On Campus Blog

Hoping the state might slide a little more money higher ed’s way? Little chance, writes MPR’s Tim Post: None of Minnesota’s three major party candidates for governor sees money being available for an increase in light of the state’s $5.8 billion deficit. Emmer appears to be the only one planning significant, concrete cuts — $312…
UC President Recommends Cutting Retirement Benefits Former University of Minnesota president — and current UC president — Mark Yudof has released his recommendations for how he wants the University of California to change its employee retirement plan and eliminate a $12.9 billion unfunded liability. (universitybusiness.com) Athletes Graduating at Record Rate N.C.A.A. athletes are earning degrees…
MPR’s Tim Post reports that the U.S. Census Bureau is opening up a data center on the University of Minnesota campus. He quotes President Bob Bruininks saying the data will help answer: “Questions that have to do with the migration of people, economic trends within states and across the country, issues that have to do…
Just as we learn that two-year schools such as Century College are bursting at the seams with higher enrollment — and are playing a big role in the Obama administration’s education agenda — comes this sobering fact in the Chronicle of Higher Education: Last year community colleges reported more midyear budget cuts than any other…
Report card: Minnesota's greenest campuses
The 5th annual College Sustainability Report Card, which bills itself as the only independent evaluation of the sustainability of North American campuses and their investments, has rated a handful of Minnesota colleges and universities for their greenness — as well as how socially responsible they are. How they stack up, according to results released today:…
Neighborhood liaison John Hershey in TommieMedia on the ups and downs of mediating between neighbors and students in noise and drunken-behavior cases: “My job is very odd because I live in the neighborhood, so it’s kind of like I’m a small town minister,” Hershey said. “Wherever I go, someone wants to ask me about my…
Katie Zager of The Mac Weekly writes how Macalester College — not exactly a fire-and-brimstone kind of place — is sending increasing numbers of students to divinity school: “One interesting reality at Macalester is that though the college is often touted as a place that is uninterested in the practice of religion in a broad…
Video: So you want to get a PhD in the humanities?
Found this on the Tweed blog on the Chronicle of Higher Education: A jaded professor tries to persuade her robotic, tunnel-visioned student not to go for a PhD in English. It rips on students’ sense of entitlement and inflated feelings of self-worth, but also paints the professor as a burned-out, jaded shell of a human…
Online help with textbook costs
Just passing a long a couple of Web site links that Todd Digby, textbook liaison for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, offered Friday to student leaders: The Student PIRGs (student Public Interest Research Group) textbooks site is nice because it focuses on the issues of affordable textbooks, plus it has a wealth of…