73 Questions With A UPenn PROFESSOR | Associate Director of Undergrad Mathematics

 

West Point accuses more than 70 cadets of cheating in worst academic scandal in nearly 45 years [USA TODAY]

 The flava:

More than 70 cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point were accused of cheating on a math exam, the worst academic scandal since the 1970s at the Army's premier training ground for officers.

Fifty-eight cadets admitted cheating on the exam, which was administered remotely because of the
COVID-19 pandemic. Most of them have been enrolled in a rehabilitation program and will be on probation for the remainder of their time at the academy. Others resigned, and some face hearings that could result in their expulsion.

The scandal strikes at the heart of the academy's reputation for rectitude, espoused by its own moral code, which is literally etched in stone: 

“A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”

Tim Bakken, a law professor at West Point, called the scandal a national security issue. West Point cadets become senior leaders the nation depends on.

The article:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/12/21/west-point-catches-70-cadets-worst-cheating-scandal-50-years/5856130002/

Should Ivy League Schools Randomly Select Students (At Least for a Little While)?

College admissions have favored the well-off for ages, and the pandemic has only made things worse. Now is now the time to change the process.

By Ginia Bellafante

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/nyregion/ivy-league-admissions-lottery.html

‘Like He Was Disappeared’: UM Faculty Fear Retaliation After Ombudsman Put On Leave [Mississippi Free Press]

 The flava:

The University of Mississippi has placed its ombudsman, Paul J. Caffera, on administrative leave and is seeking a temporary replacement after he sued to stop the university from compelling him to share confidential information about faculty, staff and graduate students who have privately confided to his office about issues on campus. 

University officials hoped Caffera would help the UM Equal Opportunity & Regulatory Compliance office, which oversees Title IX enforcement issues, in its efforts to identify whistleblowers who exposed issues of racism and sexism in the school’s relationships with wealthy donors. 

“The University asked Mr. Caffera to divulge confidential information, and threatened (him) with adverse employment action for failure to do so,” his attorney, Goodloe Lewis, said in a statement to the Mississippi Free Press late Tuesday evening. “Notably, the EO/RC investigation advised Mr. Caffera that it may refer matters to the University Police Department for criminal prosecution.”

The 2015 University of Mississippi Office of Ombuds charter bars the officeholder from revealing details about visitors to his office or participating in formal investigations. Lewis pointed to another section of the charter, which says “the Ombudsperson shall be protected from retaliation as a result of his/her role.”

“Nonetheless, he was placed on administrative leave after filing a lawsuit seeking to protect the confidentiality of persons using his office,” Lewis said yesterday.

The article:

https://www.mississippifreepress.org/7531/like-he-was-disappeared-um-faculty-fear-retaliation-after-ombudsman-put-on-leave/

PBS turns 50 [CBS Sunday Morning]

 

Professor Discusses Why She's Calling In Call Out Culture [Morning Joe, MSNBC]

 

Noam Chomsky at Harvard Law School

 

Big Hungry

How do you prevent cheating in online/distance/remote/Zoom classes?  What's the best way to prevent the cheating (which research indicated, even before the pandemic, that 98% of college students engaged in at least sometimes)?  Or do you just blissfully let yourself believe that there is no cheating going on?  Or do you accept that lots of cheating happens, but simply justify tolerating it because the administrators themselves haven't seemed to care or equip you to deal with it?

brain drain [submitted by Southern Bubba, Ph. D.]

This historic drop in the number of international students coming to the United States will be devastating if it continues--not most especially because of the billions of dollars in lost tuition/room/board revenue,
but because of the brain drain.  The culture drain.  The creativity drain. The entrepreneurship drain. Fuck, this is a nightmare.  Whether it's because of Trump or because of the pandemic or because of something else, it hurts.  Bad.  This is embarrassing and painful for grad schools and for community colleges and all of higher education.  Fuck this.  Is there a way this will not harm the United States?  Even the hairstylist who operates under the radar from her doublewide on the outskirts of some small town in Alabama will be harmed by this (although she might not yet know it).

--Southern Bubba, Ph.D.

A funny for you, from Bella

 

Hello.  Saw this and thought of us.

I'm working on a post.  Things are much better with my male spawn,  and it looks like the evil one won't win a second term.  So in many ways things are looking up!

Much love to all from Bella 

Egypt university professor suspended for ‘insulting the Qur’an’ [Middle East Monitor]

 The flava:

Egypt’s minister of higher education has suspended a university professor following claims that he insulted the Qur’an.

