St. Bonaventure president resigns
The president of St. Bonaventure University, Robert J. Wickenheiser, resigned at the request of the Board of Trustees after a recruiting violation with the men’s basketball program was discovered.
St. Bonaventure Center’s Jamil Terrell did not meet National Collegiate Athletic Association junior college transfer requirements when he transferred from Coastal Georgia Community College to St. Bonaventure, in New York, in April. He had a certificate in welding, not an associate’s degree, which the NCAA requires.
Wickenheiser did not contact the NCAA until Feb. 24 for clarification and confirmation of Terrel’s eligibility. Wichenheiser also admitted to aiding Terrell’s admission to the university, and he overruled the university’s compliance office, according to the New York Times.
Kort Wickenheiser, the president’s son, is accused of being involved in changing a grade for Terrell, according to the trustees. Rev. Dominic Monti was appointed the acting president.
Kent State may fund commemoration
The Undergraduate Student Senate at Kent State University is attempting to find money to maintain its yearly commemoration of the death of four Kent State students during a Vietnam War protest in 1970.
The senate is trying to pass a referendum which would give 1.7 percent of student funds to the May 4 Task Force, according to the Daily Kent Stater.
The referendum would give the task force money automatically each year, and many student senators said they hope it will allow the commemoration to continue every year.
Charles Rickard, interim vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, said the referendum, even if passed by the USS, is unconstitutional and will not give the group the funds.
Rickard cites the U.S. Supreme Court case, University of Wisconsin v. Southworth, which deals with the allocation of student activity fees. The Supreme Court labeled student referendums “problematic” because an organization could be funded or nonfunded with a majority vote of the student body, the article said. Those who hold views different from the majority of the student body could violate free speech, the case argued.
Kent State students will vote on the referendum today.
Youngstown State freezes hiring
The Columbus Dispatch reported on money-saving maneuvers at Youngstown State University amid the recent state budget cuts.
YSU will lose $1 million as part of the $39 million in cuts to Ohio colleges and universities to balance this year’s state budget. This will move the grand total to $4 million in state cuts to YSU this year alone.
YSU President David Sweet said a combination of a hiring freeze and budget cuts will save the university money. Sweet said the university stands to save $200,000 because of a hiring freeze and $500,000 can be saved on supplies for the university.
Other “auxiliary services” such as parking and special projects will be cut as well to save the university about another $365,000.
Iowa to report on dangerous agents
Officials at the University of Iowa must provide the federal government with a list of potentially dangerous biological agents and toxins used at the university, according to an article in the Daily Iowan.
University researchers and laboratory technicians were required to report on select agents to university officials, who in turn prepared a report for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This report is in accordance with the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Response Act to ensure potentially dangerous materials are stored and used with extreme caution and security.
Criminal and civil actions can be taken against anyone who fails to comply with the new requirements. Iowa officials said they feel confident all infectious agents at the university were reported, but did not elaborate on what agents the university registered.
OSU takes on new government lobbyist
Ohio State hired Ellyn Perrone to be the new vice president of governmental relations, according to an article in the Columbus Dispatch.
William J. Napier, who has been a lobbyist for OSU since the 1970s, had been the interim vice president of government affairs, and many Statehouse staff members were surprised he did not get the job, the article said.
Napier and the two other lobbyists will keep their positions, along with three assistants. Perrone will receive $200,000 a year for her new position.
Perrone had a similar position at Texas A&M University in College Station, where she assisted the university in getting $400 million for the university from the state budget and helped secure federal funding for research.
Marshall’s cheaters caught on paper
Marshall University is enacting new policies regarding academic dishonesty in order to keep better track of violations and maintain consistency, according to an article in the Parthenon.
The new policy not only defines cheating, falsification and plagiarism, but it expands the policy to include bribes, favors, threats and complicity, or assisting someone in an act of cheating.
The new policy gives power to the instructor of the course, who now has the options of lowering or failing a student’s project, paper or test grade, failure of the course or exclusion from further participation in the class. The department chairperson, dean or the Office of Academic Affairs will then impose the sanction.
Instructors must now fill out an Academic Dishonesty Report Form, which will include the description of the charge and the sanction. The student will be notified within 10 days of the charges and their rights. A copy of the report will go in their college file.
– compiled by Amanda Wurst
