Weekly College Madness Links

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Here's Your Syllabus, and Your Condom (NY Times, Sept. 24, 2006)
Americans generally think of back-to-school as a time for discounts on laptops and backpacks, a mad dash for textbooks and CliffsNotes, a chance to stock up on wool tights and warm socks. Few associate it with latex and lubricant. But fall is also back-to-school season for the condom industry.

States Tout "One-Stop" College Sites (eSchoolNews.com, Sept. 26, 2006)
To make college more accessible by demystifying the daunting application process, a number of states have created "one-stop" centers of information online about the schools within their borders. Many of these sites allow students to apply to schools or for financial aid electronically from a single source -- and their supporters credit them with helping to boost college enrollment.

Higher Education Causing "Crisis in Citizenship," Study Shows (CNSNews.com, Sept. 26, 2006)
Colleges and universities across the U.S. -- including some of the most expensive in the country -- are failing to educate students about the nation's history and essential institutions, which is leading to a "coming crisis in citizenship," a study of more than 14,000 randomly selected students shows.

University of Virginia to Drop Early Admissions (Fox News, Sept. 26, 2006)
The University of Virginia announced that it will drop its early-decision admissions process, becoming the third prominent university this month to cancel such a program.

U.S. Education Secretary Backs Ideas to Shake Up College (NY Times/AP, Sept. 26, 2006)
Handed a plan to shake up college life in America, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is endorsing some of its key ideas and promising to get moving on them. Her overarching theme is to make everything about college -- choosing one, affording one, succeeding in one -- easier for families. Parents should be able to shop for a college as simply as they shop for a car, she said, with a clear expectation of what they will get.

Applied Science (NY Times Op-Ed, Sept. 27, 2006)
Harvard's and Princeton's [and now the University of Virginia's] recent announcements that they will soon end the early admission programs they now use to choose part of their freshman classes have garnered a great deal of attention, including editorials urging other institutions to follow their lead. Stanford University's Provost argues that it is a shame that the publicity, so abundant in its praise, has been so short on facts and clearheaded analysis.