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- In the news:
FENDING OFF ATTACKS ON SOCIAL SCIENCE
By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, May 4, 2007
LOBBYING & LAW - PATENT REFORM, PENDING
By Neil Munro and Andrew Noyes, National Journal, from the issue dated May 5, 2007
STUDENT LOAN PROBE WIDENS TO ALUMNI GROUPS
By Suzanne Sataline, Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2007
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT WILL TAP FIPSE BUDGET FOR NEW COLLABORATIVE PROGRAM WITH RUSSIA
By Kelly Field, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 2, 2007
NATIONAL HIGHER ED CENTER LIVES
By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, May 4, 2007
VETERAN OFFICIAL TO BE MEDICARE CHIEF
By Kevin Freking, Washington Post, May 3, 2007
==========
FENDING OFF ATTACKS ON SOCIAL SCIENCE
By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, May 4, 2007
Hillary Anger Elfenbein recently had her research praised by Army officials as potentially providing insights that would be useful to U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Someone who spent any time studying her research would know that. But Republican lawmakers who apparently didn't study it instead tried to mock the work, and to bar the National Science Foundation from continuing a grant to support it. Why? Apparently because its title -- "Accuracy in the cross-cultural understanding of others' emotions" -- struck them as silly. In the last Congress, Republicans used this approach to bar funds for research projects they didn't like or to push federal agencies not to support it . . . This year, the social scientists under attack fared better. The House rejected two proposals that would have barred NSF funds from going to a series of grants in the social sciences.
*** Complete article at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/05/04/nsf
LOBBYING & LAW - PATENT REFORM, PENDING
By Neil Munro and Andrew Noyes, National Journal, from the issue dated May 5, 2007
As Congress prepares to rewrite the nation's patent law, lobbyists from dueling industries are trying to elbow one another aside in their eagerness to steer legislators through the controversial process. The jostling lobbyists hired by rival sectors -- including giant computer software and hardware companies, small information-technology firms, and pharmaceutical manufacturers -- are focusing, for now, on the House and Senate Judiciary committees.
Universities and colleges are on both sides of the fence -- they want the law to be loose enough so their scientists can use existing patents to create new products, yet tight enough to prevent those new inventions from being raided by companies. Unwise changes "could wipe out" all university research, said John Vaughn, executive vice president at the Association of American Universities, which represents leading research institutions.
*** The National Journal is available online to subscribers only; the print version of the May 5th edition is available on newsstands.
STUDENT LOAN PROBE WIDENS TO ALUMNI GROUPS
By Suzanne Sataline, Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2007
Expanding its investigation into student-lending practices, the New York Attorney General's office is looking into whether some alumni associations took money from one of the nation's largest loan consolidators to recommend that graduates refinance college debts through the Nebraska company. Prosecutors began sending subpoenas and letters to 90 college alumni associations yesterday to try to determine if the associations that steered graduates to Nelnet Inc. disclosed any financial benefits they may have received and whether the groups compared the rates of other consolidators before choosing to recommend Nelnet.
*** The Wall Street Journal Online is available to subscribers only; this article appears on page B-1 of the print edition of today's paper.
*** See also: "Loan Inquiry Turns to Deals With Alumni Associations", By Jonathan D. Glater, New York Times, May 4, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/us/04loans.html
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT WILL TAP FIPSE BUDGET FOR NEW COLLABORATIVE PROGRAM WITH RUSSIA
By Kelly Field, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 2, 2007
The U.S. Department of Education said that it planned to set aside a portion of the 2007 budget for the Fund for the Improvement for Postsecondary Education for an international competition supporting collaboration with Russia. In a notice in [the] Federal Register announcing the new set-aside, the department said the program was "based upon the need for increased interconnectedness between the U.S. and Russia in order to operate effectively in a global economy."
*** The complete article is available only to Chronicle of Higher Education subscribers. The Heard Library has licensed the Chronicle for campus-wide online access at http://chronicle.com. The URL for this article is
http://chronicle.com/news/article/2227/education-dept-will-tap-fipse-budget-for-new-collaborativen-program
*** A copy of the Federal Register notice is available at
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/07-2159.htm
NATIONAL HIGHER ED CENTER LIVES
By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, May 4, 2007
The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education will live to see another year. Reports of the influential group's pending demise had been circulating in higher education circles for months, leading to speculation about what would happen, among other things, to its primary project, "Measuring Up," and annual report card on the state of American higher education. But in a statement planned for release today, the group's director, Patrick M. Callan, said the center would begin its 11th year in July, focusing on "Measuring Up 2008," other projects, and a plan for its future, including "current and alternative organizational and staffing approaches."
*** (This is the complete news item.)
VETERAN OFFICIAL TO BE MEDICARE CHIEF
By Kevin Freking, Washington Post, May 3, 2007
Kerry N. Weems, a longtime federal health official, is President Bush's choice to oversee the Medicare and Medicaid programs. If confirmed by the Senate, Weems would succeed Mark McClellan, who resigned in October. Weems is deputy chief of staff to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.
*** Complete article (log-in may be required) at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050301276.html
*** A personnel announcement from the White House is available at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070503-7.html
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