Alex FriedrichActress to Harvard law grads: ‘I’m afraid a couple of you probably are evil. That’s just the odds.’ Here’s another in a series of interesting/amusing/surprising commencement speeches that have been given in the 2014 graduation season. (The Washington Post) Harvard and MIT students create NSA-proof e-mail service While students do express concern over their privacy, many are Read more →
MPR News Intelligence on higher education
Archives for May 2014
The state is rolling out a public database that shows what kinds of degrees lead to the best jobs and pay in Minnesota.
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U of Buffalo investigation reveals the dangers of illegal fraternities A student journalist has spent the past seven months examining a set of student groups at University of Buffalo that regularly deal drugs, haze pledges and party hard. They also technically “do not exist.” (USA Today) Cooper Union administrators hit with suit for instituting tuition Cooper Union alumni have slapped Read more →
Phil Davis, the longtime president of Minneapolis Community and Technical College, is leaving this summer to lead efficiency efforts at the state’s system of public colleges and universities. He will become an associate vice chancellor and direct the system’s Campus Service Cooperative, an initiative designed to streamline its business practices. Davis, who has served for Read more →
Education Department official: Rating colleges is ‘like rating a blender’ The administration thinks this will serve students well by revealing important data to families so they can better make college decisions. Critics say that all rating systems present a limited view of any institution and that the government already publishes a mountain of information on institutions of higher Read more →
The note below just came in from Minneapolis Community and Technical College instructor Shannon Gibney, who last fall appealed a reprimand over how she handled a heated discussion of race with three white students. MCTC instructor: I was reprimanded for how I handled a discrimination debate (November 2013) I’ll try to get some MCTC comment/verification. (Update: Read more →
Earlier this week, the progressive Institute for Policy Studies pulled a report critical of the administrative spending at the University of Minnesota and other universities because of questions over the accuracy its data. It has since reissued the report with some modified conclusions — which campus officials still dispute. I’d like to get more detail, Read more →
Emory hires first African-American woman to lead top business school While three minority women are currently deans at American colleges of business, James will be the first to lead a full-time MBA program at a top-25 business school. (CNN via The Huffington Post) Elizabeth Warren on Spiraling Student Debt and What Should Be Done About It The Read more →
A spokesman for the University of Minnesota — which took issue with its ranking in the Institute for Policy Studies’s report on administrative pay — pointed out this announcement this morning: IPS Statement on low-wage faculty findings: Due to questions about information we gathered from the American Federation of Teachers Higher Ed Data Center website, we Read more →
Young Adults, Student Debt and Economic Well-Being An analysis of the most recent Survey of Consumer Finances finds that households headed by a young, college-educated adult without any student debt obligations have about seven times the typical net worth ($64,700) of households headed by a young, college-educated adult with student debt ($8,700). (Pew Research Center) Read more →