His detention follows the circulation of a video online which captured a debate between Dr Mohamed Mahdaly, a professor of sociology in Alexandria, and several students.

The argument is around the Qur’an’s teachings over incest and common law marriage. Mahdaly was reportedly arguing in favour of mothers marrying their sons when challenged with a Qu’ranic verse outlawing such practises he responded: “I don’t give a f**k about that [Qu’ranic] verse.”

The article:

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201105-egypt-university-professor-arrested-for-insulting-the-quran/

Professor shuts down ‘misogynistic’ student in viral TikTok video [TikTok News]

 

COVID Is Emptying College Towns That Desperately Need Students [VICE News]

 

Stanford professor learns he won Nobel prize in late-night door knock [ABC7 News Bay Area]

 

ANAAY, Yale College Council propose making Indigenous Peoples’ Day an official Yale holiday [Yale Daily News]

The flava:

While student groups like the Association of Native Americans at Yale and the Yale College Council participated in virtual celebrations in honor of Indigenous People’s Day on Monday, notably absent in the holiday’s acknowledgement was the University itself.

The commemorative holiday is held on the second Monday of October. The day is traditionally known as Columbus Day, a federal holiday which marks the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas. But many towns and states have abandoned Columbus Day in favor of honoring the history and contributions of Indigenous peoples, pointing to Columbus’ historical role in perpetuating violence and genocide against Indigenous peoples.

The article:

https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2020/10/13/anaay-yale-college-council-propose-making-indigenous-peoples-day-an-official-yale-holiday/

12-year-old genius on soaring through college: 'I just grasp information quickly' [WINK]

The flava:

Whip-smart kids apply every year to Georgia Tech. But no one like Caleb Anderson. He’s 12 years old.

“I’m not really smart,” he told correspondent Mark Strassmann. “I just grasp information quickly. So, if I learn quicker, then I get ahead faster.”

This elite engineering school fell over itself recruiting him. Caleb saw the labs, and met the school’s president, Ángel Cabrera.

The article:

https://www.winknews.com/2020/10/12/12-year-old-genius-on-soaring-through-college-i-just-grasp-information-quickly/

Thank you.

Thanks for the kind and unexpected emailed greetings over this Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend.

Be well, everybody.

--Zooze

Professor creates virtual learning alternative [MyNBC5-WPTZ]

 

Keene State students, professor win right-to-know fight [The Sentinel]

 

COVID and the Economy [Harvard University]

UT Board of Regents Chairman Eltife Congratulates President Jay Hartzell [The University of Texas at Austin]

University of Texas professor charged with five counts of possession of child pornography [Austin American-Statesman]

The flava:
A University of Texas professor has been charged with five counts of possession of child pornography after investigators said he was exchanging child porn photos and videos to a woman in Tennessee, according to an arrest affidavit.

Mario Villarreal, 49, of Round Rock, was charged with five counts of possession of child pornography, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Villarreal is managing director at the Salem Center for Policy at UT’s McComb’s School of Business, according to his social media and the school’s website.

The article:
https://www.statesman.com/news/20201005/university-of-texas-professor-charged-with-five-counts-of-possession-of-child-pornography

A Tough Knot to Crack | Boston College Magazine [Boston College]

Former tech CEO gets home confinement for bribing son's way into Georgetown University [CBS News]

The flava:
A former technology executive was sentenced Monday to one year of home confinement for paying $300,000 to bribe his son's way into Georgetown University as a tennis recruit, even though the son did not play tennis.


Peter Dameris, of Pacific Palisades, California, appeared before a Boston federal court judge via video because of the coronavirus pandemic. He pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. His sentence also included a $95,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 21 months of home confinement along with a fine of $95,000. Dameris' lawyers asked for probation only, saying he deserved leniency to help care for a son who has leukemia.

U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns said he took the medical considerations into account in the sentence, along with an "outpouring" of support from friends and family members who submitted letters to the court.

"I really feel for your family, and I understand your anguish," Stearns told Dameris. "You have lived a good life, and I believe you deserve some reward for that."

The article:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/peter-dameris-georgetown-university-admissions-bribe-home-confinement/

Colleges Learn How to Suppress Coronavirus: Extensive Testing [NYTimes]

The flava:
In rural Iowa, just one of the 875 students on Cornell College’s campus has tested positive for the coronavirus this semester. At Amherst College in Massachusetts, the number of undergraduate virus cases has been a bit higher: three.

And Colby College’s rigorous measures have so thoroughly contained the virus that students like Logan Morrione can wander on and off the Waterville, Maine, campus, attend most classes in person and even do without masks in some social situations — privileges that students elsewhere can only dream of.

