Higher Ed Law Prof Blog

This week's "Attorney at Large" Column

Meditations on George W’s Legacy
By James Castagnera
George W. Bush has just nine more months in office. Then he will write his memoirs, build his library and face his legacy. Many will cheer his departure. Many will rank him low on the list of modern presidents. That might be premature. Mr. Bush has a few things about which he can boast.
If we make it through the next nine months with no significant terrorist attacks on US territory, his post-Nine/Eleven record will be perfect. Whatever the successes and failures of the War on Terror, he will have batted a thousand in that important category at least.
His (largely unsung) success in Africa is another high spot of his presidency. At its inception only about 50,000 African HIV/AIDS sufferers had access to the medicinal cocktails that prolong normal life. Today millions are enjoying those drugs.
In the tumultuous world of K-12 public schools his “No Child Left Behind” Act is controversial, its renewal in doubt. More time is required to assess its efficacy.
Then there is the five-year-old war in Iraq. No real doubt remains about how badly we were misled by the Bush Administration. Saddam Hussein’s regime had no weapons of mass destruction and no ties to Al Qaeda. To the contrary, recently released documents indicate Hussein considered Al Qaeda a dangerous rival.
The troop surge seems to be working in Iraq, though suicide bombers continue to work their mischief with bloody consequences. Meanwhile, Obama’s aids have admitted that the senator, if elected, cannot make good on his campaign rhetoric about an immediate pullout. No matter who replaces Mr. Bush, America is in Iraq for the foreseeable future.
Is there a silver lining? For W’s legacy, the lining could be a peace accord in the Middle East. If he and Secretary of State Rice could pull off an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty and significantly draw down the US military presence in a more peaceful Iraq, Mr. B’s presidential legacy could include a stable Middle East. This would be a very big deal indeed.
The odds of this happening, of course, are long. Still, stranger things have happened in recent decades.
Who but Ronald Reagan really believed that America would suddenly win the Cold War, that the Berlin Wall would be ripped down virtually overnight, and that the Evil Empire would spin apart?
Who but Nelson Mandela really believed South African Apartheid would end without a bloodbath?
And who ever imagined that peace would finally break out in Northern Ireland?
Yet all these things happened in the past two decades, which makes me believe that peace in the Middle East may also be a real possibility.
Whether that happens or not, of course, some decades will have to pass before the jury of historians comes in with a reliable verdict on the Bush presidency. As I pointed out in this space a couple of weeks ago, some scholars are only just now beginning to take a second look at the war in Vietnam in light of subsequent political and economic developments in East and Southeast Asia. When that jury is finally in, LBJ may no longer look like a tragic figure driven from office by a foolish blunder.
Likewise, whatever happens in the Middle East in the next nine months, those readers still young enough will have to wait until they are senior citizens to see what will be the ultimate legacy of W’s two terms in the White House.
[Jim Castagnera, formerly of Jim Thorpe, is the Associate Provost/Associate Counsel at Rider University. A collection of his “Attorney at Large” columns is available at www.lulu.co,]
Just search "Castagnera" here.

A week when the mighty fell #2

More on Spitzer's fall from grace and power.One blogger's views

Korean prof suspended for faking data

From the Chronicle of Higher Education

Climate change linked to national security

EU Report Warns of Climate Change Impact on International Security

The risks posed by climate change are real and its impacts are already being felt, says a paper presented today to the EU Summit in Brussels. "Climate Change and International Security," drawn up by EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and EU High Representative Javier Solana, paints a bleak picture of possible scenarios facing the world if climate change is left unchecked, noting it can lead to conflict over resources, border disputes, and environmentally-induced migration.
"Climate change is best viewed as a threat multiplier which exacerbates existing trends, tensions and instability," says the report. "The core challenge is that climate change threatens to overburden states and regions which are already fragile and conflict prone."

