August 20, 2008

California Assembly Approves Bill to Revive Oversight of For-Profit Colleges

Berkeley, Calif. — The California Assembly approved a bill on Tuesday that would renew oversight of the state’s 1,700 for-profit colleges, the latest attempt to settle a long-running battle over how strictly the colleges should be regulated.

The 132-page measure, SB 823, was approved in a 43-to-32 vote and now heads to the Senate, the Contra Costa Times reported. The authority of the state agency that previously oversaw for-profit colleges expired on July 1, and lawmakers have been unable to agree on a way to restore it. Without such oversight, students at proprietary colleges are unable to file complaints or to recover expenses if their institutions go out of business.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has not taken a position on the bill.

The argument over for-profit colleges here, which is being watched closely in other states, has stretched on for several years. Consumer groups have argued that students need better protection and colleges need to report more-accurate data about their performance. Companies that own for-profit colleges have argued that bureaucratic red tape has prevented them from offering new programs.

“At least it gives students a place to complain to,” Betsy Imholz of the Consumers Union told the Times. “It’s not all we wanted, but it’s better than nothing.” —Josh Keller

August 7, 2008

Alabama College Is Told to Reinstate Instructor Who Took His Own Courses

An instructor who was fired for enrolling in his own classes at Bishop State Community College, in Mobile, Ala., should be reinstated and given back pay, an arbitrator has ruled, according to a report in the Press Register, a local newspaper.

Henry Douglas, an instructor in Bishop State’s culinary department, was terminated by the college when a state audit revealed that he had enrolled in 10 courses that he himself was teaching, and was listed as taking six other courses at times when he was scheduled to teach. The Press Register reported in 2007 that he received six A grades and one B in seven courses.

Mr. Douglas argued that he had taken the courses at the behest of administrators at the college, who thought that his associate degree needed augmentation. The instructor and his lawyer contended that the courses were taken as independent-study courses, and that Mr. Douglas was not in fact teaching himself.

Herman Packer, the Bishop State employee who had supervised and advised Mr. Douglas, was also fired after the situation came to the attention of state officials. Mr. Packer was also reinstated earlier this summer in a separate arbitration procedure. He will serve a seven-day suspension.

James Odom Jr., the arbitrator in the case, decided that a reprimand issued to Mr. Douglas by the college was sufficient, and that taking any other action against the instructor was unfair. —Richard Byrne

August 1, 2008

Study Finds Continuing Shortage of Community-College Leaders

Community colleges face a looming wave of presidential retirements as well as a shortage of qualified replacements, according to a newly released study by researchers at Iowa State University that echoes concerns dating back nearly a decade.

The new study, of 415 community-college presidents, found that 79 percent will retire by 2012. It also found a 78-percent drop in the number of degrees awarded to graduates of programs in community-college leadership from 1983 to 1997.

“Those would be the people who would really be in the chute to take the place of those who were retiring,” said Christopher Duree, a research associate at Iowa State who led the study.

Presidents in the study were, on average, 58 years old, and only a third were women. According to the survey, their two most pressing concerns were fund raising and working with lawmakers. —Paul Fain

July 14, 2008

College Settles With Instructor Fired for Teaching Adam and Eve as Myth

Southwestern Community College in Iowa has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of money to settle a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed by an instructor who said he was fired last fall for teaching the biblical story of Adam and Eve as a myth, rather than as a story to be taken literally.

The instructor, Steve Bitterman, taught Western civilization but said the college had sided with students who complained about the content of his course.

A lawyer for the college, in Creston, Iowa, told The Des Moines Register that Mr. Bitterman was no longer on the college’s faculty and that the settlement would be made final this week.

Mr. Bitterman has taught this summer aboard the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower, an aircraft carrier berthed in Norfolk, Va., through a program for sailors run by Central Texas College, the Register reported. He said he had used the same textbook from his Iowa class. —Andrew Mytelka

July 1, 2008

Trustee Quits, Blaming Board's Partisanship for Failed Presidential Search

A former trustee of Monroe Community College, Lori A. Van Dusen, describes a politically tainted Board of Trustees in her recent resignation letter. Ms. Van Dusen’s departure followed widespread anger over a failed presidential search at the college, in Rochester, N.Y., including complaints from elected officials and overwhelming votes of no confidence in the trustees taken by students and faculty members.

The presidential search ended in a deadlock last month. The board, whose 10 members belong to the Republican or Conservative Parties, unilaterally added two Republican candidates to the list of finalists vetted by two search committees. The board was then split on the two late additions.

Ms. Van Dusen questioned the integrity of a new search process and whether the next president would be protected from “political self-interests,” according to the resignation letter, which was obtained by the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

Five members of the board are appointed by the county legislature, four are selected by New York’s governor, and one is a student. The newspaper reported that trustees on Monday had hired Larry W. Tyree, a former community-college president, to lead the college until a full-time replacement is found. —Paul Fain

June 18, 2008

Community Colleges Want Their Authority, Not Banks', Over Student Borrowing

Washington — The nation’s community colleges want the authority to deny some of their own students the right to take out a federally subsidized loan. The colleges think that some students won’t get jobs with salaries large enough to pay back the debt.