The article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/us/colleges-coronavirus-success.html

Why it hurts: Chinese students respond to professor’s racist comment [The News Record]

The flava:
When University of Cincinnati (UC) international Chinese student Keyun Tian saw that a UC professor had used a racist term in an email, he was deeply hurt by the term, “Chinese virus,” used to describe COVID-19.

Earlier this month, a student had posted a screenshot of an screenshot to Twitter, showing an email from UC engineering professor John Ucker that read, “For students testing positive for the Chinese virus, I will give no grade.”

Unfortunately, the term has circulated since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, it has hit too close to home for students like Tian at UC. Tian felt disrespected as an international student in the UC community. 

The article:
https://www.newsrecord.org/news/why-it-hurts-chinese-students-respond-to-professor-s-racist-comment/article_5e9dac42-0140-11eb-84e3-47e046ae25f1.html

COVID On College Campuses [NPR]

Video Message from President O'Day | COVID-19 Required Testing | September 15, 2020 [Austin College]

 

An Evening with Tara Westover [Saint Mary's College]

Texas State Professors Worry Contact Tracing Too Dependent On Students [San Marcos Daily Record]

The flava:
Professors are not allowed to notify their students that someone in the class tested positive, as a positive coronavirus test result is confidential medical information. . . .

The article:
https://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/news/texas-state-professors-worry-contact-tracing-too-dependent-students

Continue Your Life’s Education With Free Online Classes [NYTimes]

The flava:
Have extra time at home? Want to keep your brain busy with new things to think about? Consider doing a little remote learning of your own. After all, Benjamin Franklin famously set aside an hour or two each day to study, reflect and experiment so he could fill in the gaps in his own education, and he went on to several successful careers.

Hundreds of major colleges and universities offer online courses that anyone with an internet connection can take. While you won’t get academic credits for taking free classes, you expand your knowledge — and can even show a little solidarity with your children as they head back to school themselves. Here’s a guide to getting started.

The article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/09/technology/personaltech/education-free-online-classes.html

The Truth, and the Anti-Black Violence of My Lies, by Jessica A. Krug

For the better part of my adult life, every move I’ve made, every relationship I’ve formed, has been rooted in the napalm toxic soil of lies.

Not just any lies. . . .

--Jessica A. Krug
  Associate Professor, George Washington University

Judge bars University of California from all use of SAT, ACT scores in admissions [San Francisco Chronicle]

The flava:
The University of California, which has already stopped requiring applicants to take the SAT or ACT, must go further and prohibit campuses from allowing prospective students to submit their scores, a judge ruled Tuesday in a victory for students with disabilities.

The article:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/Judge-bars-University-of-California-from-all-use-15531662.php

First Day of College ft. covid [Elliot Choy]

College-Town Economies Brace for Covid Blow [WSJ]

"We're shocked," said Kyle Garcia, a 17-year-old freshman at Notre Dame.

College students prepare to head back home a week into classes as coronavirus cases on campus climb

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/25/coronavirus-college-students-head-home-a-week-into-classes-as-campus-cases-rise.html

Reopened schools see coronavirus outbreaks as videos emerge of student gatherings [CBS This Morning]

Coronavirus Is Turning College Football Into Football Without College [WSJ]

The flava:
Mary Sue Coleman loves college football so much that the former president at Iowa and Michigan plans to spend each autumn of her retirement in Ann Arbor, Mich. But as the coronavirus pandemic ravages the U.S., she sees a big problem for the roughly 70 schools still trying to play a 2020 season.

It’s increasingly unlikely that any university will be able to hold in-person classes, Coleman said. And that conflicts with the NCAA’s longtime view that being a college athlete means being fully integrated into the student body.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘Well, we can use the model of [some pro sports] and put them in a bubble,’” said Coleman, who is also a member of the NCAA’s board of governors. “You can’t put them in a bubble, because they’re students and they have to go to class. I mean, if they’re on campus and they’re not going to class, they’re not learning anything, then it isn’t any longer the academic environment. It flies in the face of what the NCAA means.”

The NCAA seemed unequivocal about this a few months ago. “All of the Division I commissioners and every president that I’ve talked to is in clear agreement: If you don’t have students on campus, you don’t have student-athletes on campus,” NCAA president Mark Emmert said in May.

The article:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-is-turning-college-football-into-football-without-college-11598012279

one week

Moriarty from Midland emails a comment

Online learning can be good.

Kahn Academy was a good innovation for motivated children.

