Administrators at Harvard University are in the process of restructuring the administrative structure of the university to streamline operations and reduce costs, The Harvard Crimson reported Wednesday. Officials are expected to name a new vice president for campus services before the start of the fall academic semester, The Crimson reported. The new vice president, who will replace the vice president for administration, will be responsible for central operations functions, maintenance of dining facilities and supervision of the Harvard Faculty Club and Harvard Magazine. Applicants for the position have been presenting their own ideas for administrative restructuring, administrators told The Crimson.
This fall, Northern Arizona University will implement an electronic attendance system to keep track of student attendance in large classes, The Arizona Republic reported Tuesday. The system, which reads the identity card of each student as they walk into a classroom, will report attendance statistics to professors and is expected to increase attendance and, consequently, student performance, according to The Arizona Republic. The university will spend $75,000 in federal stimulus money to place card readers in classrooms holding more than 50 students, and professors will be given the option to use the system to factor attendance into student grades, NAU's vice president of enrollment management and student affairs told The Republic. While some students argue the new policy treats students like children, and factoring class attendance into grades will make the university less rigorous, NAU administrators, however, maintain that promoting attendance will lead to increased participation in class discussion and better performance on exams, The Republic reported.
Law enforcement authorities in Portland, Ore., will be sending undercover agents to the Reed College spring festival to fight student drug use after a student died of a heroin overdose last month, The New York Times reported. U.S. and county attorneys said Reed's "Renn Fayre" festival is associated with the use and distribution of drugs, often drawing drug users and dealers from outside the college community, The Times reported. Under a federal law intended to prosecute owners of crack houses, the college's administrators could face criminal charges for enabling drug use, The Times reported. This is the second drug-related death in two years at Reed, and administrators released a campus-wide e-mail informing students of the presence of police and warning them not to use drugs at the festival. While some students told The Times they feared the presence of undercover officers would make students less inclined to seek medical help, others expect the heightened drug enforcement to have little effect on the fair, according to The Times.
