Columbia News

Universities and the military
The vote this weekend to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was greeted with notable eagerness by the presidents of Harvard and Columbia Universities, because it clears away a last barrier to healing what is, for the colleges, an enduring wound of the 1960s. Columbia President Lee Bollinger's immediate statement was particularly forceful, saying the vote "effectively ends what has been a vexing problem for Higher Education, including at Columbia -- given our desire to be open to our mi...

The Ivy League Makes Peace with ROTC
The Repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law barring gays and Lesbians from serving openly in the Armed Forces won't be implemented for a few months yet, but it will immediately lead elite colleges to begin to reconcile with the Military training program kicked off college campuses more than four decades ago. Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust promised in a November joint appearance with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen at the school's Institute of Politics that the ...

U.S. students crossing the pond for college
When Adelaide Waldrop learned that she had been consigned to the wait list at each of the four universities she wanted most to attend, it was as if all the excitement had drained from her collegiate quest. Then she remembered her wild-card school: the University of St. Andrews, the medieval cobblestone campus in Scotland. Now Waldrop, of Silver Spring, is a St. Andrews sophomore, one of a growing number of American Students who enroll at top-ranked British universities, which offer the prest...

After 4 decades, Harvard opens door to ROTC
Harvard University will welcome ROTC back to campus now that Congress has repealed a ban on gays and Lesbians serving openly in the Military, university president Drew Faust said. The move will end a four-decade standoff between one of the nation’s most prestigious universities and its Armed Forces. The tension began over the Vietnam War and continued in recent years as university administrators, faculty, and Students objected to what they saw as Discrimination against gays and lesbians. ...

Obama lobbies GOP senators to back arms pact
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama tried to sway reluctant Republican senators on Monday to back a new Arms Control treaty with Russia as GOP aversion to giving a politically damaged president another victory intruded on his National Security agenda. This Story Mullen calls on Senate to pass START Treaty Obama lobbies GOP senators to back arms pact Letter from Adm. Mullen to Sen. Kerry (pdf) Right Turn: Why START is stuck View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story This S...

Support Builds for Approval of U.S. - Russia Nuke Pact
President Obama has gained Republican support for his major arms control treaty with Russia. The United States and Russia negotiated the New START pact to cap Nuclear Weapons and restart weapons inspections in the spirit of U.S. efforts to reset the relationship between the former Cold War foes. Supporters of the treaty report that they now have two thirds of the votes needed to gain approval in the U.S. Senate. However, many Republicans are still reluctant about the deal. Senate minority l...

Columbia President: DADT Repeal "Effectively Ends" Our Problem with ROTC
Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. The vote, said Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, provides "the opportunity for a new era in the relationship between universities and our Military services." "This is an historic development for a nation dedicated to fulfilling its core principle of Equal Rights. It also effectively ends what has been a vexing problem for Higher Education, including at Columbia -- given our desire to be open to our military, but not wanti...

Victory for Liberal Social Agenda, Conservatives Say; Right Thing to Do, Military Leader Says
Monday, December 20, 2010 By Susan Jones Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., center, with Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., left, and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., speaks at a news conference about the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" bill during on an unusual Saturday session on Capitol Hill in Washington Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (CNSNews.com) - Calling it a “tragic day for our Armed Forces,” the conservative Family Research Council criticized the

Joint Chiefs chair calls on Senate to pass START treaty in Tuesday vote
Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., tells reporters Monday at the U.S. Capitol that he will vote to approve the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia. (Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images) WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff appealed to the Senate on Monday to quickly pass a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia, saying it was "vital to National Security." The letter from Adm. Mike Mullen could increase pressure on wavering Republican senators, who, if they voted no, would be in th...

Senate votes to overturn 'Don't ask, don't tell'
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a historic vote for Gay Rights, the Senate agreed on Saturday to do away with the Military's 17-year ban on Openly Gay Troops and sent President Barack Obama Legislation to overturn the Clinton-era policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Obama was expected to sign the bill into law next week, although changes to military policy probably wouldn't take effect for at least several months. Under the bill, the president and his top military advisers must first certify tha...

McCain offers addition to START
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) filed an amendment on the resolution of ratification to the START Treaty Monday that non-proliferation experts suggested could clear the way for a swift deal. McCain's amendment, co-sponsored with Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), would seek to address Republican concerns that the U.S.-Russian Arms Control pact not limit U.S. Missile Defenses. At the same time, it doesn’t demand changes to the treaty language itself that...

Joint Chiefs chair calls on Senate to pass START treaty in Tuesday vote
Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., tells reporters Monday at the U.S. Capitol that he will vote to approve the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia. (Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images) WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff appealed to the Senate on Monday to quickly pass a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia, saying it was "vital to National Security." The letter from Adm. Mike Mullen could increase pressure on wavering Republican senators, who, if they voted no, would be in th...

The votes and the Democrats
If last week's Compromise was a bitter pill for Democrats, today's votes have clear political rewards. Gay voters and Donors are obviously a base Democratic group, but the success of the Gay Rights movement has been in winning over virtually all Democrats, and many others. Gay rights was always a real cause to the young, well-educated new Activists who helped drive Obama's movement, a group for whom Andrew Sullivan was the must-read and the most articulate spokesman. And so if the Obama Admini...

