A recent Gallup survey shows that the majority of college admissions directors are content with the current average amount of undergraduate loans despite widespread concern regarding college students' rising debts, according to Inside Higher Ed. Responses from 576 admissions directors revealed strong support for "gapping," the policy of awarding financial aid packages short of what admitted students require in order to enroll. Many of those surveyed said that a number of institutions intentionally misrepresent and misreport data to publications that release national college rankings. Officials from private colleges were more comfortable with admitting students who may accrue debt, while community college directors were the least supportive of using loans to fund education. The survey also showed that admissions officers at public institutions planned to modify their admissions criteria if the United States Supreme Court releases a decision curtailing affirmative action policies this year, according to Inside Higher Ed.
A group of hackers named "Team GhostShell" claimed responsibility on Oct. 1 for breaking into more than 120,000 online accounts at dozens of universities, including Harvard University and the University of Cambridge, in an attempt to protest against the rising costs of higher education, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. More than 35,000 email addresses were compromised as a result of their efforts, according to Identity Finder, a data-protection company. This recent attack, called "Project WestWind," aimed to expose "the changes made in today's education" and "how new laws imposed by politicians affect us," according to a message released by the leaders of Team GhostShell. Team GhostShell's past projects have included larger-scale breaches, including "Project Hellfire" in August, when the group leaked around 1 million confidential documents from private companies and organizations, according to The Chronicle.
In an opinion piece published by The New York Times titled "A War of Words," English and women's and gender studies professor Colleen Glenney Boggs, who works at the College, reviewed the impact of literature in the American Civil War. Boggs examined the relationship between history and literature, emphasizing the significance of understanding "how American literature shaped Civil War history." Although renowned American authors were mostly not involved in the military at the time, Boggs argues that the war itself influenced many writers who used their work to cope with the consequences of war. Boggs writes that history and literature were "intricately bound" for 19th century Americans.
