Watching the Ivies: 3/4
BROWN: Students at Brown University have established the Student Conduct Information Service to provide assistance to students accused of disciplinary violations by the University. SCIS aims to serve as an “informational resource” to students facing Academic Code or Code of Conduct hearings, according to the Brown Daily Herald. The group will hire its inaugural team of undergraduate members this spring, and hopes to be fully operational next year.
COLUMBIA: A new research initiative by Columbia’s Center for the Study of Social Difference will investigate global women’s issues, as the Columbia Spectator reported. The initiative, titled Women Creating Change, will support research on topics such as gender’s role in the arts and the relationship between gender and poverty. The program will incorporate these themes into various undergraduate courses.
CORNELL: Students at Cornell University are developing plans to open a non-University gym in Collegetown near campus. The students cite the inconvenient distance of Cornell Fitness Centers from Collegetown, where most students live during the summer, as the reasoning behind their initiative. The students are currently seeking fitness centers in the area to franchise the gym, according to the Cornell Daily Sun.
HARVARD: Harvard University President Drew G. Faust met with key lawmakers in Washington, D.C. last week to argue against research funding cuts that constitute part of the federal budget sequester. The spending reductions would curtail research funds that Harvard receives annually from Washington. Faust also hoped to gain an understanding of different views on the sequester by meeting with representatives from both major parties, according to The Crimson.
PRINCETON: Princeton University announced last Tuesday the selection of Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke as this year’s Baccalaureate speaker. Bernanke served as the chair of Princeton’s economics department prior to joining the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors in 2002. A survey sent to Princeton’s senior class last fall requesting suggestions for the speaker contributed to the selection process, according to The Daily Princetonian.
UPENN: The University of Pennsylvania’s Making History fundraising campaign has raised a total of $4.3 billion, as University President Amy Gutmann announced last Thursday. The campaign, which reached its original $3.5 billion goal in September 2011, is the largest fundraising effort in Penn’s history. Funds raised from the campaign will finance scholarships, financial aid and University programs and research, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
YALE: Beginning this summer, Yale University will debut a five-week bridge program for rising freshman to facilitate their transition to the college environment. Yale will offer placement in the program to about 30 entering students, who will live in residential colleges and take an introductory writing course. The program represents an initiative to help alleviate the difficult adjustment period that some students experience when beginning college, according to Yale Daily News.