The United States Department of Education submitted a plan to define the circumstances in which universities are able to divulge confidential information about potentially dangerous students, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. These proposed regulations determine that universities would not face consequences for reporting information on students who pose a potential threat to themselves or others. The new statutes would include the student's parents as people who can receive the confidential information. Currently, to receive federal funding, colleges must adhere to national confidentiality regulations. A panel appointed by the office of the governor of Virginia, however, determined that confusion about these privacy policies led to a miscommunication among Virginia Tech administrators who worked with Seung Hui Cho, the student who killed 33 people at the university last April.
Turnitin.com, a resource used by teachers and professors to monitor plagiarism in students' assignments, does not violate copyright laws, a federal judge ruled last month. Four high school students sued Turnitin's parent company, iParadigms, claiming that Turnitin profited from the work they submitted, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The judge ruled that Turnitin is covered by the fair-use clause of the copyright law. The students' lawyer said he will appeal. The site checks students' papers against its database, which includes published and student-submitted work. Turnitin uses the size of its database to attract new schools to purchase their service.
More colleges are installing pre-manufactured buildings, assembled on campus, than in previous years, according to modular building companies, the New York Times reported Wednesday. The modular units cost an average of 5 to 10 percent less and can be built much faster than traditional structures. Because manufacturers can assemble the buildings in a matter of days, colleges are able to meet a potential sharp increase in enrollment as the Class of 2012 matriculates. Yale University completed a three-story, pre-built dormitory over its spring break in 2004, although some students at the university said that the building looked too modern and claimed there were flaws in the assembly of the structure.
