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Quick Takes: Pomona and Swarthmore Eliminate Loans, 12 Colleges in Genomics Experiment, Stanford Seeks Young Scholars of Race, No Confidence at Modesto, Tighter Oversight at Chicago State, President’s Private Shower Nixed

  • Pomona and Swarthmore Colleges on Wednesday became the latest institutions to eliminate loans as part of students’ financial aid packages.
  • The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has chosen 12 colleges and universities to participate in a previously announced collaborative effort to create a national genomics course directed toward freshmen. The institute is setting up a network of colleges and universities that teach from a centralized set of materials with a common goal: to encourage students to pursue research as early as possible, to immerse them in the tools of basic scientific inquiry and to allow collaborations between the network’s members. The initial participating institutions are: Carnegie Mellon, James Madison and Oregon State Universities; the College of William and Mary; Hope and Spelman Colleges; the Universities of California at San Diego and Santa Cruz, Louisiana at Monroe, Mary Washington and Maryland-Baltimore County; and Washington University in St. Louis.
  • Stanford University has announced a new program in which it will create 10 new faculty slots with the goal of hiring rising stars in the humanities and social sciences who conduct research on issues of race and ethnicity.
  • Faculty members at Modesto Junior College have overwhelmingly voted no confidence in the leadership of Richard Rose, the new president, The Modesto Bee reported. Professors say that the president does not include them in key decisions, while Rose says that he is trying to create needed procedures and rules where they have not existed.
  • Trustees of Chicago State University promised Wednesday to provide closer oversight of the institution’s business practices in the wake of a Chicago Tribune report that the institution purchased two high-priced copy machines from a company owned by an employee of the university. Trustees also said they would investigate how the no-bid purchase was allowed to take place.
  • A plan to add a shower to the private restroom in the president’s office of Santa Ana College has been halted. The Orange County Register reported that trustees of the Rancho Santiago Community College District put a stop to the project, which had already started, after word of it leaked to them. Erlinda Martinez, president at Santa Ana, said she needed the private shower because she must frequently change from business attire to cocktail attire when she leaves her office to go directly to receptions in the evening. But trustees said that the spending sent the wrong message. The Register reported that private showers are common for corporate CEO’s, but not for college presidents, many of whom manage with the same bathrooms used by other employees in their buildings.

Scott Jaschik

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Comments

Hooray for the trustees

Kudos to the school’s trustees for pulling the plug on the shower in the Santa Ana College president’s office. As the trustees noted, the money isn’t the issue, but rather the symbolism. Too bad more governing boards don’t clamp down on lavish presidential spending on airplane purchases (Ohio University), remodeling presidential homes (Vanderbilt, Miami Univesity) and so forth. Not to mention exhorbitant entertaining. It is the height of poor judgment for chancellors and presidents to use their school’s budget to feather their nests when states are cutting appropriations, tuition is rising much faster than inflation, and faculty members’ salaries are lagging. Instead of defensively rationalizing unwise expenditures, trustees should clamp down on them.

Budget watcher, at 9:25 am EST on December 13, 2007

Presidential Shower

While I agree that we need to be careful how univeristy money is spent and the type of message that spending may send to others, as a woman I can also see the perspecitive of the president who requested a shower. It is very difficult to be a woman administrator, and at times I feel like we are judged differently than our male counterparts—specifically when it comes to personal appearance. It probably takes me twice as long as a male to get ready for a function when you consider I have to do hair, make-up, etc.

Female administrator, at 9:50 am EST on December 13, 2007

Presidential Shower

Try using the locker rooms like the rest of us. I shower during the day when I have to and they have mirrors, plugs, and sinks right there.

Mr. Obvious, Assistant Professor at Community College, at 12:10 pm EST on December 13, 2007

Cleaning up in private

All the showers in our colleges locker rooms are “open". I can’t imagine the president wandering down and getting naked with the students. Sorry but I think this woman is being mistreated. If she’s willing to work so many hours that she has to shower on campus, that need should be accomodated.

Ivory, at 12:50 pm EST on December 13, 2007

Ditto

Ditto to Ivory’s comment. We ask our President’s to work very long hours. Why not a private to space to prepare and de-stress

Peter, Campus Director, at 2:15 pm EST on December 22, 2007

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