The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in September that the First Amendment does not protect the job security of college and university deans who speak out against their administrations, Inside Higher Ed reported. The ruling reversed the decision of a lower court and upheld the right of the University of Connecticut to fire its Dean of Engineering, Amir Faghri, who had publicly criticized senior administrators. The court found that "the management of a public institution, such as a university, is not required to retain in a management or policy-making position a person who publicly opposes its policies," according to Inside Higher Ed. UConn Provost Peter Nicolls removed Faghri from his position as dean, but kept him on at the University as a faculty member.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced Monday that the organization will make a $34.8 million, five-year commitment to improve degree completion rates at two-year colleges in the United States, The Washington Post reported. The initiative, Completion by Design, will provide grants to up to five groups of community colleges from nine target states. The Gates Foundation's effort to improve completion rates comes at the same time as President Barack Obama's push for the United States to have the highest college completion rate in the world, a lead currently held by Canada, with a 56 percent completion rate. Low graduation rates at community colleges can be attributed to a lack of high school preparation, overly broad placement tests and an under-appreciation for associate degrees nationwide, Northern Virginia Community College President Robert Templin told The Washington Post.
Increasing numbers of wealthy students from India are choosing to study abroad, specifically in the United States, according to The New York Times. As India's growing upper class continues to face a lack of top-quality colleges and universities within the country, families are sending more and more students to study abroad. The growing numbers of wealthy students studying abroad are in stark contrast to the 40 percent of Indians that remain in poverty, according to The Times. College and university recruitment officers are finding it increasingly necessary to make trips to India to convince Indians to attend their programs, as students' interests expand from the computer science, engineering and business studies that have historically been most popular, to degrees in psychology, design and journalism.
