Quick hits.
- The top higher-education official in Alabama said on Friday that colleges should preserve diversity and inclusion programs, despite state proposals that would restrict teaching about race and ban diversity training. His comments diverge from stances taken by officials in other Republican-led states like Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma, who have sharply criticized colleges’ diversity efforts. (AL.com, The Chronicle)
- Graduate students who work as teaching and research assistants at Temple University have voted overwhelmingly to approve a four-year contract, ending an at-times bitter six-week strike. (The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Chronicle)
- Stanford University’s president and law-school dean sent a letter apologizing to Judge Kyle Duncan and denouncing students’ disruption of Duncan’s speech on Thursday last week. Student protesters said that the judge, who serves in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, had supported laws that would harm women, immigrants, and the LGBTQ community. (The Stanford Daily)
- The College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, both in Minnesota, announced that eight majors — including Mediterranean studies, gender studies, and theater — and nine minors would be eliminated. Officials at the private colleges said they would direct those resources toward higher-demand programs, like economics and computer science. (The Star Tribune)
What a “culture of well-being” actually looks like.
Colleges often talk about creating a culture of care, wellness, well-being — the list of buzzwords goes on. But the pronouncements can lack details.
Over a three-year period, a team of researchers at the University of California at Riverside asked students, faculty, and staff there about particular programs and policies that they felt contributed to a better campus culture. The study was conducted as part of the Healthy Campus project, which aims to increase health promotion at each of the UC system’s 10 institutions.
Healthier options in vending machines, nonsmoking signage, and refurbished stairwells were all cited by study participants as helpful. Faculty and staff said they noticed an increase in wellness offerings focused on employees, a sign that some Healthy Campus interventions were effective. Participants also valued when campus leadership showed up to participate in wellness activities.
Read more from our Kate Marijolovic.
Should Amy Wax be fired? “The New York Times” weighs in.
The law professor at the University of Pennsylvania — who has falsely claimed that, on average, Black people and women are less intelligent, and who once invited a white supremacist to speak to her class — is in the midst of a disciplinary process that could revoke her tenure.
A Monday New York Times story, written by Vimal Patel, a former Chronicle reporter, took stock of the Wax case.
According to a complaint filed last summer by the dean of the law school, Wax’s comments subjected students to “intentional and incessant racist, sexist, xenophobic, and homophobic actions and statements.” The complaint drew opposition from free-speech advocacy groups and prompted Wax to file a grievance against the dean in January.
Much of the Times story wrestled with a key question: Should Wax be disciplined for her speech, including comments that were not made in the classroom or on campus? Or was her public speech so insulting that it effectively created a discriminatory campus environment?
Comings and goings.
- D’Andra Mull, vice president for student life at the University of Florida, has been named vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
- Stuart Rayfield, vice chancellor for leadership and institutional development at the University System of Georgia, has been named president of Columbus State University.
- Ann E. Cudd, provost and senior vice chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh, has been named president of Portland State University.
- Cheryl A. McConnell, interim president of Saint Joseph’s University, in Pennsylvania, has been named to the post permanently. She will become the first woman to serve as permanent president of the university.
To submit a new-hire announcement, email people@chronicle.com.
Footnote.
A University of Nebraska at Omaha student got some unexpected help paying a semester of tuition — from the acclaimed pop singer Jason Derulo.
Derulo was in Omaha last week after buying a stake in a new professional women’s volleyball team, according to KETV, and went to a local restaurant with his team. At the end of the meal, Derulo surprised Jordan Shaffer, the student and his server, with a $5,000 tip. Shaffer split the tip with another server.
“Like, seeing $5,000 written out on the check was just — it was, like, heart-stopping, you know,” Shaffer told KETV.
Shaffer said he’d been unable to pay his full spring tuition, which was due this month. Now the bill is paid. “Getting that money,” he said, “just really took a lot of stress out of my life.”