2008 Woodie Awards
Higher Ed in the News
Issue date: 1/11/07 Section: News
Univerity of Missouri-Columbia drops opposition to Christian fraternity
The University of Missouri-Columbia has dropped its opposition to a Christian fraternity that restricts membership to students who "share the common bond" of Jesus Christ.
The university's decision regarding Beta Upsilon Chi - its Greek letters stand for Brothers Under Christ - follows a similar decision by the University of Georgia earlier this month to exempt the fraternity from campus nondiscrimination policies.
The 10-member Missouri chapter was formed in April and previously approved by campus leaders. But on Dec. 7, an administrator advised the chapter's president by e-mail that the fraternity must comply with campus rules forbidding discrimination based on "race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability" and status as a Vietnam War veteran.
The university reversed course after an attorney responded with a letter noting several legal precedents protecting religious student groups' First Amendment rights of free association.
Ugly Turn in Mascot Dispute
The controversy over mascots depicting Native Americans has gotten uglier, and Native Americans on the Urbana-Champaign campus are demanding protection after discovering threats and racist jibes against them on a Facebook group.
From dates on the page, it appears to have been posted since November. Several Native American faculty members contacted Facebook and the administration over the weekend about the threats. On Tuesday, after an e-mail was circulated to faculty members demanding an investigation, the university announced that it would conduct one.
With over 110 members, the group is titled "If They Get Rid of the Chief I'm Becoming a Racist." One posting reads, "[W]hat they don't realize is that there was never a racist problem before..but now I hate redskins and hope all those drunk casino owning bums die."
Another post states that one of the leaders of the movement to remove Chief Illiniwek is of Sioux descent. "I say we throw a tomohawk [sic] into her face."
Former college professor gets probation for 3.4 million embezzlement
A former Morris Brown College president was sentenced Wednesday to five years of probation and a year of home confinement for embezzling millions in federal loans and grants meant for student tuition.
U.S. District Judge Julie E. Carnes said the sentence for Dolores Cross, 70, was based on her age and health and because she did not benefit personally from the crime.
Cross, who was president of the 125-year-old college from November 1998 until February 2002, pleaded guilty in May to embezzling $3.4 million in student loans and Pell grants. Cross and Parvesh Singh, the school's former financial aid and enrollment director, used the funds in part to cover $3.3 million in school debt and to pay for operating costs.
The University of Missouri-Columbia has dropped its opposition to a Christian fraternity that restricts membership to students who "share the common bond" of Jesus Christ.
The university's decision regarding Beta Upsilon Chi - its Greek letters stand for Brothers Under Christ - follows a similar decision by the University of Georgia earlier this month to exempt the fraternity from campus nondiscrimination policies.
The 10-member Missouri chapter was formed in April and previously approved by campus leaders. But on Dec. 7, an administrator advised the chapter's president by e-mail that the fraternity must comply with campus rules forbidding discrimination based on "race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability" and status as a Vietnam War veteran.
The university reversed course after an attorney responded with a letter noting several legal precedents protecting religious student groups' First Amendment rights of free association.
Ugly Turn in Mascot Dispute
The controversy over mascots depicting Native Americans has gotten uglier, and Native Americans on the Urbana-Champaign campus are demanding protection after discovering threats and racist jibes against them on a Facebook group.
From dates on the page, it appears to have been posted since November. Several Native American faculty members contacted Facebook and the administration over the weekend about the threats. On Tuesday, after an e-mail was circulated to faculty members demanding an investigation, the university announced that it would conduct one.
With over 110 members, the group is titled "If They Get Rid of the Chief I'm Becoming a Racist." One posting reads, "[W]hat they don't realize is that there was never a racist problem before..but now I hate redskins and hope all those drunk casino owning bums die."
Another post states that one of the leaders of the movement to remove Chief Illiniwek is of Sioux descent. "I say we throw a tomohawk [sic] into her face."
Former college professor gets probation for 3.4 million embezzlement
A former Morris Brown College president was sentenced Wednesday to five years of probation and a year of home confinement for embezzling millions in federal loans and grants meant for student tuition.
U.S. District Judge Julie E. Carnes said the sentence for Dolores Cross, 70, was based on her age and health and because she did not benefit personally from the crime.
Cross, who was president of the 125-year-old college from November 1998 until February 2002, pleaded guilty in May to embezzling $3.4 million in student loans and Pell grants. Cross and Parvesh Singh, the school's former financial aid and enrollment director, used the funds in part to cover $3.3 million in school debt and to pay for operating costs.
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