Student Assembly Accessibility Committee members Emily Broas '11 and Rebecca Gotlieb '12 recommended the addition of two new administrative positions an assistant director for Student Accessibility Services to specialize in outreach and an accessibility advisor in the Office of Pluralism and Leadership to "provide emotional support" and be "a linchpin for a community of awareness" at Tuesday's General Assembly meeting, Broas said in an interview with The Dartmouth. The committee also recommended accessibility education for faculty, additional resources for diagnostic testing and streamlining the process for accommodations appeals and requests for medical leaves, according to Broas. The Assembly also voted to order 55 subscriptions of The Wall Street Journal for Spring, Fall and Winter terms and 15 subscriptions for Summer term at a cost of $3,600. Nick Judson '14, a member of the External Relations Committee, proposed that $10,000 of the Assembly's budget fund the creation of an interactive virtual tour in collaboration with the Admission's Office. Members of the committee chose to allocate $5,000 to the project's completion. Manasi Desai '11, co-chair of the Academic Affairs Committee, said the committee is compiling median grades and will continue to evaluate the Assembly's Course Guide, which was reinstated by the Hacker's Club on Feb. 9.
The presence of Romance language major programs in higher education institutions has declined significantly since 1970, according to a study by four researchers at the University of California, Riverside, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported Monday. Using federal data for all four-year institutions except those with specialized degrees, the authors found that only 59 percent of colleges offered Romance language programs in the 2005-2006 school year, down from 76 percent of schools in 1970. Small schools particularly private institutions are more likely to eliminate such programs, while liberal arts schools are least likely to discontinue Romance language majors, according to The Chronicle.
Members of the faculty union at Kean University in New Jersey have criticized the administration's decision to require faculty members to complete daily time sheets, Inside Higher Ed reported Tuesday. The university implemented the policy at the beginning of the semester to ensure that professors work at least 35 hours per week. Faculty union president James Castiglione said in an interview with Inside Higher Ed that the policy demeans faculty members. A university spokesman, however, explained that the institution's new requirement which had already been in place for non-faculty full-time employees does not violate any rights, according to Inside Higher Ed.
