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Trinity Professor Whose Comments Drew Threats Is Put on Leave

The Trinity College professor whose online comments about racial issues and the police drew national attention, including threats that led the Connecticut institution to shut down briefly, has been placed on paid leave, the college announced late Monday.

Trinity’s president, Joanne Berger-Sweeney, wrote that “a leave is in the best interest” of both the college and the faculty member, Johnny Eric Williams, an associate professor of sociology. Ms. Berger-Sweeney added that the dean of the faculty…

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Supreme Court Will Review Travel Ban, but Allows It to Take Partial Effect in Meantime

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear President Trump’s appeal of two cases in which lower courts overruled his travel ban, but the justices allowed parts of the ban to take effect until they issue a ruling. With arguments scheduled for the autumn, a ruling on the appeal could be a year away.

For more, see this in-depth article from The Chronicle.

In an unsigned order accompanying its decision to hear the appeal, the Supreme Court essentially said that the federal government can enforc…

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U. of Delaware Will Not Rehire Adjunct Who Criticized Otto Warmbier

The University of Delaware has severed its relationship with an adjunct faculty member who criticized Otto Warmbier, the University of Virginia student who died last week after North Korea detained him for 17 months, according to a news release.

Delaware had previously denounced the remarks by Katherine A. Dettwyler, an adjunct lecturer in anthropology. In the comments section of a National Review article and on her Facebook page, Ms. Dettwyler wrote in posts that have since been removed that Mr…

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U. of Delaware Condemns Adjunct’s Posts That Said Otto Warmbier ‘Got Exactly What He Deserved’

The University of Delaware has condemned an adjunct faculty member’s messages on Facebook and elsewhere online that strongly criticized Otto Warmbier, the University of Virginia student who died last Monday after being held captive in North Korea for 17 months.

The faculty member, Katherine A. Dettwyler, is an adjunct lecturer in anthropology at the university. She posted her remarks — which have since been taken down — on her personal Facebook page and in a comment thread on a National Review a…

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Jury Convicts 3rd Former Vanderbilt U. Athlete in 2013 Gang Rape

A Tennessee jury on Friday found a former football player at Vanderbilt University guilty of two of seven charges, including aggravated rape, in connection with the gang rape of an unconscious student in 2013, The Tennessean reports.

The former athlete, Brandon E. Banks, is the third teammate to be convicted in the case. He faces a possible 15-year prison sentence for the aggravated-rape charge. Two members of the team, Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey, were sentenced to 17 years and 15 years, …

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Judge Declares Another Mistrial in Fatal Shooting by U. of Cincinnati Officer

After jurors deliberated for nearly 30 hours over five days and reported that they could not reach a verdict, the judge on Friday declared a mistrial for the second time in the case of a University of Cincinnati police officer who was charged with murder after he fatally shot an unarmed black man during a traffic stop, the Associated Press reports.

The officer, Ray Tensing, shot to death Samuel DuBose, 43, in July 2015, after pulling him over for driving without a front license plate.

The univer…

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U. of Missouri Rescinds Bill Cosby’s Honorary Degree, Joining Over 20 Colleges

The University of Missouri’s Board of Curators voted unanimously on Friday to rescind Bill Cosby’s honorary degree from the flagship Columbia campus, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

The system’s president, Mun Y. Choi, had recommended that Mr. Cosby, a 79-year-old actor, relinquish his Doctor of Humane Letters degree, awarded in 1999, after his trial for aggravated indecent assault ended on Saturday in a mistrial.

The board’s decision added Missouri to the list of more than 20 other colleg…

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Elsevier Wins $15 Million in Copyright Suit Against Piracy Sites

A federal court has ruled in favor of one of the world’s largest science publishers in its lawsuit against websites that provide free, pirated access to millions of scholarly-journal articles, Nature.com reported on Thursday.

In a judgment handed down this week, Judge Robert W. Sweet of the U.S. District Court in New York City ruled for the company, Elsevier, in the absence of any representatives of the defendants, which include Sci-Hub, LibGen, and related sites, and awarded the publisher $15 m…

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U. of Oregon Athlete Played a Season While Under Investigation for Sexual Assault

Updated (6/23/2017, 11:14 a.m.) with a statement from the university.

A University of Oregon men’s basketball player, Kavell Bigby-Williams, played the last basketball season while he was under criminal investigation for alleged sexual assault, according to the Daily Emerald, the campus’s student newspaper.

Mr. Bigby-Williams has been under investigation by the campus police of the Northern Wyoming Community College District since September 19, the newspaper said. He is accused of sexually assau…

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Trinity College of Conn. Closes Over Threats After Conservative Website Targets Professor

Trinity College, a small, private institution in Connecticut, closed on Wednesday following threats to the campus that appear to be tied to a faculty member’s recent online comments about the police, reports the Hartford Courant.

“Given the threats to campus and upon consultation with the President’s Cabinet, the decision has been made to close the college until further notice,” says a statement on the college’s website.

Johnny Eric Williams, an associate professor of sociology, had written mess…

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