The Cornell University Assembly is looking to clarify rules for obtaining permits for student protests after a muddled day of demonstrations in November displayed a lack of consistency, the Cornell Daily Sun reported. Last semester, rallies by the Cornell Israel Public Affairs Committee and Students for Justice in Palestine in a campus plaza were interrupted by university police. While the Israel Public Affairs Committee had registered with the university, the Students for Justice in Palestine counter-rally did not, and the Cornell police evicted them from the plaza. Due to the ambiguity of campus policy highlighted by these protests, the University Assembly will clarify that while groups can register their rallies, it is not required. Protests still can not interrupt curricular, extracurricular or official university activities, the Daily Sun reported.
Faculty members at Duke University forced the administration to opt out of a plan that would have granted Duke students credit for online courses taken at nine other universities, according to Inside Higher Education. The Semester Online program, organized by online education provider 2U, would cap class sizes at a few hundred students each, distinguishing it from massive open online courses, or MOOCs. Faculty from Duke's Arts and Sciences Council, representing the university's largest college, voted 16-14 on Thursday against plans to grant credit for the classes. The administration subsequently withdrew Duke from the program, which will begin in the fall at the other universities. The faculty's vote against participation in Semester Online is not a rejection of online education, but reflects specific concerns about for-credit online classes and the administration's handling of these issues, according to Inside Higher Ed.
Beginning in 2014, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which provides many college-bound students with government financial support, will expand its options for those whose parents are unmarried but living together, according to Inside Higher Ed. While the current form only allows students who have two unmarried and cohabitating parents to list one of them, the change will provide "unmarried and both parents living together" as a separate answer. LGBT proponents commend the change, as children of gay or lesbian couples will now be able to list both of their parents. Children of same-sex couples and unmarried but cohabitating couples are likely to receive less funding with the new arrangement because both parents' incomes will be pooled to contribute toward the child's education.
