Advocate Online

They're Talking On Campus. . .

. . .About a draft report from the federal Commission on the Future of Higher Education that places much of the blame for rising prices on the inefficiencies of colleges themselves.

According to the draft, colleges “have shown little inclination to cut costs and improve their productivity.” The report calls for states to require public universities to measure what students learn, while recommending several surveys and standardized tests. The release of the report itself, originally scheduled for August, has been postponed until the fall.

. . .About the U.S. Department of Defense monitoring e-mail messages from college students involved in protests against the Iraq war and the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Reports on the surveillance are part of a government database—known as Talon—established to keep track of potential terrorist threats and were provided in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

. . .About legislation passed by the California State Senate Education Committee with a unanimous bipartisan vote that would protect freedom of speech and press for college and university newspapers.

The vote comes in response to a U.S. Circuit Court ruling that said college administrators could require state university student newspapers to submit articles for prior review.

The proposed protection against censorship of college newspapers, the first of its kind in the nation, will be acted upon by the full Senate in August and is expected to pass.