The European Union is in a unique position to respond to the impacts of climate change on international security, given its leading role in development and global climate policy and the wide array of tools and instruments at its disposal.

UCLA medical workers peaked into singer's records

You mean she still has something left to hide? From the LA Times

A week in which the mighty fell

Tobacco-settlement super-lawyer pleads guilty to bribery charges.From the LA Times

Judge dismisses suit against Turnitin.Com

The court's opinion:Download iParadigms_3-11-08_Opinion.pdf

Student privacy and intellectual property rights: a primer

by Jim Castagnera

In a world that is changing so much and so quickly, the rules that govern it are forced to do the same. Privacy rights and intellectual property laws are no exception, and they are two issues that cannot be ignored by universities.
The first issue of privacy rights in regard to students’ records has a very direct impact on higher education. The Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) provides the guidelines concerning educational records, student and parent access to them, and the obligation of universities to protect that information. The US education system has had over 20 years to test these boundaries with recent circumstances demonstrating new interpretations.
With intellectual property, two areas apply on a large scale to universities. The first is written media. Plagiarism has been a matter of concern for a long time, and it isn’t difficult to imagine that it is an exceptionally large problem on campus. With the Internet have come new rules and possibilities when it comes to information and, therefore, also plagiarism.
The second area is perhaps not as obviously an issue for universities. Piracy of copyrighted audiovisual media has increased immensely since the Internet’s debut. Of course on-line downloading and copying of songs and movies occurs off campus, but a particularly large amount of attention is being paid to higher education institutions by organizations fighting these crimes. With the advanced on-line networks most competitive universities offer, it is no wonder that many students choose to take advantage of the opportunity to create enormous digital libraries at virtually no cost. But to what degree are universities responsible for enforcing copyright law?

9.1 Students’ Privacy Rights and The Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
FERPA was put through in 1974 to help colleges, students and other third parties understand their rights of access to student records. The law pertains to all schools receiving funds from the US Department of Education. At first glance, it may seem cut and dry. Students and parents have access to their records at any time, and the university is obligated to protect the data from anyone else. However, the law, like most laws, is not that simple and leaves room for much more interpretation. (U.S. Department of Education, 2005)
University students are guaranteed access to their records within a 45-day period of request, but the school is not required to offer a hard copy. If the student is located far enough away from the campus to hinder visiting, the university may choose to send the records to another institution in the student’s area where the documents can then be viewed. Many universities do offer hard copies of student records with, of course, the applicable copy fees. (Lipka, 2006)
Parents and guardians have no guaranteed access to a student’s records. Should they request this access, the student must first be claimed as a dependent on their tax return. Even then, the university does not have to comply. FERPA more or less says that universities may choose when they do or don’t want to offer records to parents and guardians. LeRoy S. Rooker, director of the Family Policy Compliance Office at the U.S. Department of Education, notes that, while it is a school’s right to conceal a student’s records from these third parties, for public-relations reasons, it is generally in the school’s interest to maintain “institutional consistency on what kinds of records are or are not disclosed” (Lipka, 2006). The same can apply to the issue of hard copies. (Lipka, 2006)

