree program. . . .

The article:

https://www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/2024/01/04/incarcerated-professor-teaches-college-classes-in-prison/

Should White Students Attend Black-Only Colleges?

Ohio State University Suspends Student Group for Supporting Palestine [ Left Voice ]

The flava:

The student group of Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists (CORS) has been suspended by Ohio State University. They were notified of the suspension following an event they did on campus entitled “Intifada, Revolution, and the Path for a Free Palestine.” The OSU administration sent a letter December 13 alleging that CORS’ “activities pose a significant risk of substantial harm to the safety or security of your organization’s members, other members of the university community or to university property.”

The article:

https://www.leftvoice.org/ohio-state-university-suspends-student-group-for-supporting-palestine/

An Explosion in Sports Betting Is Driving Gambling Addiction Among College Students [ TIME ]

The flava:

BY OLIVER STALEY

When Evan Ozmat, a Ph.D. student in psychology at the University at Albany, first began counseling
undergraduates about HIV and substance abuse, he expected to hear about their health issues. Instead, he heard about problem gambling.

“Since the beginning of the project three years ago, students have brought up, unprompted, gambling,” Ozmat says. “We started asking about it in every appointment and everyone has something to say. It’s everywhere.”

The majority of the gambling takes place on mobile phones, Ozmat says, largely—although not exclusively—on sports betting apps. Served up to students through ubiquitous ads that offer promises of “free” bets and easy wins, the apps sink their hooks deep into students, leading them to spend their financial aid money, lie to their parents, and ignore their studies so they can keep playing, he says. Students from low-income families are particularly vulnerable, as they lack the financial safety net to bounce back from losses. . . .

The article:

https://time.com/6342504/gambling-addiction-sports-betting-college-students/