Monthly Archives: September 2007

NYT: “Academic Business”

Posted on September 30, 2007 by | 1 Comment

There is an article in the New York Times about the increasingly corporate basis of universities across the country.  It is an interesting read in itself, but also of particular interest to us as it references Eastern.  I am sure that our former president would be displeased with the not altogether accurate way in which he is described:

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Posted in Academics, In the media..., Uncategorized

Michigan’s government showdown– or shutdown?

Posted on September 29, 2007 by | 1 Comment

Here’s a pretty interesting piece in Inside Higher Ed, “Michigan’s government showdown– or shutdown?” From the first couple paragraphs:

Michigan’s colleges and universities, already down millions in deferred state payments, are facing an incredibly uncertain fiscal climate. As legislators in Lansing bicker over a $1.75 billion statewide deficit, the threat of a government shutdown starting on Monday looms.

And college leaders aren’t only looking forward with nervousness, they’re likewise looking anxiously back — to ensure the restoration of about $138.7 million included in last year’s appropriation for universities, and $25.8 million for community colleges, delayed because of the budget crunch until the start of the new fiscal year October 1.

If there’s one thing that I think everyone in the EMU community can agree on it is that there are no winners here if the state shuts down even briefly. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.

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Posted in Budgets, In the media...

Students march on Lansing

Posted on September 28, 2007 by | 3 Comments

Several stories in the regional media covered Wednesday’s rally in Lansing which included students from several state universities, including students from EMU:

So, from anyone who was there: how’d it go? Any first-hand accounts?

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Posted in Budgets, In the media..., Student Life

EMU Scores a 4.5 out of 5 Stars on LGBT Inclusion

Posted on September 27, 2007 by | 6 Comments

I thought for my 1st “main post” to EMUTalk I share some good news about EMU.

History has been made in Higher Education this week. For the 1st time ever LGBT youth can now compare universities on their inclusion of LGBT Students through policies and practices on campus. I am proud to say EMU scored 4.5 out of 5. We actually share the same score with the university right up the road, yes we share the same score with Uof M.

If you would like to see the EMU profile you can check it out @ http://www.campusclimateindex.org/details/premium.aspx?ID=99

If you would like to see how these rating system is set up you can go to http://www.campusclimateindex.org/about/default.aspx This will give you the validation there academics need ;-) .

I also say go check out other schools @ http://www.campusclimateindex.org/search/default.aspx See how we rate to other schools.

This is a great tool for prospective student. We are at least doing something good! So we might as well promote it!

Congrats to many people who work day in and day out for make the LGBT Community at EMU feel safe and welcomed.

I would love to hear what others have to think about EMU’s rating and the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index in general

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Posted in Student Life

City-wide income tax forum in Roosevelt Thursday

Posted on September 26, 2007 by | Leave a comment

Tomorrow (Thursday) at 6:30pm in Roosevelt Auditorium will be a panel discussion on the proposed city-wide income tax that will appear on the City of Ypsilanti ballot on Nov. 6.  The forum will especially focus on the potential impacts on EMU employees and students, and will feature panelists such as Greg Jones, Student Body President, Alli Sheppard, Residence Hall Association President, Christopher Bylone, Graduate Student Senate President, Ypsilanti Mayor Paul Schreiber, and representatives from both the advocate and opponent groups for the issue.  Staff and faculty organization representatives have been invited but are unconfirmed.

Voter registration materials will be available on-site, and audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions to panelists.  We hope you can join us for this exciting forum Thursday at 6:30pm in Roosevelt Auditorium.

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Posted in EMU Events, Staff Life, Student Life

A couple articles on lessons learned from Dickinson Murder case

Posted on September 26, 2007 by | Leave a comment

I stumbled across two very recent articles that make reference to the Dickinson rape/murder/cover-up this past school year that I thought I’d pass along:

Both are interesting and suggest lessons learned by others from EMU’s mistakes.
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Posted in Dickinson Murder, In the media...

Key Senator questions tax breaks for college athletics

Posted on September 26, 2007 by | Leave a comment

Below are the first couple paragraphs of today’s online CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION article about a story getting a lot of play in serious media, about the challenge to the tax exempt status of donations made to university and college athletics. The Senator making this challenge is a mainstream Republican, one with a record of working on both sides of the aisle to get things done. This may or may not advance, but it certainly is part of the growing trend toward questioning how much athletic priorities set the agenda for so much of higher education across the nation.

By BRAD WOLVERTON from the CHRONCILE OF HIGHER EDUCATION online edition Sept. 26, 2007.

The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee plans to expand an investigation into the tax-exempt status of college sports, reopening a debate about whether donors should receive a tax deduction for contributing to athletics departments.

In an interview on Tuesday, an aide to Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said the senator plans to question the Internal Revenue Service about the tax status of booster clubs and athletics programs and “what gives the IRS comfort that they have met the requirements of being a charity.”

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Posted in Budgets, Sports

Eagle Mobile? You’re kidding me..

Posted on September 25, 2007 by | 6 Comments

So apparently EMU has teamed up with AT&T and Rave Wireless to offer “Eagle Mobile”. According to the e-mail and the web page, you will get a phone with custom “University-sponsored mobile applications and programs, such as text alert services for class change notices and emergency alerts.” If you sign up early, you can apparently get a $50 discount. They list the pricing on their “Learn More” section of the website.

In My Opinion while I like the idea that the university can do emergency alerts.. you have to a) sign up for this service, b) get one of their phones, c) be tied to AT&T/Rave Wireless. I don’t even think the plans are that much of a deal at all. The website is also poorly designed and does not look good at all…

Edit: Chris has pointed out in his comment that you can get text messaging by registering and not signing up for service. It’s only available to students.

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Posted in EMU Technology, Student Life

Retention of current students at EMU: a crisis?

Posted on September 24, 2007 by | 8 Comments

Only 4 in 10 of the first year students who start at EMU in a given year graduate from EMU in 6 years. This is far below the national average of nearly 56% for 4 year institutions. EMU has long had a low retention rate.

Being below average means you lose in a competative race, and higher education is very, very, very competative these days. Our ability to attract students is being hurt by our low retention rates – smart parents and high school counselors tell students to be wary of the schools that don’t have high graduation rates: The school must be doing something wrong to lose so many students, they figure. And they are right.

EMU’s graudation rate is below the state’s grauation rate for 4
year institutions; according to the wonderfully informative “Almanac Issue 2007-8″ of the CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, August 31, 2007, p. 66, the statewide rate is 55.3%. Page 4 of the same publication reports that the national
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Posted in Academics, Budgets, Buildings and Grounds, Student Life

EMU President search: Let the games begin….

Posted on September 24, 2007 by | 20 Comments

I just heard on WEMU this morning (perhaps this was discussed at the last BoR meeting?) that the search committee for the next EMU president will soon begin and the committee will be on the small-side, about a dozen or so people. EMU BoR chair Thomas Sidlik spoke about the need to keep the committee of a reasonable size (last time around, there were apparently over 30 people on the committee), while faculty member Ken Rusiniak said something about the need for faculty to be involved in the process.

I wasn’t privy to the process last time around, but I think Sidlik is probably right: a search committee for anything should be any bigger than it absolutely has to be. But Rusiniak also has a point. Everyone has a stake in the search of course, but while students graduate and go on with their lives and administrators tend to “move on” too (either as suits somewhere else or back to faculty), faculty are often in it for the long haul, and faculty are the ones that are supposed to be helping to shape the educational mission of the university.

In any event, we’ll see how it turns out. I suspect the search process has the potential to make things once again “interesting” at EMU this year.

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Posted in EMU President, EMU President Search, In the media...