Cooper Union may be free no more
Due to budget shortfalls, Cooper Union — a tuition-free college in downtown Manhattan — may start charging its students to attend, according to the New York Times.
The move would be a "last resort," Cooper Union President Jamshed Bharucha told the Times.
The college has been free since it was founded in 1859. Cooper Union has had to turn to "unsustainable practices" to keep fiscally afloat, such as withdrawing from its endowment, according to the Times.
Alums and students are outraged about a prospective shift in what they see as a central tenet of the university. A student walk-out is planned for today, and a petition to "preserve free tuition" gathered 2,000 signatures as of Nov. 1, according to Inside Higher Ed.
Presidential debate spots selected
The Commission on Presidential Debates announced Monday the universities where the three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate will take place. The University of Denver will host the first presidential debate Oct. 3, 2012, Centre College in Danville, Ky., will host the vice presidential debate Oct. 11, 2012, Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., will host the second presidential debate Oct. 16, 2012, and Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., will host the third Oct. 22, 2012.
The debate in Denver will be "the first presidential debate in the history of the state of Colorado," according to the DU Clarion, Denver's student newspaper. Centre College hosted a debate in 2000, and this year the college will "set a new standard for excellence," said Centre president John Roush, according to the school's student newspaper.
Yale recruiting LGBTQ med students
Yale released admissions brochures last month targeted at lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer prospective medical students, according to the Yale Daily News. It plans to send the brochures in official information packets next year, wrote the YDN.
"It's a big step for our medical school to be doing this," said Jorge Ramallo, head of Yale's Gay-Straight Medical Alliance.
Health care professionals have stressed the need for more diversity among doctors so that all patients feel more comfortable in medical offices. "Many LGBTQ patients are afraid of getting care or being judged," Shane Snowdon, director of the Center for LGBT Health and Equity at the University of California at San Francisco, told the YDN.
Business school apps declining
Applications to business schools are on a "downward spiral," with 67 percent of business schools seeing a decrease in the number of applications this year, compared to 47 percent last year, according to data collected by the Graduate Management Admissions Council reported in Bloomberg Businessweek.
The council theorized that a changeable economy and disincentives to take time off work played into the decisions of many not to apply to business school. But the relatively small number of applicants means getting accepted to top business schools has become easier, with two-thirds of the top 30 schools admitting more students for this year than they did in 2010.
Even Stanford Graduate School of Business, the most selective business school, saw selectivity drop one percentage point, to 7 percent.
