Almost half of the 65 charitable gifts of $5 million or more given last year went to colleges and universities, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported. The rise in donations to educational institutions can be attributed to donors' attachments to their alma maters and the many opportunities to provide financial aid to students and support new research, according to The Chronicle. Donors often see thriving universities as the basis of American economic competitiveness, while a number of donors also sought to support colleges that lost funds due to state budget cuts, The Chronicle reported. Several of the donations last year were for "unusual centers and programs," such as a research center for the transmission of diseases from animals to humans, The Chronicle reported. Only nine people donated more than $100 million in 2010, compared to 18 last year, according to The Chronicle.
Despite growing civil unrest in Egypt, the American University in Cairo announced that its undergraduate spring semester will begin Feb. 13 after suspending its term due to last month's protests. The University announced that classes will run on an "abbreviated schedule" with buses bringing students and faculty to the campus by 8:30 a.m. and returning them home by 4:30 p.m., according to an online statement. The University anticipates it will resume graduate classes Feb. 20, according to the statement. In order to compensate for lost hours of the term, the University will conduct classes on some Saturdays, cancel a few days of spring break and postpone the end of the term. The University's deadlines for class enrollment and tuition payment have also been extended, according to the statement.
Personnel at Villanova University School of Law intentionally provided inaccurate grade-point averages and LSAT scores to the American Bar Association prior to 2010, Villanova officials announced Friday, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The scores, which were "presumably inflated," could have affected the school's rankings, The Chronicle reported. University Dean John Y. Gotanda said in a statement to alumni that the University immediately initiated an internal inquiry and an audit by a national law firm after being informed of the discrepancies on Jan. 20. Both investigations found that the altered numbers were knowingly reported to the ABA. Gotanda refused to divulge the names of the individuals responsible for the transgression, however, but insisted that disciplinary action will be taken against them, The Chronicle reported. The University's rankings did not appear to benefit from the allegedly inflated scores, as it fell from 60th in 2006 to 67th in 2009 in the U.S. News & World Report, according to The Chronicle.
