Harvard University has halted experiments on monkeys and increased oversight at its New England Primate Research Center after the fourth primate death in the past four years, The Boston Globe reported on Wednesday. The fourth monkey had to be euthanized on Sunday, likely as a result of a lack of a water bottle in its cage, according to The Globe. Three of the four monkey deaths have occurred since October, even though the research center underwent a change in leadership in September to increase oversight, The Globe reported. Scrutiny of the facilities will not stop until Harvard leadership is confident that the problems have been amended, and a committee is being formed to assess current policies and leadership, according to The Globe.
Members of the faculty and staff at John Carroll University, a Jesuit university in Ohio, have signed a letter to university president Robert Niehoff that advises him to accept President Obama's "compromise" regarding birth control coverage for female employees, Inside Higher Education. Obama's proposition addresses the debate about whether religious employers should be required to provide employees with insurance that pays for birth control, although the concession that insurers, rather than employers, would be paying for the coverage has done little to stop opposition in religious institutions, according to Inside Higher Ed. At John Carroll, three primary co-signers of the letter which was supported by a total of 47 individuals urged bishops to recognize the importance of women's health and stressed the need to give faculty members the opportunity to express their opinions about the policy, Inside Higher Ed reported.
Studies by the Community College Research Center at Columbia University's Teachers College have shown that remedial classes for students who perform poorly on standardized placement tests are often unnecessary, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. Over three quarters of students placed in such remedial classes end up dropping out of college and not earning a degree, The Times reported. Over a fourth of the students placed into these remedial classes did not need them and could have passed college-level courses, according to the study. In order to combat this problem, standardized tests should be used in conjunction with a student's high school transcript to better determine placement, according to The Times.