Despite national efforts to raise college students' awareness of alcohol abuse, a national survey of 330 four-year colleges found that alcohol involvement in acquaintance rapes and cases of violent behavior has risen 10 percent since 1994, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The level of heavy drinking among college students, meanwhile, has remained constant since the 1980s. When universities' alcohol-awareness initiatives failed to effect meaningful change, many administrators became disillusioned, David Anderson, director of George Mason University's Center for the Advancement of Public Health, said in an interview with The Chronicle. Instead of supporting educational programs, many colleges have begun to emphasize restrictive policies, such as mandatory drug-testing of athletes and censoring advertisements from bars and pubs, according to The Chronicle.
As many academics lament a national "humanities crisis," supporters gathered at the Symposium on the Future of the Humanities to discuss the future and role of humanities in today's society, Inside Higher Ed reported. Speakers urged a world view influenced by the study of humanities that avoids oversimplifying complex problems and appreciates the fallibility of information. In response to a decrease in the number of humanities degrees awarded and a series of cuts to university programs, the Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences was established in February to develop concrete plans to strengthen education and research in the humanities and social sciences, according to Inside Higher Ed. Speakers at the conference, held at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in conjunction with the Council of Independent Colleges on March 29, did not present any concrete new initiatives, Inside Higher Ed reported.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative research group in Michigan, issued a public records request for any emails exchanged by the labor studies departments at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University concerning the Wisconsin labor controversy, The New York Times reported. The group declined to explain the reasoning behind the March 25 request, which follows recent contention behind state legislation that limits the collective bargaining rights of employees. Several professors said in interviews with The Times that the group is attempting to "intimidate or embarrass professors who are sympathetic to organized labor" and that the request directly threatens their academic freedom.