9.1a Data Protection and Collection
Exceptions to FERPA include allowing appropriate officials to view records for legitimate legal, health or safety reasons. One recent example is an antiterrorism investigation following September 11th, 2001. The FBI received information about students who had applied for financial aid in order to determine whether suspected terrorists were using student identities to obtain federal money. The investigation was within the legal limits of FERPA; in fact, the government is more or less guaranteed access to all information on Fafsa forms. Only if the university adds information to the form can a violation of FERPA be considered. (Selingo, 2006)
This investigation, which was discovered around the middle of 2006, is of particular interest now due to a controversial new system proposal for tracking student records. The most controversial issue at the moment is government access to student records for the purpose of tracking individual student progress and evaluating institutions. The federal government has been considering a plan to follow student progress and more accurately determine university statistics since 2004. (Gidjunis, 2004)
The unit-record system, which was put into motion by the Bush administration and Republican Congress leaders, would give the government the right to track any individual’s educational progress upon enrolling at a higher education institution. The new system would replace Ipeds, surveys of colleges that report on figures such as enrollment, tuition and faculty salaries. Many now consider Ipeds inadequate. They focus only on colleges’ full tuition prices and not what students actually pay after financial aid. They also do not follow transfer students; “those who earn a bachelor's degree from a four-year college other than the one in which they first enrolled are counted as dropouts” (Gidjunis, 2004).
The proposed system should, of course, take these things into account because it literally would follow a student’s every move with access to personal, academic, financial aid and enrollment data. Private colleges are especially against the new system due to concern that student data is at enough risk as it is. The system was first proposed at a time when identity theft was already an increasing problem and the removal of social security numbers and other personal data from student records was being considered. The new policy is a step in the opposite direction. (Gidjunis, 2004)
A poll in 2006 showed that the majority of Americans are against the unit-record system (Walters, 2006). On the other hand, schools like the University of Georgia have replaced student IDs with biometric scanners. Students must place their hands on sensors to gain access to the university library, gym or cafeteria. The biometric data is, consequently, also a part of the University of Georgia’s files. (Kiernan, 2005)
It is not yet clear whether FERPA would need to be amended in order to accommodate a unit-record system, but either way, proponents of the system are promising protection of student data. Others fear that this is not possible. Identity theft is a large concern, and there is no hard evidence that an infallible data protection system would be feasible. (Fischer, 2006)

Ohio University Security Breach (Wasley, 2006)
In April 2006, the FBI brought a security breach to the Ohio University’s attention. The administration at first thought that the breached server did not contain any sensitive data, but upon further investigation they discovered that 35 Social Security numbers had been exposed. Things turned far grimmer when IT found an alumni-relations office server had been unintentionally left online. Hackers had broken into the server in March 2005 and been using it for music file sharing. What this meant for Ohio University was that “300,000 files containing personal information about alumni and university staff members, including 137,000 Social Security numbers, had been exposed for more than a year.”
And that was not all. Three other servers/computers had also been breached over the 13-month period. Thousands of tax forms, medical records, a dozen credit card numbers and even more Social Security numbers had been made available to hackers.
The University of Ohio’s reaction. $77,000.00 was spent notifying hundreds of thousands of alumni of the security breach through e-mails and letters. In the three weeks following the discovery of the breach, Ohio University spent $750,000.00 re-securing its main servers. A consultant was also hired to determine how and why the breach occurred.
In short, the disaster was attributed to negligence. Ohio University had not been providing sufficient funds to maintain security of its electronic files, and its IT departments were disorganized and inefficient. There is also evidence that Ohio University had seen warning signals before the incident, including a student who accidentally stumbled upon sensitive student data, but failed to act.
Outcome. In addition to the over $800,000.00 spent directly after the shock, Ohio University quickly invested $4 million in its IT program. Two system administrators were fired, and the IT chief information officer resigned. 800 angry e-mails and letters were received from alumni, and, as stated in many of the complaints, the university lost many regular donators. Ohio University so far faces one potential class-action lawsuit and knows of more than thirty other cases of identity theft among alumni.
The breach was a big wake-up call not only for the Ohio University but the higher education world in general. The costs and ramifications have so far been great, and it is yet to be a closed case. Although it is doubtful that a link between much of the identity theft and the incident can be proven, the university has certainly suffered a terrible blow to its reputation, a public relations nightmare.
Advice. Computers and Internet have proven to be practical for a variety of jobs, but they are luxuries that require caution. Organizations responsible for sensitive data must exercise extreme caution. The Ohio University breach may be the biggest to date, but it is not an isolated incident. Eighty other universities’ systems have been hacked into in the last two years. Many, such as the University of San Diego, are well-financed institutions.
Universities are by nature difficult to secure. They are decentralized and store information in different computers and systems across the campus. One student’s information can be available on several databases concerning library fines, enrollment, meal plans and campus activities. Ohio University has introduced a plan for tightening IT security. Social Security numbers will be used within fewer databases, a strong and clear structure will be created in the IT departments and the necessary security levels will be maintained for sensitive data.
Educause, a higher education technology organization, recommends that such policies be standards at universities. Rodney J. Peterson, a policy analyst at Educause, points out that “the challenge for college system administrators is to develop security policies that protect the institution's data but are flexible enough to accommodate its varied missions” (Wasley, 2006). It is unlikely that colleges can offer 100% security of data without turning into police states. Some college officials believe that there is no way to be sure all systems are safe. "No matter how much we invest in technology, no matter how good our IT staff is, there's nothing we can institutionally do to protect ourselves completely,” says Dennis A. Trinkle, chief information officer of Valparaiso University (Foster, 2006).
Many states have adopted laws requiring public and private colleges to notify individuals affected by data breaches. Although not yet mandatory, many colleges invest in offering credit-monitoring services to clients whose data was exposed. As shown by Ohio University, these are costly measures, but they may only be the beginning. Should the case against Ohio University be certified as a class-action lawsuit (the first of its kind), hundreds of thousands of people would be eligible to receive damages for the university’s failure to secure their data. (Foster, 2006)
Based on these circumstances, some institutions have invested in cyber insurance policies similar to those used by banks, hospitals and retailers. The number of colleges to buy policies has gone up this year, but it is still relatively rare. Many still feel there is not enough evidence of financially significant breaches to justify cyberinsurance. The general opinion seems to be that there isn’t enough information to be sure one way or the other. The decision for a class-action in the Ohio University case would most likely provide the turning point and put cyberinsurance on its way to becoming a higher education standard. (Foster, 2006)
The near future should offer more concrete facts regarding the issue, but until then, a cyberinsurance policy is certainly a safe move. It should not, however, replace solid Internet security. Insurance may cover the financial costs of data theft, but not the damage done to a school’s reputation and public relations.

