Around Academia: Graduation Rates of Athletes vs. Non-Athletes at NCAA Universities

via Duck of Minerva:

...Are student-athletes better prepared to complete a college degree in a reasonable amount of time than the general student body? Given the stereotypes many people share about "jocks," this may seem like a startling question. Yet, the NCAA released evidence this week that claims to demonstrate that student-athletes graduate at a very high rate, often at much higher rates than other students at the same institutions...

Around Academia: The de-globalization of American higher education?

Dan Drezner responds to a Boston Globe article on the retrenchment many US universities are going through after greatly expanding their international presences over the last few decades:

...The logic of expanding overseas because of "prestige, planting the flag overseas, a presidential feeling that they needed to be doing adventurous things" is a depressing data point about the ways in the academy can be slaves to intellectual and business trends...

Around Academia: Should you blog about your academic work?

University Affairs looks at the pros and cons:

... for a growing number of academics the benefits of blogging outweigh the drawbacks. Those who blog – including me – agree there are positive outcomes, such as networking and collaborating, finding new audiences and opportunities, disseminating research more widely, and building one's reputation. Bloggers argue that far from diluting scholarly success, online writing can be a serious tool for academic practice.

Around Academia: California Lecturers Union Attempts to Block Online Class Offerings

Insider Higher Ed takes a look at the controversy:

The specter and promise of online education is perhaps nowhere more deeply felt than in California, where campus administrators and instructors are faced with a bloodletting. University of California officials have suggested that the system will have to innovate out of the current financial crisis by expanding online programs. (State house analysts agree.) Instructors, meanwhile, are terrified that this is code for cutting their pay, or increasing their workloads, or outsourcing their jobs to interlopers, or replacing them with online teaching software...

Around Academia: A Code of Conduct for Graduate Student Advisers?

The Chronicle of Higher Ed examines a proposal by three scholars for a detailed code of conduct:

Bad behavior among faculty who teach and advise graduate students can take many forms. It may amount to neglect: an adviser failing to respond to multiple requests for feedback at a crucial stage of a student's dissertation work. It may be much worse: a professor copying an advisee's ideas without attribution and trying to pass them off as his own. 

What constitutes a violation of good conduct in graduate education, though, is both ill-defined and inconsistently rectified...

Around Academia: US Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Copyright Case With Academic Implications

The Chronicle of Higher Ed offers a summary of the case, Golan v. Holder, in which Lawrence Golan, a music professor from the University of Denver, challenges Congress's ability to remove copyrighted works from the public domain.  A decision in favor of the plaintiff would put the works of many foreign authors, artist, musicians, and playwrights back in the public domain in the United States, making it easier for professors to use them in textbooks and lessons, and also would make significantly more public domain content available to the digitization projects many university libraries are currently engaging in.

Around Academia: Expanding Online Offerings at Public Universities

In Inside Higher Ed, former governors Jeb Bush and Jim Hunt argue we can't move online fast enough:

...today -- right now -- colleges and universities must embrace new digital and online delivery tools to make educational content available to degree-seeking students wherever they are, whenever they need it. Doing so will allow colleges and universities to raise revenue, increase access and contribute to America’s long-term competitiveness.

Around Academia: Princeton Attacks Assigning Exclusive Copyrights To Scholarly Journals

Via The Conversation: 

Prestigious US academic institution Princeton University will prevent researchers from giving the copyright of scholarly articles to journal publishers, except in certain cases where a waiver may be granted.

The new rule is part of an Open Access policy aimed at broadening the reach of their scholarly work and encouraging publishers to adjust standard contracts that commonly require exclusive copyright as a condition of publication...