While a government shutdown may delay the distribution of financial aid and other student services, it is unlikely to result in long-term consequences for students or universities, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Congress has until midnight on Friday to pass a budget for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year or approve a temporary spending bill. If an agreement is not reached, only "essential employees" would report to work, The Chronicle reported. Based on the slow-down that occurred during a 21-day government shutdown in 1995 and 1996, students in academic programs based on quarters or other shorter units may be delayed in receiving financial aid payments. Since the White House instructed department officials not to discuss their shutdown contingency plans, the exact impact on educational institutions remains unknown, The Chronicle reported.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the 2006 Supreme Court ruling Garcetti v. Ceballos which limits public employees' freedom of speech does not apply to faculty members at public universities, Inside Higher Ed reported. A federal judge previously ruled that the First Amendment did not apply to political columns authored by University of North Carolina, Wilmington professor Mike Adams, since he submitted the columns with a proposal for a promotion. Adams claimed that he was denied a promotion because of the conservative views expressed in his columns, according to Inside Higher Ed. The appeals court did not find evidence that the professor suffered religious discrimination, but only that his columns deserved constitutional protection. The case will return to a federal district court to decide if the university violated the professor's rights. Wednesday's decision represents a "ringing vindication of the academic freedom of public university professors," according to a statement issued by Alliance Defense Fund senior defense counsel David French.
New Generation Learning Challenges, a grant program run by Educause, gave away $10.4 million in grants to university-led projects that seek to address barriers to college degree programs and expand online learning opportunities, Inside Higher Ed reported. The grant program, which is primarily funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, funded four types of educational initiatives. The largest portion of funding went to seven "open core courseware projects," which include efforts to make college degrees more accessible and develop courses for educational institutions faced with ill-prepared students and few resources, Inside Higher Ed reported. NGCL categorized its other winners as "blended learning projects," programs that promote "deeper learning and engagement" and "learner analytics" programs.