A few years ago, I lay in a chair at my dentist's office with a dental technician sitting beside me while she watched a teeth-cleaning procedure on her mobile phone. She had her hands in my mouth while she was watching YouTube! She was motivated and wanted to learn and get things right; she wasn't being graded!

But my department is designing online processes to accommodate students that aren't motivated and will fail to learn. I predict that no one will receive failing grades in December.  In North Texas, we used to call this "social promotion."

I feel like I'm living in Teddy Perkins land. See "Atlanta" for that allusion. I don't know what this world is doing. Reality used to be a friend of mine.

--Moriarty from Midland

As Colleges Move Classes Online, Families Rebel Against the Cost [NYTimes]

The flava:
After Southern California’s soaring coronavirus caseload forced Chapman University this month to abruptly abandon plans to reopen its campus and shift to an autumn of all-remote instruction, the school promised that students would still get a “robust Chapman experience.”

“What about a robust refund?” retorted Christopher Moore, a spring graduate, on Facebook.

A parent chimed in. “We are paying a lot of money for tuition, and our students are not getting what we paid for,” wrote Shannon Carducci, whose youngest child, Ally, is a sophomore at Chapman, in Orange County, where the cost of attendance averages $65,000 a year. Back when they believed Ally would be attending classes in person, her parents leased her a $1,200-a-month apartment. Now, Ms. Carducci said, she plans to ask for a tuition discount.

The article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/15/us/covid-college-tuition.html

Lincoln University students sent COVID-19 liability waiver [News Tribune]

The flava:
Lincoln University has sent a COVID-19 liability waiver to students, but a spokeswoman said students will not face a consequence for not signing the waiver.

"The use of liability waivers is common on university campuses this fall," LU spokeswoman Misty Young said. "While Lincoln University is taking every precaution to ensure the safety of the entire university community as students return to campus, we believe it is important to make students aware that ultimately their personal safety relies on their own behaviors."

The waiver states the person reading it assumes "full responsibility for any and all risks of illness or injury associated with exposure to COVID-19, as well as from use of any protective equipment, including face masks, that the university may voluntarily provide."

The article:
https://www.newstribune.com/news/local/story/2020/aug/15/lincoln-university-students-sent-covid-19-liability-waiver/837711/

Feds say Yale discriminates against Asian, white applicants [Associated Press]

The flava:
A Justice Department investigation has found Yale University is illegally discriminating against Asian American and white applicants, in violation of federal civil rights law, officials said Thursday.

Yale denied the allegation, calling it “meritless” and “hasty.”

The findings detailed in a letter to the college’s attorneys Thursday mark the latest action by the Trump administration aimed at rooting out discrimination in the college application process, following complaints from students about the application process at some Ivy League colleges. The Justice Department had previously filed court papers siding with Asian American groups who had levied similar allegations against Harvard University.

The article:
https://apnews.com/e97f08eb935989840bda430bb7a32e15

Former student sues Shippensburg Univ, claims female supervisor pressed for 'threesome' [CBS21]

The flava:
A former Shippensburg University student filed a federal lawsuit against the school, claiming the administration did nothing to assist her when she told them she was being sexually harassed by her female supervisor, an assistant dean who continually pressured the student to join her in group sex.

The student says her repeated refusal to engage in the sexual activity, led to her termination from her graduate studies program, according the lawsuit.

The student claims in January of 2019 the assistant dean approached her asking if she would engage in a ménage à trois with her and a man. The student denied the request and soon after took her concerns to the Dean of OPCDE. The lawsuit states that "before she could cite any details, the dean told her that she did not want to hear about it."

The article:
https://local21news.com/news/local/former-student-sues-shippensburg-university-claims-sexual-harassment-by-female-supervisor

We Are Bison! [Gallaudet]

https://www.gallaudet.edu/residence-life-and-housing/covid-19-housing-fall-2020

From a World Away: Being an International Student During a Pandemic [The Daily Texan]

Jerry Falwell Jr. addresses deleted unzipped pants Instagram photo with WLNI [WSLS 10]

Dartmouth student ends hunger strike after school names investigator to probe sexual harassment allegations [Boston.com]

The flava:
A graduate student at Dartmouth College is ending a weeks-long hunger strike after the institution announced Friday an external investigator will probe the allegations of sexual harassment she brought forward earlier this year.

Maha Hasan Alshawi began her hunger strike in July to protest the school’s handling of her case.

