Student Governance and Campus Administration

  The Title IX controversy continues this week with an article from Ohio University, where significant cuts have just been made to the University Athletic Department (including eliminating lacrosse, men’s swimming and diving, and men’s indoor and outdoor track and field). Title IX is a federal statute prohibiting gender discrimination in all areas of education that receive federal funding (not just sports). In terms of athletics, a Title IX-compliant school should have roughly the same ratio of men to women in athletics as in the student population overall. Ohio University has been lag

  This year’s incoming class at the University of Michigan, the class of 2012, is the first class whose entire admission cycle was conducted under the Affirmative Action ban passed by Michigan voters in 2006, and minority enrollment dropped slightly.  Underrepresented minorities constitute 10.5% of the class of 2012 as compared to12.6% of the class of 2010, the last class recruited before the ban.  Many feared the decline in minority enrollment would be more significant, as it was in Washington and California after the states passed similar affirmative action bans. Administra

  A New York Times article recently brought to national attention a controversy at DePauw University, where the national leadership of Delta Zeta sorority asked 23 of the chapter’s 35 women (allegedly every overweight, black, Korean, or Vietnamese woman) to leave the sorority house and accept alumnae status. As coverage from Texas Christian University shows, the DZ nationals may have lost more members than they anticipated, as the recent DePauw controversy has become as a factor in the selection of Texas Christian’s newest sorority. 2/2/07  

When Middlebury College unveiled the proposal for a new logo, it was caught off guard by a quick and overpowering protest on Facebook.  The group’s members objected to the logo because they felt that it is too corporate and that students weren’t consulted in its design.  The University has pulled the proposal and the college’s Vice President of Communications has decided its time to start his own Facebook account.

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  A student at the College of William and Mary called 911 after seeing that his roommate was vomiting blood. Despite the University's new amnesty policy regarding students and alcohol, the underage student was put on two years' probation from the University, six months' probation from the state of Virginia, and was required to attend alcohol education classes from the school and the state because he had alcohol in his room. 4/6/07  Read More from the College of William and Mary

  Students at the University of North Carolina are in the midst of a heated debate on a new system of ranking students, the Achievement Index. Instead of a GPA, which measures grade point average, the Achievement Index would take into account not only the student's performance in a class, but also his/her peers' performances, creating a ranking system that pits students against one another. Students have voiced their opinions about the AI, and some have started a petition against it. 4/25/07 

  Students at the University of New Hampshire have begun protesting for a neglected piece of the campus community. Some buildings in the Forest Park community have been torn down and others, currently housing international and graduate students, seem headed for the same fate. Along with holding a demonstration, the group Friends of Forest Park have served eviction notices to members of the administration who they feel could make housing more affordable and of better quality. 5/4/07 

  Mixed-gender housing at NYU is becoming more and more popular among the student population—applications to the program increased more than three times since last year. 3/26/07  Read More from New York University