Significant disparities between the graduation rates of black and white students exist at many colleges and universities, Inside Higher Ed reported Monday. While some schools have nearly equal graduation rates for both groups, others reported gaps as high as 47 percentage points between the rates of black and white graduates, according to a report by Education Sector, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The report also found that a majority of black students are enrolled at institutions where they face a lower likelihood of graduation, with only three in ten black students enrolled at colleges and universities that have a graduation rate of over 50 percent for black students, according to Inside Higher Ed. Critics of institutions with lower graduation rates charged that the gaps are the result of a lack of institutional support for struggling students at these schools, citing the success of academic skills improvement programs at schools with higher graduation rates as improving the likelihood of graduation for black students.
Intellectual and artistic freedom has become the focus of the debate over a controversial art exhibit by Yale University senior Aliza Shvarts, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported on Monday. The art project, which opens Tuesday and includes a video of Shvarts using herbs to self-induce an abortion, became the target of criticism after the Yale Daily News reported on the project on Thursday. Criticism has also been levelled at Yale's defense of Shvarts's work -- Yale administrators claim that Shvarts' abortion is a fictional act of performance art, the Chronicle reported. In an effort to distance itself from the project, Yale issued a statement from two deans on Friday denouncing Shvarts' work, although the university has not canceled the exhibit. The debate has raised questions about colleges' and universities' attitudes toward controversial academic work in general, and many commentators have expressed concern that controversial work reduces the legitimacy of these schools in the public's view.
Omer and Bob's, a bicycle and ski shop that has been a fixture in Hanover for over 40 years, will move to downtown Lebanon this fall, the Valley News reported on April 16. Richard Wallace, the store's owner, cited the need for increased retail and inventory space as the primary motivation for relocating. Wallace stated he did not believe the move would hurt sales, and that, though he expected less business from Dartmouth students, interest from the Lebanon community would offset the loss, according to the Valley News. Omer and Bob's will occupy the space vacated by the Lebanon Pharmacy last October.
