Joshua Morse III, noted for his activism in law school desegregation, died last Friday at the age of 89, The New York Times reported. Morse was the dean of the University of Mississippi School of Law in the 1960s and admitted the school's first black students in 1963. During his six years serving as dean, Morse recruited minority students, hired Ivy League-educated professors and served as a model of liberalism for southern educators. Morse also hired new law school graduates to prepare legal challenges against discriminatory voting laws and promote legal assistance for the underprivileged. Born in 1923, Morse was a graduate of the University of Mississippi and its law school and served in the U.S. Army during World War II, The Times reported.
For the first time, the University of Delhi, often considered India's most prestigious university, will be offering a four-year undergraduate degree instead of a three-year degree, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The change will go into effect during the next academic session, which begins in July 2013. Because of the new degree, faculty must redesign their freshman year curricula, which will be subject to approval by the university's academic council. Dinesh Singh, vice chancellor of the university, said that the new four-year degree will allow students more opportunities to work on research and will offer them more time to consider what major they should pursue. Although some faculty members were wary about the change, India's University Grants Commission supports the new degree program and encourages all universities to adopt the four-year model, according to The Chronicle.
Tennessee State University is currently undergoing a power struggle within its Faculty Senate due to conflict over an academic fraud charge, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Jane Davis, former chairwoman of the university's Faculty Senate, sent a letter to the Board of Regents and Gov. Bill Haslam, R-Tenn., claiming that hundreds of grades were changed without the instructor's knowledge. Davis said that the changes "undermined student-teacher relationships" and could jeopardize the university's accreditation. On Aug. 20, Davis disrupted a faculty meeting and was escorted out by campus police after refusing to leave the room. After the event, the faculty voted to remove Davis as chairwoman, which has created further conflict over who is in charge of the Faculty Senate at the school, The Chronicle reported.
