Today, dear readers, is the first Tuesday (after the first Monday) in November. That means it is election day. Sadly, this is one o those years that ends in an odd number, so there is much less excitement. But here in College Park, every city council seat is up for grabs. And there are other important races to watch in Virginia, upstate New York and New Jersey.
Of course, it was only last year that Barack Obama was elected president. Since then, he has done a lot on higher education issues. But now his proposal could get more controversial. Inside Higher Ed reports that a paper put out by the Center for American Progress – the think tank most closely associated with the Obama administration – is pushing for more regulation of institutions of higher education in a new white paper:
The document, “Putting the Customer First in College,” calls on the U.S. Education Department to create an Office of Consumer Protection in Higher Education that would (1) pressure colleges to produce significantly better data on how well they serve students, (2) develop a system for making that data available for students to use in choosing a college, and (3) direct students unhappy with their colleges’ educational practices to federal, state, or accrediting officials who can help them resolve their complaints. …
If that language sounds vaguely familiar, it should — it echoes ideas inherent in [ Bush-era Education Secretary] Margaret Spellings’ Commission on the Future of Higher Education, which similarly bemoaned the lack of available data to help families and parents decide which institutions would best suit and serve them. …
And also unsurprisingly, officials of several college associations dismissed the need for another federal initiative that would pump yet more data into the public domain and, potentially, add to the information demands on colleges and universities. A solution in search of a problem, several of them suggested.
“I don’t think the problem is a lack of information for students — there is probably too much out there for them to wade through as it is,” said Frank Balz, vice president for research and policy analysis at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. “And it’s hard to see how adding a layer of bureaucracy will improve anything.”
In a more local bit of Washington news, a second Georgetown student was attacked and called an anti-gay slur, and for the second time, a vigil was organized on the campus. The number of students at the rally doubled from 50 to 100.
Quick Hits
- More than 58 colleges charge more than $50,000 a year, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
- Mayor Adrian Fenty and the D.C. City Council are in a squabble over the board of the University of the District of Columbia, which will soon have 10 vacancies on a 15-person board, the Washington Post reports.
- Ole Miss may stop playing its fight song, unless fans cease chanting “The South Will Rise Again” after it, according to the Associated Press. For the record, the Civil War ended 144 years ago.
- Baltimore is the 9th-most toxic city in the United States, according to Forbes magazine.
What to do today
- VOTE.