Santa Monica College, a community college in California, has proposed instating a "two-tier" tuition structure that would charge a higher price for more popular classes, according to The New York Times. The plan is an effort to alleviate the problem of course over-enrollment in the wake of sharp budget cuts to higher education following the recent economic recession. In response to drastic budget cuts, many California community colleges have cut hundreds of course offerings, with some canceling the winter academic term entirely, The Times reported. Community colleges are widely known for providing inexpensive, accessible education opportunities, and many think that the new tuition structure would contradict the outreach goals of community colleges and put more financial burden on the poorest students, according to The Times.
A recent paper published in American Sociological Review found that there is declining confidence in science among political conservatives, dropping from 48 percent in 1974 to 34 percent in 2012, Inside Higher Ed reported. Previously the most likely to show confidence in science, conservatives are now ranked the least confident below liberals and moderates, the study found. Gordon Gauchat, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who authored the paper, attributes the decline in confidence to the growing significance of scientific issues, such as climate change, that would result in greater governmental regulation, Inside Higher Ed reported. The decline is found more commonly in educated conservatives than in less-educated conservatives, whose views have remained relatively consistent, according to Inside Higher Ed. Gauchat said that because many scientific issues are politically charged, conservative opposition to increased government intervention contributes to their lack of trust in science, according to Inside Higher Ed.
Students at Howard University launched a video campaign to protest the alleged murder of 17-year-old Florida high school student Trayvon Martin, according to The Washington Post. The YouTube video, released on March 25, features Howard students wearing hooded sweatshirts saying, "Do I look suspicious?" in protest of racial profiling. On February 26, George Zimmerman, a selfappointed "neighborhood watch volunteer," shot Martin, who was on his way home after visiting a local 7-Eleven, The Post reported. Zimmerman claimed that he shot the African-American teenager in self-defense after following Martin in order to find out what he was "up to," ABC News reported.
