Correction Appended
The University Senate of Columbia University endorsed the restoration of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps on campus, following its expulsion 40 years ago amidst anti-Vietnam War protests, the Columbia Spectator reported on Friday. The Senate passed the resolution with a 51-17 vote and a single abstention, according to the Spectator. Approximately 20 anti-ROTC protestors held a demonstration outside the meeting venue, but did not disturb the vote. The Senate's resolution follows the U.S. Congress' decision to abolish the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. School of General Studies student senator Jose Robledo said he believed the ROTC would not start a program at Columbia anytime soon because of budget constraints, the Spectator reported.
Public college and university presidents have maintained their high salaries even as the universities have struggled with steep budget cuts and increases in tuition, according to a survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The highest-paid president is Ohio State University's E. Gordon Gee, who receives $1.3 million in compensation and has a $1.8 million total cost of employment. The median for compensation was $375,442, and the median total cost of employment was $440,487, according to The Chronicle. Fearing backlash from students and taxpayers in a fragile economic environment, a number of presidents have been making donations or turning down bonuses, The New York Times reported. Gee donated nearly $300,000 of his bonuses this year, according to The Times.
Harvard University doctoral students Benjamin Castleman and Lindsay Page will present a paper on the phenomenon of "summer melt" in which students drop out in greater numbers over the summer among low-income high school graduates enrolling in community colleges at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association in the New Orleans next week, Inside Higher Ed reported on Monday. Castleman and Page found that 22 percent of students using ACCESS a program that provides assistance to poor Boston students who had indicated their status as "college-intending" at graduation had dropped out during the summer. Among the recommendations made by the study is that high school counselors stay in touch with students over the summer after graduation to be alert to signs of possible melts and make timely interventions. Castleman and Page intend to conduct randomized trials in Boston this summer, collaborating with researchers working on similar studies in Fort Worth, Texas, according to Inside Higher Ed.
Compiled by Soumya Gupta