But the colleges don’t want banks to make that same decision.

Legislation announced this week by two Senate Democrats, Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Patty Murray of Washington, would require lenders that provide federally subsidized student loans to serve students at all colleges. Senators Dodd and Murray said they had proposed the bill because some loan companies had begun refusing to serve certain institutions, often community and technical colleges.

Officials of the American Association of Community Colleges said this week that they were stepping up efforts to win enactment of legislation that would give their colleges the authority to reduce the amounts that some students could borrow under the federal programs. The change is necessary because colleges now have no way to prevent a student from seeking a loan that doesn’t make economic sense, given the student’s long-term job prospects, said David S. Baime, the association’s vice president for government relations.

The Dodd-Murray bill makes sense, however, because loan companies have made “huge amounts of profits from the program” and sometimes reject students at a college simply because the institution’s loan volume doesn’t provide enough profits, Mr. Baime said. “It’s a very different dynamic,” he said.

Others in higher education aren’t so sure. The bill’s nondiscrimination language could help some colleges, but it would also prompt some lenders to quit the federal program altogether, said Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president for government and public affairs at the American Council on Education. And a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities said his group had taken no position on the bill. —Paul Basken

How 12 Colleges Help Hispanic Students Succeed

Looking to make Hispanic students feel more welcome on your campus? The solution can be as simple as training faculty members in how to correctly pronounce non-English names.

That’s what El Camino College, a two-year institution in Torrance, Calif., does to improve classroom participation among not only Hispanic students, but Asian students as well. The training program is highlighted in a report, “Modeling HSIs: Campus Practices That Work for Latino Students,” that was released today by Excelencia in Education, a nonprofit policy group.

The report focuses on 12 Hispanic-serving institutions in California, New York, and Texas that have had particular success in both enrolling and graduating Hispanic students. Those colleges and universities use many tried-and-true strategies — like increasing community outreach and bolstering academic support — to improve Hispanic students’ educational outcomes. Doing so, though, requires both strong leadership and savvy use of resources, the report says.

The report is the third in a series on Hispanic-serving institutions, a federal designation granted if at least 25 percent of an institution’s undergraduates are Hispanic. —Elyse Ashburn

June 12, 2008

Former Director of Alabama Fire College Found Guilty of Stealing $1.5-Million

A federal jury today found a former director of the Alabama Fire College guilty of using his position to steal more than $1.5-million in taxpayer money, according to The Birmingham News. Prosecutors argued that W.L. Langston had used the money, in part, to build himself a home and to employ relatives in nonexistent jobs.

Mr. Langston, 66, was found guilty on 36 counts of theft, conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, and money laundering, the News reported. He faces prison sentences of up to 20 years on several of the counts and may be ordered to repay up to $1.7-million.

The star witness for the prosecution was Roy W. Johnson Jr., the former chancellor of Alabama’s system of two-year colleges. Mr. Johnson testified that he and Mr. Langston had agreed to “look after” each other’s children and employed them in jobs where they had no real work, the News reported. In January, Mr. Johnson agreed to plead guilty to numerous counts of conspiracy, money laundering, and bribery.

Both cases are connected to a scandal in the two-year-college system involving accusations of widespread nepotism, political patronage, mismanagement, and theft. The charges have led to the ouster of many top officials, and a new chancellor was brought in a year ago to clean up the mess. —Elyse Ashburn

June 11, 2008

Incoming Chancellor of California Community Colleges Pushes for Accountability Law

The incoming chancellor of California’s community colleges wants to enact a major policy change for the system even before he takes office.

State Sen. Jack Scott will become the leader of the 109-campus system in January, as he exits from the Legislature. But right now, Mr. Scott is pushing a bill that would require the colleges to compile annual reports on everything from cost and diversity to graduation rates and job placement, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The bill would also apply to campuses of the California State University system, which supports the measure and already provides such information through the national Voluntary System of Accountability.

Mr. Scott’s bill has already been approved by the state Senate, where he is chairman of the Committee on Education, and by the state Assembly’s Higher Education Committee. —Eric Kelderman

May 28, 2008

Judge Says Alabama Board Erred in College President's Firing

An administrative-law judge in Alabama has ruled that the State Board of Education violated the state’s Fair Dismissal Act when it dismissed Susan E. Salatto as president of Southern Union State Community College, the Associated Press reported.

The ruling, released on Tuesday, rescinded her firing, saying that Ms. Salatto had been denied a hearing to which she was entitled. The board had dismissed her in January, two weeks after the chancellor of the two-year-college system placed her on leave.

The chancellor, Bradley Byrne, said in a written statement on Tuesday that he believed the ruling was wrong and that college presidents were not covered by the law. A spokeswoman for the the college system said the system would ask a state circuit judge to overturn the administrative judge’s ruling. —Charles Huckabee