McDonnell punishes VCU for tuition increase
Gov. Bob McDonnell said Friday that he has withheld state money equal to half of Virginia Commonwealth University's 24 percent Tuition increase as a message to colleges and universities about rising Tuition rates. Noting that tuitions for Virginia Students have doubled in the past 10 years, McDonnell said, "That is unacceptable." McDonnell on Friday proposed a number of Budget amendments in remarks to the General Assembly's money committees. The room was lined with Lobbyists. VCU raised Tuition ...

Academia Is Revolting!
In the Budget squeeze that every government of affluent democracies is facing, increases in Tuition are causing some of the most vocal and nasty reactions. British Students are storming offices, creating chaos, and threatening mayhem. Once, Coal Miners brought down British Governments. Now, parasitical College Students threaten to break the British government. California Students are doing much the same, although the bias in favor of in-state Illegal Alien Students and against out-of-state Ameri...

Thatcher, Reagan, and Those Revolting British Students
The images of violent Protests in London coming in from across the pond are disturbing to most Americans. But if some are tempted to find comfort in the idea that what is going on over there could never happen here, they should think again. At issue in the United Kingdom is the announced policy change, more than a year under discussion and review, to subsidize less of the College Tuition of Students. In the recent past, the top amount (calculated here in dollars) a student would pay for a year'...

Thatcher, Reagan, and Those Revolting British Students
The images of violent Protests in London coming in from across the pond are disturbing to most Americans. But if some are tempted to find comfort in the idea that what is going on over there could never happen here, they should think again. At issue in the United Kingdom is the announced policy change, more than a year under discussion and review, to subsidize less of the College Tuition of Students. In the recent past, the top amount (calculated here in dollars) a student would pay for a year'...

Plan bans illegals from public universities
The "DREAM Act" plan, defeated in Congress today, would have given benefits and rights to Illegal Aliens who want to go to school in the U.S., but the state of Virginia isn't prepared to depend on what Washington decides - it has its own plan to address the situation: a ban on those Students in public colleges and universities. A leading GOP legislator in the Virginia House of Delegates is poised to introduce a bill which would prohibit Illegal Aliens from attending public colleges and universi...

Is he kidding? Gov. Chris Christie wants more tax cuts for the rich
A few days after saying New Jersey is so broke it must cut medical benefits for Retirees and freeze their pensions forever, Gov. Chris Christie now says he wants to cut income taxes for the rich. Think about those priorities. Middle-class families just lost their property tax rebates. Schools lost nearly $1 billion in funding, their biggest hit ever. Thousands of working poor families were closed out of Health Care programs. And our colleges and universities were whacked hard, forcing Tuition hi...

America's biggest rip-off: college tuition bubble and student debt escalate
The financial magazine Forbes recently blew the whistle on how skyrocketing College Tuition is ripping off the public. Thanks to some colleges’ greed, and the federal and state Financial Aid subsidies that reward Tuition increases, “Higher Education’s price-earnings ratio looks like Nevada housing circa 2007″ at the height of the Real Estate bubble. “The financial data are making a College Education tougher and tougher to defend.” And ...

Universities 'face 6% budget cut'
Universities in England are expected to face cuts of around 6% on last year's funding, as their Budget allocations for 2011-12 are unveiled. This is likely to mean a reduction of £300-400m in the total grants given to universities this year. But the settlement will not include the expected teaching Budget Cuts of up to 80% that universities hope to replace with annual fees of up to £9,000. These are not planned until the new fees regime is introduced in 2012. This year's ...

Research cash cut to universities
Newer universities have come off worst in a carve-up of public money for research in Scotland. Some senior university figures are concerned it could herald the start of a divided Higher Education system. The Scottish Funding Council said it was being more generous to institutions with a record of research breakthroughs. All universities learned last month that they were facing a sizeable cut in their total spending. The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has now published a grants letter which det...

McDonnell's Dumbest Budget Move...So Far
According to the State Council for Higher Education, "State support for Virginia public higher education will be reduced by more than $400 million or 27% by FY2012 from the original FY2010 Budget, and is 33% below the FY2001 level after adjusting for Inflation...Federal stimulus spending permitted colleges and universities to limit Tuition and fee increases...in FY2011." The State Council also noted, historically "the Commonwealth restricted Tuition increases during a period of strong economic ...

Students call on Branstad to fund higher education
University of Iowa Students plan to push Gov.-elect Terry Branstad to protect Higher Education funding in next year’s Budget. The student body’s governmental relations liason sent out an e-mail to Students last week, urging them to make contact with the incoming administration or their local lawmakers. Try to add personal details: you had to take on a part time job because of rising Tuition, your mom lost her job and you don’t know if you and your parents will be able to contin...

Obama woos senators on START nuclear treaty
Stumble This! A landmark US-Russia nuclear Arms Control treaty faced a key test vote in the US Senate as early as Tuesday as President Barack Obama ramped up pressure on wary lawmakers to back the accord. Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wooed Republicans by telephone, lawmakers said Monday, as the top US uniformed officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, wrote a letter unreservedly backing the pact. "This treaty has the full support of your uniformed Military, and w...