Hotels World

Blog:  Higher Ed Gamma A now forgotten turn-of-the-20 th -century song, “Do You Believe Your Baby or Your Eyes?,”  apparently gave birth  to one of that century’s most famous witticisms.  If you are caught red-handed in an undeniably awkward, embarrassing, or illicit situation, one way out is to beg for trust. No need to confess or apologize or be humiliated.   Instead, be audacious.  Deny.  Ask rhetorically:  “Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?” Variations of that classic line can be found in the Marx Brothers’ nihilistic comedy  Duck Soup , a 1948 column by the syndicated advice giver Dorothy Dix, and more recently by Richard Pryor and Cher. Much of what people claim to know rests on trust and deference.  Most of us rely heavily on those who claim special expertise, whether the topic is COVID or climate change. But in our age of disinformation, photo, video, and audio manipulation, doxxing, and big lies, how can we possibly be sure that anything is unambiguo

The Department of Education announced Tuesday that it will discharge all remaining federal student loans for borrowers who enrolled in any location of Westwood College (including enrollment in Westwood’s online program) between Jan. 1, 2002, and Nov. 17, 2015, when it stopped enrolling new borrowers in advance of its 2016 closure. The department said that it has analyzed the evidence related to Westwood and concluded that the for-profit college “engaged in widespread misrepresentations about the value of its credentials for attendees’ and graduates’ employment prospects such that all borrowers who attended during the period described above are entitled to a full loan discharge.” This action will result in $1.5 billion in discharges for 79,000 borrowers, regardless of whether they have applied for a borrower-defense discharge. “Westwood College’s exploitation of students and abuse of federal financial aid place it in the same circle of infamy occupied by Corinthian Colleges and I

A whistle-blower reported that orthodontics professors at the University of California, Los Angeles, were charging certain international students extra fees. And while an investigation found those claims had merit, and all three implicated professors subsequently resigned, the former faculty members are fighting to keep the investigation sealed, citing their privacy rights, the Los Angeles Times reported . The legal case—which refers to the professors as John Does 1, 2 and 3—is ongoing, and UCLA has not released the investigative report. The alleged scheme reportedly involved an unknown number of Middle Eastern orthodontics residents, with the professors assuming that the students’ foreign government sponsors would cover the unauthorized fees. UCLA told the Times that upholding university “values of transparency, integrity and accountability, we engaged an external firm in 2018 to examine past use of the clinical training program at the Section of Orthodontics and have taken seve

Florida A&M University’s football team is speaking out against the university’s administration, chastising leaders in a letter after 26 players were declared ineligible to play in last Saturday’s season opener. The five-page letter , signed by 89 players, blasts administrators for various issues “within the university structure” such as a dearth of academic advisers and other procedural issues that they believe contributed to players being declared ineligible, the Tallahassee Democrat reported . “At the root of this issue is the fact that our Academic Advisement and Compliance Officers are understaffed,” the letter states. Florida A&M coach Willie Simmons expanded on that claim in an interview with ESPN , telling the news outlet that there is only one academic adviser for the athletic department. Florida A&M’s compliance officer is stretched thin due to another appointment in the financial aid department and lacks experience with collegiate athletics, he added. Other

One day after the massacre of 19 schoolchildren and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., NBC News reporter Frank Thorp V posted on Twitter this summary of an exchange with former U.S. senator Heidi Heitkamp: Spotted @HeidiHeitkamp in the Capitol, asked her if she regretted her vote against the Manchin-Toomey background checks bill in 2013. HEITKAMP: “I no longer have to answer your questions.” *elevator doors close* — Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) May 25, 2022 Heitkamp was right, of course. She no longer is required to answer a reporter’s question about her votes against gun control measures. But should she be required to directly answer mine? I am a part-time lecturer at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. Heitkamp is a member of the advisory board of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. In 2014, the University of Chicago issued its Chicago Principles, making clear its support for open dialogue and debate among membe

Blog:  Just Visiting In the aftermath of President Biden’s action on reducing the student loan debts of millions of Americans, like a lot of others, I’ve been wondering, what’s next? At this point, the question as to whether or not our debt-financed system of individuals financing their educations makes any sense is all over but the shoutin’. That shoutin’ is coming from those on the right who are demonizing the action for political purposes (often looking foolish in the process), along with folks like Obama administration economist Jason Furman and other centrists who want to argue that the aid is not well targeted to people who need it, blah blah blah, and of course someone is going to find a way to take it to a partisan Supreme Court, which won’t have a problem finding a rationale to strike it down should it want to. Putting aside that Sturm und Drang, something important has been made clear in this process: a system that requires individuals to take on debt for a benefi

