Alex FriedrichGender-neutral housing is coming to the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus. In the fall of 2015, up to several dozen upper-division students will have access to campus apartments regardless of sex or what gender they identify with. Transgender students have been pushing for the change. And the U will join a growing number of Read more →
MPR News Intelligence on higher education
Archives for December 2013
What if We Punished Colleges for Student Loan Defaults? Under a proposal created by Senate Democrats, colleges might bear greater responsibility for whether or not their students pay back their loans on time. (Washington Monthly) Morgan State student takes a stand for gay rights at historically black university Openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students at Read more →
Northfield’s old rivals — St. Olaf College and Carleton College — are teaming up to save costs. A $1.4 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will have them jointly run some areas of their information technology, administration — even academic programming. St. Olaf President David Anderson said sharing some college operations would be Read more →
University of Minnesota – Duluth officials say they’re preparing an initial round of budget cuts for the campus. They haven’t identified exactly where the $4 million in reductions will occur. But Chief Academic Officer Andrea Schokker said they could include the elimination of up to two low-enrollment degrees, the layoff of part-time faculty and the Read more →
Amy Perko, the executive director of the Knight Commission, puts into national perspective its data showing that in 20011 the University of Minnesota spent close to $200,000 for the average scholarship football player — an increase from $108,000 six years prior: “The pattern that clearly emerges is that athletic spending is rising rapidly, while academic Read more →
The 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech in 2013 Most of the schools we include in this year’s list are public colleges or universities bound by the First Amendment. But some of them are private colleges that, though not required by the Constitution to respect student and faculty free speech rights, nonetheless promise to do so. Read more →
Minnesota’s nonprofit private colleges have tied for fourth nationally in the percentage of students who complete school in four years, according to data published this month by the Minnesota Private College Council. The colleges had average four-year grad rates of 62 percent. (Note: Measured by another, probably more accurate way — not ranked by groupings Read more →
A 20-year-old Crystal man has been arrested in connection with the Nov. 20 beating and robbery of a University of Minnesota foreign student. Myron Jovan Richardson-Rivers of Crystal is charged with aggravated robbery and receiving stolen property. According to the criminal complaint, the student — who was apparently from China — was walking home near Read more →
Earlier this month, Minnesota State University – Moorhead President Edna Mora Szymanski told the Star Tribune that part of the campus’ enrollment decline — a factor in its $4.9 million budget deficit — was due to a tightening of admission standards: The harsh truth, Szymanski said, is that for many years, about 15 to 20 Read more →