Lenfest donates to boost college graduation

Growing numbers of Americans enrolling at UK colleges
WASHINGTON — 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, Md., is a St. Andrews sophomore, one of a growing number of American Students who enroll at top-ranked British universities, ...

Concerns over rich-poor study gap
Pupils on fee school meals are 55 times less likely to go to Cambridge or Oxford than those from private schools, the Sutton Trust has said. The charity said it feared rising fees and the axing of a support programme would make it harder for poor Students to get into England's top universities. It also raised concerns about proposed measures to widen participation. The Sutton Trust has published the percentages of pupils who qualified for free lunches when they were at school - a measure of...

Concerns over rich-poor study gap
Pupils on fee school meals are 55 times less likely to go to Cambridge or Oxford than those from private schools, the Sutton Trust has said. The charity said it feared rising fees and the axing of a support programme would make it harder for poor Students to get into England's top universities. It also raised concerns about proposed measures to widen participation. The Sutton Trust has published the percentages of pupils who qualified for free lunches when they were at school - a measure of...

Gery Chico made millions from law firm that lobbies City Hall
A City Hall insider for decades, Chicago Mayoral Candidate Gery Chico has made millions of dollars in the last few years from his Law Firm that lobbies for clients seeking city business, according to three years of Tax Returns he released today. Chico's 2009 federal Income Tax return shows he and his wife, a school consultant, made $2.6 million. The couple paid about $830,000 in federal taxes on their income. They paid more than $900,000 in federal taxes the year before, when they declared $2....

Green Party representative testifies against Jim Crow stop-and-frisk policy before Phila. City Council
From the Green Party of Philadelphia: A representative of the Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP) testified against the stop-and-frisk policy at Philadelphia City Council hearings on Tuesday, December 14. Stop-and-frisk has been enforced by Mayor Nutter, City Council, and the police for the last three years. Stop-and-frisk involves a Police Officer running his or her hands along the outer garments to detect any Concealed Weapons. The stop-and-frisk program is being criticized by opponents who s...

State University of New York Moves to Microsoft's Cloud
REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 21, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. today announced a new universitywide agreement with the State University of New York (SUNY) to make the Microsoft Live@edu suite of online communications and collaboration tools available to its 64 campuses across the state of New York. SUNY sought to decrease costs while providing its 465,000 Students with up-to-date technology necessary for success in college and in today's Workforce. As a result, SUNY Students will have access to a...

We're All Conservatives Now
Stanley Fish on education, law and society. Tags: Conservatives, Higher Education, liberals Last week conservative Activist David Horowitz, author of the Academic Bill of Rights, e-mailed me to report, in sorrow, that Penn Sate University had weakened “the only Academic Freedom provision . . . worthy of the name.” What the university had done was revise an 1987 statement stipulating that “it is not the function of a faculty member . . . to indoctrinate his/her studen...

2011: The International Year for People of African Descent
The United Nations has declared 2011 "The International Year for People of African Descent."  Professor Vernellia Randall (Dayton) plans to a conduct a Series of Webinars on "Health Status, Social Determinants of Health and African Americans." She is looking for panelists to join the interdisciplinary webinars that will be scheduled throughout the year. Social determinants of health are the key factors in the health status gap between blacks and whites. Social d...

Austerity is not the Answer
Merriam Webster recently named Austerity 2010’s Word of the Year.  An early Candidate for 2011’s word of the year seems to be austerity.  Thanks to the Republican victory in November and their insistence on cutting everything from government, we are heading into austerity.  Merriam Webster defines Austerity as extreme, enforced economy.  This means that the government will simply to do more with less.  Most likely on the chopping block will be the programs mo...

Corbett Names Secretary Of Administration.
The Corbett Transition Picks Up Speed ... ... this afternoon with another cabinet announcement. Gov.-Elect Tom Corbett has tapped Kelly Powell Logan , 47,of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, as S ecretary of Administration . Logan's spent the last seven years at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency as Executive Director of public service. Logan also served as secretary of the Department of General Services under the Ridge/Schweiker administration from 2001-2003, the transitio...

