As the proportion of female applicants to selective colleges increases, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is investigating whether undergraduate admissions processes discriminate against women to ensure an even gender distribution in their student bodies, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Title IX, the federal law that enforces gender equity, forbids gender-based discrimination at colleges and universities, except for private colleges that are not professional or technical institutions, according to The Chronicle. The commission will first determine whether preferences for male applicants exist and then look into the consequences of certain aspects of Title IX to see whether it is responsible for some of the inequity, according to The Chronicle.
A new Blackboard plug-in allows campuses to connect Blackboard, the course management system used by the College, with Google's free e-mail and document-sharing services, eliminating the need for students to log into both platforms, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The program, developed by Northwestern University, is used by about 1,000 students at Northwestern and is now available on other campuses, according to The Chronicle. The tool will make it easier for students to access both programs, Wendy Woodward, director of technology support services at Northwestern, told The Chronicle. Google offers free e-mail, word processing and spreadsheet applications, which are used by hundreds of colleges, according to The Chronicle. A Dartmouth task force investigating a replacement for BlitzMail recommended that the College switch to Google's services last spring. The group is now in a "holding pattern," however, awaiting approval from College President Jim Yong Kim.
Presidents from 23 private colleges received salaries of more than $1 million for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Former President James Wright received a total compensation of $603,983, The Dartmouth previously reported. Of the 419 private colleges in The Chronicle's analysis, 110 reported that their presidents receive salaries of more than $500,000. The median salary increased 6.5 percent from the 2006-2007 fiscal year, although economic conditions may have caused salary increases to level off, and some presidents have begun taking voluntary pay cuts, according to The Chronicle. The data collected may not accurately represent presidents' compensations due to changes following the economic recession and delays in compensation from previous years.
