Foreign students in government files
The Immigration and Naturalization Services has new regulations for students who are in the United States with a student visa. Universities must submit biographical and academic records of all international students, and officials must report when a student transfers or changes majors, according to the Transcript at Ohio Wesleyan University. The new program is a computer database called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, and is has been in development for about 10 years.
The Transcript also reported that many students are required to undergo special registration, which is separate from SEVIS. Special registration is only for males from 16 to 25 years old from certain countries. Special registration includes an interview, under oath, with INS officials, fingerprinting and being photographed.
Duke faculty study grade inflation
Stuart Rojstaczer, an associate professor of hydrology at Duke University, wrote a column for the Washington Post denouncing the practice of grade inflation at Duke and other universities.
The Chronicle, the newspaper of Duke, reported Rojstaczer obtained data showing the average Duke student’s grade point average rose from 2.79 to 3.33 over the last 30 years. Rojstaczer claims universities inflate their numbers to keep students and parents happy with their education and to recruit new talent to the university.
According to the Chronicle, professors can no longer grade honestly because of the grade inflation. If professor grades below a B-minus, enrollment would suffer as a consequence.
Peter Lange, provost of Duke, has completed a study of his own on grade inflation and will present it to the Board of Trustees this month. Lange said any administrative position would be advisory in nature since grading procedures are the individual preference of the professors. University officials have said they are not inflating grades, just admitting higher quality students.
Marietta cracks down on probation
Marietta University may soon have much more severe consequences for students on academic probation. The Marcolian reported 62 students were on academic probation, but there are no consequences to being placed on the list.
The proposed guidelines for academic probation will be that freshmen with grade point averages lower than 1.6, sophomores lower than a 1.8, and juniors and seniors lower than a 2.0 will not be permitted to participate in co-curricular activities.
Woo-hoo! Syracuse No. 3 on PETA’s list
The Daily Orange, the student newspaper of Syracuse University, reported that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ranked Syracuse third in vegan and vegetarian selections in dining halls.
PETA ranked 1,000 colleges nationwide. Colleges were ranked by the availability of vegan and vegetarian dishes, the quality of the food and the willingness of dining hall staff to meet the dietary needs of students.
The survey was conducted on PETA’s young-adult Web site, and more than 5,000 votes were cast.
The College of the Atlantic in Maine and New York University finished first and second, respectively.
– compiled by Amanda Wurst
