Many colleges release post-graduation job placement rates based on surveys with insufficient sample sizes, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. More than a third of colleges' reported placement rates in 2010 were based on responses from 50 percent or less of their graduates, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Job-placement data can also be unreliable because schools use different sets of polling standards, with some surveying students immediately following graduation and others tracking employment over several months, The Chronicle reported. Many schools count part-time and unpaid internships in their reports, according to The Chronicle. As of 2008, the federal government has required colleges to disclose placement rates to prospective students who wish to receive such information, yet standards for such reports vary substantially depending on regional standards, The Chronicle reported.
Stephen Embry filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against Harvard University on Wednesday, claiming that a Harvard swimming coach repeatedly molested him from 1969 to 1972, when Embry was 12 years old, The Boston Globe reported. Embry and his lawyer, a well-known litigator in sexual assault cases, claim that Harvard misled Embry about the Massachusetts statute of limitations on abuse claims and failed to disclose a previous abuse charge brought in 1996 against swimming coach Benn Merritt. Merritt committed suicide soon after the previous charges were filed, The Globe reported. Massachusetts law dictates that victims of sexual abuse have up to three years from the time they realize they were abused to file a civil suit in response. In an interview with The Globe, Embry said he realized he had been abused four years ago when suppressed memories of the assault resurfaced.
On July 10, the NCAA announced that it found the California Institute of Technology guilty of losing institutional control, according to Inside Higher Ed. Caltech self-reported that it allowed 30 athletes to play intercollegiate games while not officially registered for enough courses to be considered full-time students, prompting an investigation. Students were participating in Caltech's "course-shopping" practice, in which students are allowed to try out courses but are not officially enrolled and are deemed ineligble to compete by the NCAA, Inside Higher Ed reported. The NCAA sanctions included three years' probation, a postseason ban, a vacation of athletics records and recruiting limits. While Caltech is not protesting the punishments, the university said in a statement that the violations reflected "no intentional wrongdoing," and that the NCAA had agreed with this claim, Inside Higher Ed reported. Critics have noted that the NCAA frequently fails to prevent academic misconduct at other institutions, yet is targeting a university with some of the country's most rigorous academic requirements for undergraduates.
