College Shorts

Aiming to influence elected officials for the midterm elections in less than a month, students, faculty and advocacy groups have begun demonstrating publicly to show their support for public higher education. As a result of the economic recession that has hit the country recently, states have been forced to cut back funding for public universities and colleges. California has been an extreme case: the University of California lost $637 million in state appropriations last year, and has been forced to make some changes to recoup the lost money. Students now pay 30 percent more than before, and the university has been forced to accept a much larger proportion of out-of-state students. In Minnesota, where the same situation is taking place, students, faculty, student groups and concerned community members have urged the University of Minnesota to designate funds for “education, not administration.”
— The Chronicle of Higher Education

Columbia University recently launched the Center for Palestine Studies, the first of its kind in the United States. The center, which is in downtown New York City in Columbia’s Middle East Institute, was created by a group of faculty with the goal of raising awareness of all aspects of Palestinian culture, not just focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has historically plagued Palestinians. “It is monumental to have a space at Columbia University that represents the voice of a people that do not have their own. It is important to come to these spaces so we can lend our voices,” said Lawrence El-Cobb, executive director of the nonprofit School Streets and Beyond. Since Columbia already has a Center for Israeli and Jewish Studies, people are interested and hopeful that there will be some collaboration between the two Centers.
— Columbia Spectator

It is becoming increasingly popular in the technology industry in India for potential employees to bypass university in order to study at a technology company’s training facility. Technology companies believe that universities’ practical uses have been stymied by their old-school teaching methods and lack of practical computer education. To the end of fixing these perceived problems, Indian companies spent more than $1 billion last year on corporate training programs for new employees. In response, Indian universities have made efforts to “smarten up” their classrooms, adding Wifi, projectors and computers. Teachers, however, have been slow to adjust to the technological advances, often sticking to chalkboards rather than using their new resources.
— The Chronicle of Higher Education