The article:
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2020/08/07/dartmouth-student-hunger-strike-sexual-harassment-allegations

The Princeton Faculty’s Anti-Free-Speech Demands [The Atlantic]

The flava:
Princeton university is consumed from top to bottom with what seems to be the question of the moment: How should it reorder itself to fight racism?

The school’s president, Christopher L. Eisgruber, ordered 23 of the institution’s most senior academic and administrative leaders to focus on how to marshal Princeton’s teaching, research, operations, and partnerships in service of “eliminating racism” on and off campus. By August 21, they are to report on what specifically can be done “to identify, understand, and combat” it. The university is also giving $1,500 grants to students who want to fight racism, and has made available new funding for faculty to run scholarly projects or expand course offerings related to racism.

These efforts, though, don’t come close to satisfying the calls for change coming from within the Princeton community. Groups of students have variously described the composition of Princeton’s faculty and its “institutional culture” as “pillars of its oppressive past,” declared that their education failed to prepare them to vanquish racism, and urged a “comprehensive transformation” of curriculum, programming, and faculty.

The article:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/what-princeton-professors-really-think-about-defining-racism/614911/

International students pressure universities to lower marking standards [Sky News Australia]

College Fails [NPR Planet Money]

Professor sues USC for alleged racial, religious harassment [Daily Trojan]

The flava:
A USC professor filed a lawsuit against the University Thursday, citing discrimination and harassment on the basis of religion and ethnic descent. 

Ali Abbas, a practicing Muslim of Egyptian descent who has taught at the Viterbi School of Engineering and the Sol Price School of Public Policy since 2014, alleged in the complaint that he was targeted by racial and religious harassment. The complaint also alleges USC did nothing after Abbas reported the jokes regarding his background. 

“Throughout [Abbas’] employment, continuing to the present, he was targeted and suffered through harassing conduct from [USC] and its agents and employees based on being [a Middle Eastern man and practicing Muslim],” the complaint read. “[Abbas] was extremely disturbed by USC’s refusal and failure to address or discipline the senders of the offensive texts, which indicated to [him] that USC endorsed and ratified the sending and content of the texts.”

The article:
https://dailytrojan.com/2020/07/31/professor-sues-usc-for-alleged-racial-religious-harassment/

As the pandemic upends higher education, is residential college worth the cost? [PBS NewsHour]

ICE Confirms New Foreign Students Can't Take Online-Only Course Loads In The U.S. [NPR]

The flava:
Newly enrolled international students whose colleges and universities are operating entirely online this fall won't be allowed to enter the U.S. after all.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed on Friday that its guidance granting visa flexibility to nonimmigrant students only applies to those who were actively enrolled at American schools on March 9.

"Nonimmigrant students in new or initial status after March 9 will not be able to enter the U.S. to enroll in a U.S. school as a nonimmigrant student for the fall term to pursue a full course of study that is 100 percent online," the agency said.

The article:
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/24/895223219/ice-confirms-new-foreign-students-cant-take-online-only-course-loads-in-the-u-s

big hungry

Is there paralysis at your college (or pathological reluctance to stand up and speak or act) because of fear that someone will "zap" you (or your colleagues or students), "mob" you, "cancel" you, or post a misinterpreted recording of you at your worst moment online?  

The true story of the heartthrob prince of Qatar and his time at USC [Los Angeles Times]

The flava:
Los Angeles has long enjoyed a reputation as a playground for the rich, but the handsome teenage prince who arrived nine years ago operated on a different level.

He came from the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar on a private jet with a squad of servants, a bottomless natural gas fortune and the stated goal of a college education. He installed himself in the Beverly Wilshire, the hotel that “Pretty Woman” made famous, and embarked on a lifestyle that few undergraduates could imagine — luxury suites for Lakers games, lunch at the Ivy and regular excursions to gamble in Las Vegas.

He took the town with an entourage, a rotating collection of cousins and friends from back home, in a fleet of exotic sports cars, rubbing elbows with a flashy set that included Scott Disick of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” and announcing his exuberance in custom trucker hats emblazoned with his initials: KHK.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the son and, later, brother of Qatar’s emir, eventually graduated from the University of Southern California and returned to the Middle East. He became an officer in the country’s internal security service and has cultivated an image as a jet-setting heartthrob. His Instagram account, with more than a million followers, has featured the dashing, goateed royal yachting, driving priceless autos, skydiving, and occasionally cuddling with baby tigers.

His college years in L.A. were a closed chapter in a colorful life, and they probably would have stayed that way were it not for a series of indictments last year by federal prosecutors in Boston. . . .

