Syracuse University has sparked criticism with a new policy that would pay gay and lesbian employees who use the University's domestic partner health insurance program an extra $1000 each because they do not benefit from federal tax exemptions, Inside Higher Ed reported Friday. Syracuse has proposed a "sustainable benefits" campaign to slash $7 million from its annual budget, and will direct over half of the savings toward the program, according to Inside Higher Ed. Only three businesses and one family foundation in the U.S. provide similar benefits for gay and lesbian employees, and Syracuse is likely the first college or university to do so, Inside Higher Ed reported. Some critics of the policy argue that the $1,000 does not cover all of the federal tax exemption, while others argue that the policy is inequitable because it can only benefit gay and lesbian employees. Pat Cihon, president of the Syracuse chapter of the American Association of University Professors, told Inside Higher Ed the university should lobby to change the tax laws instead of providing special benefits.
Princeton University students are becoming frustrated by a grading policy designed to strictly curtail grade inflation, The New York Times reported. Less than 40 percent of grades received by undergraduates at Princeton in the past year were in the A range, a decline from approximately 50 percent in 2004 when the policy was implemented, according to The Times. Princeton's policy, which was launched under the administration of University President Nancy Weiss Malkiel, introduced the goal of having 35 percent of grades in the A range, The Times reported. Thirty-two percent of undergraduates pointed to the deflation policy as their number one cause of unhappiness in a 2009 survey conducted by the undergraduate student government at Princeton. Students fear the policy has a negative impact on their prospects for graduate school and future employment.
States are not effectively using state-collected data on student progress as a tool to improve education policy, according to a report by the Data Quality Campaign, The Chronicle of Higher Eduction reported Friday. The report found that while states were doing a better job of collecting information, they were not sharing it with policy makers, according to The Chronicle. Forty-six states have begun using data systems which track student performance from preschool through secondary education and into the work force, but no states have established protocols to prepare teachers to analyze the data in ways that can better improve student achievement, The Chronicle reported. The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund will make billions of dollars of federal stimulus money available to states that implement the report's recommendations, according to The Chronicle.
