Quick Takes: Michigan Resumes Admissions, Student Stabs Instructor at Malcolm X College, Another Sign of Good Endowment Year, Phoenix Buys Online High School, Brandeis and Carter, Professor of Champagne

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The University of Michigan is resuming its admissions process -- without consideration of race or ethnicity. The university placed admissions on hold after a federal appeals court ordered it to immediately stop considering race and ethnicity -- as required by Proposal 2, adopted by Michigan voters in November. While considering legal options, the university put admissions on hold. Michigan has argued that it would be unfair to have a class in which some students were admitted and awarded financial aid with affirmative action -- while others were treated differently. Teresa A. Sullivan, the provost, said in a statement that the university could not delay the admissions process further without hurting its ability to enroll top students.
A student in a GED course at Malcolm X College, in Chicago, used a steak knife to stab an instructor in the back of her left shoulder Wednesday, The Chicago Tribune reported. Witnesses told the Tribune that the student had been asking the instructor questions and then grew frustrated. Other students wrestled the student, described as a 40-year-old woman, to the ground. The instructor was hospitalized, but reported in good condition after receiving stitches. Most students who attack professors are male, and while such incidents are not common, there have been killings at several universities.
Preliminary results from the Commonfund Institute's endowment survey indicate an average return of 10.9 percent in the 2006 fiscal year, up from 9.7 percent the previous year. International equities were the top performing investment category, with a 24.5 percent return.
The Apollo Group, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, announced Wednesday that it had purchased Insight Schools, which in September launched its first online high school. The transaction represents the first move for Apollo, the biggest for-profit higher education company, into the K-12 arena.
Ending weeks of controversy, Brandeis University has announced that Jimmy Carter will speak on the campus about his new book later this month, The Boston Globe reported. Carter's latest book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, is highly critical of Israel, unreasonably so, according to many supporters of Israel and some Middle East experts. A Brandeis trustee invited Carter to debate the book on campus with Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard University professor who is an outspoken supporter of Israel. The invitation angered many students and professors at Brandeis, who said that the university was unwilling to consider Carter's ideas on their own. Although Brandeis is not officially a Jewish institution, it was founded by Jewish leaders in an era of Jewish quotas at top universities and has always attracted many Jewish students. Critics of the debate invitation said that it illustrated a reluctance to deal with criticism of Israel. In the end, Carter will speak and answer questions -- by himself.
The Reims Management School in France has appointed Stephan Charters as its chair in champagne studies, The Guardian reported. Charters will analyze the champagne industry, which has close ties to the business school.