The article:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-16/qatar-prince-usc-ucla-la

Paul Quinn College, Minerva Project Announce Urban Scholars Program Launching Fall 2020 [Business Wire]

The flava:
Paul Quinn College (PQC), America’s first urban work college and one of the most celebrated colleges in the country, is pleased to announce the launch of the Urban Scholars Program in partnership with Minerva Project, a pathbreaking educational innovator. The co-designed program is an innovative, accredited, degree-granting program offered out of the newly established Honors College at Paul Quinn College to train the future leaders of our cities and country. . . . 

With the exception of a two-month winter break, students will attend classes year-round for three years. There will be no geographic restraints, nor residency requirement. Students will enroll in this program from all corners of the United States and be able to live at home. After their first year, Urban Scholars will work between 15 and 20 hours per week, as is standard with the PQC Corporate Work Program. The tuition for each semester will be fully covered by Pell Grants for the highest need students, and the full cost of other fees will be covered by employer subsidies and scholarships in the second and third years. The Paul Quinn College x Minerva Urban Scholars Program will enable students to earn a bachelor’s degree, gain relevant work experience, and work towards solving some of the greatest challenges of our time, all over the course of only 36 months, and for less than $7,500 in out-of-pocket costs for Pell eligible students. . . .

The article:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200709005295/en/Paul-Quinn-College-Minerva-Project-Announce-Urban

COVID-19 at West Virginia University

COVID-19 at Harvard

July 6, 2020
Dear members of the FAS community,

On June 15, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences provided an interim report on fall planning efforts that outlined three possible pathways for how we might return students to campus. After careful deliberation, and informed by extensive input from our community, we write today to announce our plans to bring up to 40% of our undergraduates to campus, including all first-year students, for the fall semester. Assuming that we maintain 40% density in the spring semester, we would again bring back one class, and our priority at this time is to bring seniors to campus. Under this plan, first years would return home and learn remotely in the spring. We also will invite back to campus those students who may not be able to learn successfully in their current home learning environment. . . .

https://www.fas.harvard.edu/news/fas-fall-2020-plans

COVID-19 at Austin Community College

https://www.austincc.edu/coronavirus

should you take a gap year? students, let’s talk.

Aloha, I’m Katie! I'm a Filipina teen studying abroad at Cornell University. I study Information Science and love entrepreneurship, design, and creative writing. I want to do too many things, and I want to make it all work… so that’s what my YouTube channel @Katie Tracy is about. Join me on this crazy journey and together, we'll learn, struggle, and hopefully find the courage to live our dreams.

College campuses are trying to reopen in the fall. The main source of opposition? The faculty. [Chicago Tribune]

The flava:
Just because students might be returning to college campuses this fall doesn’t mean professors will be joining them.

Controversy over whether instructors need to be in the classroom during the fall term has erupted at campuses including the University of Notre Dame, where professors are pushing back, noting the dangers of face-to-face classes while the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage. . . .

On the other end of the spectrum, the University of Chicago recently announced that it will not require any of its instructors, including graduate students, to teach in person for the fall quarter. . . .

The article:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-illinois-colleges-fall-classes-faculty-20200701-ta423pg6avfqfgd6ou2zauikkq-story.html

virus transmission in higher ed

What’s the Point of Grades? [Jack Schneider]

Our present use of grades is a matter of historical accident, not design. The result is that grades fail to advance the multiple purposes they ostensibly serve.

Pass/Fail grading — the stopgap that many have turned to in the wake of the pandemic — is not a long-term solution. The problem can only be addressed at its root. Shaken from our complacency by a crisis, perhaps we can begin the conversation about what comes next.

          --Jack Schneider

Source:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/opinion/coronavirus-school-grades.html

:-)

SAT- & ACT-optional

"Students who do not submit standardized testing this coming year will not be disadvantaged in the application process."

Source:

https://college.harvard.edu/about/news-announcements/admission-application-considerations-class-2025

Expecting Students to Play It Safe if Colleges Reopen Is a Fantasy [New York Times]

The flava:
A number of American colleges and universities have decided to bring students back to campus this fall, believing they can diminish the risk of coronavirus transmission if everyone wears masks, uses hand sanitizer and social distances. Some schools also plan to reconfigure dorms to create family-sized clusters of uninfected students, who could socialize in relative safety, if only with their suite mates.

These plans are so unrealistically optimistic that they border on delusional and could lead to outbreaks of Covid-19 among students, faculty and staff.

The article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/opinion/coronavirus-college-safe.html

Someone expresses an opinion about an art history professor condemned by Stanford Undergraduate Senate.

