Eight Republican presidential candidates confirmed they will attend the Oct. 11 primary debate at the College, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., Gov. Jon Huntsman, R-Utah, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, businessman Herman Cain and Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., will participate. Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., who will also debate at the College, confirmed over the summer that he would attend the second New Hampshire debate. The debate, which will occur from 8-10 p.m. in Spaulding Auditorium, will be sponsored by Dartmouth, Bloomberg News, The Washington Post and local news outlet WBIN-TV.
The Association of American Colleges and Universities announced an initiative to better assess student learning, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Funded by the Lumina Foundation for Education, the $2.2 million Quality Collaboratives project will use three years of students' work to establish benchmarks that ensure students meet learning standards, improve methods of detailing educational progress and ease credit transfer from two-year to four-year colleges. The project currently tracks students' progress in eight states: California, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Oregon, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. The "quality of learning and level of competence" are crucial for students' success in higher education, project director Terry Rhodes said in an interview with The Chronicle.
Robert Orr, a conservative politician and former judge, has withdrawn plans to construct a constitutional law center at North Carolina Central University due to public concern regarding the center's main financier, Art Pope, the North Carolina News & Observer reported. Pope, who funded a speaker series and helped bring U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts to the school, had previously contributed large amounts of money to conservative institutions and politicians through The John William Pope Foundation, according to The News & Observer. Orr envisioned a center that would conduct research on the history of the North Carolina Constitution as well as provide academic opportunities for teachers and political figures. A 2005 offer by Pope's foundation to fund the study of Western cultures at UNC-Chapel Hill was also withdrawn following faculty protests, The News & Observer reported.
