Chancellor at U. of Illinois faces criticism
Online controversy has flared around the chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s decision to keep the university open Monday despite cold temperatures, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported Tuesday.
Students posted comments via social media that attacked Chancellor Phyllis Wise in sexist and racist manners, the Chronicle reported. A Twitter hashtag gained traction that combined a profanity with her first name.
On Sunday night, students circulated an online petition urging the school to cancel classes that gained more than 8,000 signatures. But the university announced in a statement Sunday that it would remain open and suggested that students take precautions against the weather. Several other universities in the state chose to cancel classes Monday, including Northern Illinois University and Northeastern Illinois University.
Robin Kaler, a university spokesperson, told the Chronicle that the online criticism did not reflect the views of the majority of the student body. “I’ve seen a lot of students say they were embarrassed by it,” she added.
U. of Missouri reexamines rape case
The president of the University of Missouri has called for an investigation into the school’s handling of an alleged rape case in 2011, after an ESPN program criticized the school’s response to the case, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported Monday.
The ESPN program “Outside the Lines” reported Friday on Missouri’s response in 2011 to an alleged assault on a swim team member by a football player. The school learned of the rape accusation but failed to report it to the authorities, ESPN reported. The swimmer committed suicide 16 months after the incident.
Timothy Wolfe, president of Missouri, said Sunday he hoped to conduct a review of the school’s treatment of the case “so that we can determine if there were any shortcomings with respect to (Missouri’s) handling of this matter and, if so, ways in which to improve the handling of such matters in the future,” the Chronicle reported.
Wolfe also called for the school’s chancellors to perform a “comprehensive review” of sexual assault policies and mental health services available on campus.
Penn State faces aftermath of Sandusky scandal
The U.S. Department of Education is set to review Pennsylvania State University’s handling of sexual harassment and sexual assault complaints in the years during the Jerry Sandusky scandal, the New York Times reported Sunday.
Department officials expressed concern in a statement Sunday about a rise in “forcible sex offenses” reported to the federal government by the university around 2011, the year the Sandusky child sex abuse scandal broke.
Sandusky, the school’s assistant football coach, was indicted on 52 counts of child molestation, and some university officials allegedly covered up his actions or failed to inform authorities.
The investigation is meant to determine whether the university mishandled complaints that were made around 2011 in efforts to keep the numbers “artificially low,” an Education Department spokesperson told the Times.
Data finds drop in community college enrollment
Following a national trend, a declining number of students are enrolling in community colleges in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, according to new data published in the Washington Post Jan. 22.
The total enrollment in Virginia’s 24 public two-year colleges last year fell 2 percent from 2012 and 3 percent from 2011, according to data from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.
Maryland experienced an even more dramatic dip, with enrollment in its 16 community colleges down 4 percent from 2012 and almost 6 percent from 2010, according to data from the Maryland Higher Education Commission.
The enrollment dip may be tied to an improving economy, said Jeffrey Kraus, the Virginia Community College System’s assistant vice chancellor for public relations, the Post reported. During a recession, many students resort to community colleges as an affordable means of boosting their job prospects, he said. But when the economy stages a recovery, demand goes down.
Robert Templin Jr., president of Northern Virginia Community College — one of the only community colleges in the region to experience an enrollment increase, having expanded by about 6 percent since 2010 — said administrators have worked hard to attract certain applicants, including first-generation, minority, immigrant and low-income students.
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