"Prof. Salseda, an assistant professor, apologized; nearly everyone does, of course. What have things come to, though, that university professors (and surely also students) can't accurately quote important music, literature, or film that they are discussing? (Unless, of course, they're the right color.)"
          --Eugene Volokh

https://reason.com/2020/06/15/art-history-professor-condemned-by-stanford-undergraduate-senate/

UNT professors create antiracism syllabus [Denton Record-Chronicle]

The flava:
The University of North Texas History Department has created an antiracism syllabus titled “Decriminalizing Blackness” to help people understand the history of racism in America.

It was created as an active response to local and nationwide protests after the police killing of George Floyd.

The conceptual syllabus resembles that of a genuine course by outlining a course description, learning objectives and has an extensive list of course materials and activities. The sources help learners understand and attack racism and give histories on the criminalization of blackness.

The article:
https://dentonrc.com/education/higher_education/university_of_north_texas/unt-professors-create-antiracism-syllabus/article_b8cde5a1-3081-594d-acb5-ffc91dc254de.html

Individual COVID-19 fatality risk (and the consequences for universities) [VoxEU.org]

"The most prominent risk indeed stems simply from age.  In essence, this is due to young ‘animals’ stronger immune-response to most viruses also applying to COVID-19. . . .  Faculty members might want to appreciate the fact that most students are young and hence face a rather miniscule risk - current estimates suggest that it may be about the same as the risk of dying in a UK road accident in a normal year. . . .  For university presidents and their management teams, it is essential to recognize that the COVID-19 virus is much more dangerous to older members of university staff.  This time, age matters."
          --Centre for Economic Policy Research


The article:
https://voxeu.org/article/covid-19-pandemic-causing-crisis-uk-universities-0

To Reopen Campus, Colleges Prepare To Take On Contagious Students [WBUR]

Some Universities Are About to Be “Walking Dead” [Amanpour and Company]

The Environment Within Which Our Students Attempt to Learn and Our Faculty Attempt to Teach

The Future of College Is Online, and It’s Cheaper [says Hans Taparia]

"The pandemic provides universities an opportunity to reimagine education around the pillars of access and affordability with the myriad tools and techniques now at their disposal. It could make them true pathways of upward mobility again."
     --Hans Taparia, clinical associate professor, NYU

The opinion piece is here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/opinion/online-college-coronavirus.html

The value of this op-ed by Professor Taparia might be less in the piece itself than in the wide variety of attendant comments which range from bafflingly ignorant to well-informed and enlightening.  Regardless of where on the spectrum comments might fall, they nevertheless oftentimes reveal valuable insights into the thoughts of people who are somehow invested in the current endeavor to teach/learn online.

For those readers who do not subscribe to the New York Times, effective ways to get around the paywall--and thus read the comments--have been described on many websites (e.g., https://medium.com/paywall-hacks/how-to-bypass-virtually-every-news-paywall-705602c4c2ce).

Teaching Behind Plexiglass? Colleges Wrestle With Details of Resuming In-Person Classes [EdSurge]

The flava:
As more than half of U.S. colleges plan to resume at least some online teaching in the fall, details are beginning to emerge about what classroom teaching might look like in a time of social distancing.

Perhaps the starkest image emerged from Purdue University. Its president, Mitch Daniels, told CNN that some professors will be lecturing from behind clear partitions.

The article:
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-05-22-teaching-behind-plexiglass-colleges-wrestle-with-details-of-resuming-in-person-classes

Did Lori Loughlin just plead guilty because she thinks the pandemic is a get-out-of-jail-free card? [Toronto Star]

The flava:
Last year, the college admissions scandal seemed shocking. But now? It seems ridiculous. It is utterly impossible for most of us to get bent out of shape about the affluent gaming higher education when our kids can’t even go to school and the economy is teetering toward catastrophe. Funneling mental energy into Operation Varsity Blues at this moment in time is like worrying about losing a button when you’re getting mauled by a bear.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton did not instantly accept the guilty pleas from Loughlin and Giannulli, saying he needed to review presentencing reports. Good for him. He should also consider the possibility Loughlin and Giannulli are playing a cynical virus game right now: we’ll agree to go to jail expecting to never go to jail.