Anticipating higher revenues, McDonnell outlines spending priorities
Anticipating a slightly brighter Budget outlook for Virginia over the next two years, Gov. Bob McDonnell is pushing to spend more on Economic Development, transportation, and Higher Education -- a far cry from the extensive budget-ax wielding that has characterized General Assembly sessions of the past few years. Following a lean 2010 session in which the state was forced to close a $4.2 billion shortfall in the current two-year budget, McDonnell expects state revenues, driven by stronger-than-...

Here and There
Catholic University, in Washington, DC is the flagship university in the US Catholic educational system. It is also, as it turns out a popular place for Muslim undergraduates to study: In the past few years, enrollment of Muslim Students such as Shabnan has spiked at Catholic campuses across the country. Last year, Catholic colleges had an even higher percentage of Muslim Students than the average four-year institution in the United States, according to the Higher Education Research Institute. T...

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 ...

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Student Loan Reform Puts Taxpayers On The Hook. The dramatic rise
Higher Education BUBBLE UPDATE: Student Loan Reform Puts Taxpayers On The Hook. “The dramatic rise in Student Debt—and in Student loan defaults—could leave the American taxpayer on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars. The landmark Healthcare Reform law signed by President Obama last March included a relatively little-noticed provision that overhauled the federal Student loan program.” ...

This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
Even the title is awful: Assange, Morality, and Desire. The article is positively craptacular. It's from yesterday's Chronicle of Higher Education, which, for those who don't know, is the premiere journal for higher education professionals. The author, a recently tenured Professor, basically attempts to make the case that Assange shouldn't be faulted for Rape because of cultural and age differences with his Victims. Because older Australian men have different sexual ideas than young Swedish wom...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

Bloomberg wants control of city's expensive, ineffectual juvenile justice system
Mayor Bloomberg will unveil plans to take control of New York City's juvenile jails Tuesday - much like he took over the city's schools, officials told the Daily News. The plan, which needs approval from Albany, would overhaul the notorious, state-run juvenile justice system which, officials say, has an 81% Recidivism rate and cost city Taxpayers $62 million last year. "We know there is a better way to help these kids get their lives back on track, while saving Taxpayers millions," Bloomberg s...

No aisles in city hall
Madison's City Council chamber must be an architectural marvel. We have a Mayor, 20 Alders, their combined staffs, the press, interested citizens and curious onlookers. However, there are no aisles. In the U.S. Capitol, state capitols and most other political venues the Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, independants et al. are separated by aisles. In order to get anything accomplished you either have to outvote the other aisles or "reach across the aisle" to reach a Compromise. In Madis...

Watchdog wants gift ban at City Hall
Just in time for Christmas, City Hall's top Watchdog is playing the Grinch by recommending Mayor Richard Daley implement a total ban on employees receiving gifts from people with city business. The recommendation comes in a study today that found Chicago Department of Transportation employees regularly accept gifts -- including meals, party invitations, sports tickets and Golf outings -- from contractors doing business with the city. During nearly a two-year period ending in mid-December 2008,...

Watchdog wants gift ban at City Hall
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The View From Your Window Contest: Winner #29
by Chris Bodenner A reader writes: The boarded-up factory building and aging steel bridge say either Rust Belt or parts of New England to me, and those tapered tubular steel stop light posts have become very popular in the Northeast in the past few years.  I haven't been able to pinpoint the that bridge or building via Google Maps so I just going to go with my gut and say Harrisburg, PA. Another writes: This view is one I'm pretty sure I have seen many times in the past three yea...

The Man Who Doesn't Need to Be President
A joke going around when Ted Turner ran CNN had it that he'd been elected president but turned the job down because he didn't want to give up any of his power. As the local Press Corps is atwitter again over the possibility that Mayor Michael Bloomberg will give up Gracie Mansion for a shot at the White House, the old line seems apt. Mr. Bloomberg probably won't run for president. The reason, he jokes, is that a short, divorced Jewish Billionaire would never win. But the real reason is somethi...