Join us for a webcast to hear Dr. Christopher Davis, Vice President of Academic Services and Quality at the University of Maryland Global Campus and Dr. Douglas Masterson, Senior Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness at the University of Southern Mississippi, share their approaches to integrated planning and its role in higher ed today. They’ll also discuss best practices and lessons learned associated with their own integrated planning evolution and its impact on operational efficiency and student learning. Finally, they’ll share the challenges they encountered along the way, and what’s next for integrated planning at their institutions. Register Now Section:  Advertiser Webinars Image:  Registration Link:  Registration Link Event's date:  Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - 2:00pm Insider only:  from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/E1ConTa

Blog:  Higher Ed Gamma When I was young, I was transfixed by  Ripley’s Believe It or Not!   As I viewed and reviewed the drawings that appeared in the newspaper, I learned about a great many jaw-dropping oddities.  But of all the shocking and bizarre marvels that I encountered, one curiosity stood out: The fate of Jeremy Bentham, the pioneering reformer and utilitarian philosopher who held that the most ethical policy choice was the one that produced the greatest good for the greatest number of people. You perhaps recall that Bentham asked that after his death his remains be preserved, dressed in his own clothes.  Even today, his mummified corpse remains on display in a glass case in University College London’s student center. Bentham’s collected works currently consists of 34 volumes out of an anticipated total of 80.  Alongside his  Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation  and his voluminous writings on criminal justice, political economy, press freedom, a

Blog:  Learning Innovation 3 years ago , CU Boulder announced its first performance-based degree on Coursera, a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MS-EE). This degree removed applications entirely. Any students who maintain a B average in a series of gateway courses are automatically admitted. My friend, Dr. Quentin McAndrew , current academic strategist at Coursera and former Assistant Vice Provost at CU Boulder, who helped archetype the degree, says, “When we were creating the program, ‘Why?’ became our mantra. Why does the admissions process have to work the way it does? Why can’t we reimagine it to truly test students’ ability to complete the work of the degree? That constant questioning led us to create a program that is truly open and accessible while still being rigorous and scalable.” Over the last year, the university saw the number of students in its MS-EE program grow by 30%, so I chatted with Robert H. McDonald , CU Boulder’s Senior Vice Provost of Onl

Today on the Academic Minute : Vikash V. Gayah, associate professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at Pennsylvania State University, discusses one way to save drivers’ time and reduce traffic. Learn more about the Academic Minute here . Is this diversity newsletter?:  Hide by line?:  Disable left side advertisement?:  Is this Career Advice newsletter?:  Trending:  Live Updates:  liveupdates0 from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/dfxM90D

The American Association of University Professors said Monday that it is investigating Indiana University Northwest in Gary over the summary dismissal of Mark McPhail, a former tenured professor of communication who was the institution’s chief academic officer. According to the AAUP, the university “banished” McPhail from campus and “terminated his appointment based on allegations of misconduct that Prof. McPhail sharply denies, contending that the administration acted in retaliation for his outspoken criticism of the institution, including formal and informal complaints about discrimination and racial inequity on campus.” Widely followed AAUP standards on tenure say that dismissal for cause must be preceded by an adjudicative hearing before an elected faculty body, in which the administration bears the burden of proof. McPhail was allegedly terminated without this due process. Such AAUP investigations often result in institutions being added to the group’s list of administrations

A controversial “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity” survey issued to students and employees at Florida public universities elicited a remarkably low number of responses given its reach. Just over 2 percent of the 368,000 students who received the survey—or about 8,000 students—submitted a response. The response rate among employees was slightly higher: just over 9,000 out of 73,000, or about 12 percent. The survey was sent out in April after a judge refused to grant an emergency injunction against it. United Faculty of Florida, the state’s faculty union, encouraged students and professors to ignore the survey; the numbers suggest UFF’s campaign was successful. The student response rate varied among institutions but never exceeded 12.1 percent. Florida A&M University, a historically Black university in Tallahassee, had the lowest response rate—just 53 of its nearly 8,400 students responded, or about 0.6 percent. Of the students statewide who responded, the majori

Retraction Watch reported that all four editors in chief of the journal Aging Cell resigned, citing workload issues and lack of support. The editors, Peter Adams, Julie Andersen, Adam Antobi and Vera Gorbunova, along with John Sedivy, a reviews editor, said in a now-public resignation letter that they’ve struggled to manage an increasing number of submissions, some 540 already this year, and that they haven’t been allowed to pay volunteer section editors based on the number of manuscripts they handle. The editors in chief also said their approximately $2,600 pay had not increased since 2006. Many journal editors are currently reporting increased workloads and difficulty finding volunteer referees to read submissions.  Wiley and the Anatomical Society, the journal's publishers, said in a statement that "academic publishing is a partnership, and we are committed to supporting editors at every level. In the past weeks, we have made several attempts to engage the editors i