The article:
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/opinion/2020/05/22/did-lori-loughlin-just-plead-guilty-because-she-thinks-the-pandemic-is-a-get-out-of-jail-free-card.html

How the Pandemic Could Transform Higher Ed [Wall Street Journal]

Colleges Are Deluding Themselves [The Atlantic]

The flava:
American higher education was in crisis long before the coronavirus showed up at our doors. For what feels like an eternity, our sector has been criticized for being too slow to respond to changing realities. Student debt in the United States totals more than $1.5 trillion. Alternative credential providers are nipping at the heels of degree-granting schools. Unfavorable demographic trends suggest that the number of college students will decline. In this environment, we face fair questions about higher education’s business model, cost, and long-term prospects—and about whom higher education ultimately serves. Do we serve the students and families who appear at our doors each fall full of hope and faith? Or does self-preservation come first?

The pandemic makes those questions more urgent than ever. . . .


The article:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/colleges-that-reopen-are-making-a-big-mistake/611485/

By Michael J. Sorrell, President of Paul Quinn College

big hungry about books

Which book was important to you when you were 20 or 25 years old, and still is important to you?

Or is there not one?

University of Arkansas professor arrested on federal wire fraud charge [KNWA]

The flava:
A University of Arkansas professor was arrested for wire fraud.

According to Charlie Robbins, spokesperson for the Western District of Arkansas Attorney’s Office, Simon Ang was arrested on a federal criminal complaint for one count of wire fraud.

The complaint charges that Ang had close ties with the Chinese government and Chinese companies, and failed to disclose those ties when required to do so in order to receive grant money from NASA.  These materially false representations to NASA and the University of Arkansas resulted in numerous wires to be sent and received that facilitated Ang’s scheme to defraud.

The article:
https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/university-of-arkansas-professor-arrested-on-federal-wire-fraud-charge/

'New Schools of Thought' by The Economist Intelligence Unit

A little bit of peace during the pandemic.

Southern Bubba, Ph.D. submits a thought.

I think the best supervisors I ever had were able to feel--and express--regret and remorse.  This scene from one of my favorite movies reminded me of this when I watched it again recently.  And I wondered how such a scene would have played out in this COVID19 pandemic environment in which so many people are not allowed to reach out and physically touch each other.

It reminded me, too, of a casual (but earnest) conversation I had last year with an older colleague to whom I am somewhat endeared.  We were exchanging thoughts and questions.  "Did you ever shout at any subordinates in front of their coworkers?" "Did you apologize to them later?"  "Did you apologize in front of their coworkers?"  And so on.

Colleges can have some smart people, no doubt.  But they can also have so many heartless bastards.  Real assholes.  People who are not merely immature or "flawed," but people who have the more devastating cluster-B personality disorders.  Or just plane "evil," to use the vernacular that so many of us have used a few times.

It's humbling.  I look back.  There are some things I wish I'd done differently.

--Southern Bubba, Ph.D.

Demise or Reinvention?

Can Colleges Survive Coronavirus? 'The Math Is Not Pretty' [NPR]

15 Fall Scenarios [insidehighered.com]

The Big Question for Colleges: Will There Be a Fall Semester on Campus? [WSJ]

9 ways coronavirus could reshape American higher education [The Week]

Colleges Mobilize to Combat the Coronavirus Crisis [Chronicle]

Boston College professors, staff, and alumni open homes to displaced students [Boston Globe]

The flava:
After Boston College president William Leahy announced earlier this month that the school would be closing, students suddenly faced uncertainty and anxiety.

But dozens of BC faculty, staff, and alumni have stepped in to offer displaced students an array of services — and even opening their homes to some who had nowhere to go. The services also included storage, financial support, food, language services, and transportation.

The article:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/26/metro/boston-college-professors-staff-alumni-open-homes-displaced-students/

Real Leaders: Rachel Carson Seeds the Environmental Movement [Harvard Business Review]

https://hbr.org/podcast/2020/03/real-leaders-rachel-carson-seeds-the-environmental-movement

a little baffled [from Moriarty from Midland]

All classes have suddenly become online (or "distance learning" or "distance education").

Then I watched as one of my colleagues declared to the dean, "My students didn't sign up for this shit. I'm going to give all of them at least a 'C' even if they actually fail."  The dean gave no indication that he had any problem with this.

I know there is widespread discussion about making all classes pass/fail this semester.  That's one thing.  But simply refusing to fail any student this semester is a bridge too far.

--Moriarty from Midland

It begins: Our Colleagues

U.P. professor, China expert Aileen Baviera dies of coronavirus

UW professor Stephen Schwartz dies from COVID-19

Volunteer law professor at Loyola dies from COVID-19

Russia's first confirmed coronavirus death is an elderly university professor who reportedly lectured until her hospitalization

Second person dies of coronavirus in France

big hungry

What are the odds that students will return to your campus in the fall?