9.2 Intellectual Property
“The concept of intellectual property is almost dead thanks to the Internet” (Khanna, 2004). That is a grim statement that cannot be ignored. The Internet has changed our world enormously, opening new doors of communication and access to knowledge. Such privilege does not come without responsibility, as the degree to which it can be taken advantage of is enormous. The idea of intellectual property is to treat knowledge like private property, using copyrights, trademarks and patents to enforce the notion.
Some see turning intellectual property into private property as an “enclosure of the commons” that hinder the advancement of science and democracy (Monaghan, 2005). On the other hand, one of the first statements of fair use dates back to the Talmud. It is written that a person “who reports something in the name of the one who said it brings redemption into the world" (McLemee, 2004). As interpreted by rabbi Joseph Telushkin, the statement means that when a person fails to accredit a piece of information, he/she uses it for personal gain. When properly accredited, the information is being used for the purpose of expanding everyone’s knowledge. (McLemee, 2004)
This is one of the main arguments behind the ethical issue of plagiarism. Unlike copyright infringement, plagiarism includes more than directly copying a passage. The use of another person’s idea without citation is also a form of plagiarism. Copyright law enforces economic interest, the violation of which can result in judicial punishment. Plagiarism enforces personal and ethical interest and will rarely go beyond the dean’s office. One may not go to court for plagiarism, but can be punished severely at the higher education level. (McLemee, 2004)

NACUA News

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

 

I am pleased to send you this latest issue of NACUANEWS, to update you on a number of recent activities and to be certain that you are aware of new and upcoming programs, services, and activities scheduled over the coming weeks and months.

 

Included in this issue:

· Summary of the March CLE Workshop

· Recap of the March Board of Directors Meeting

· NACUA’s Upcoming Programs

· New Member of the Board of Directors

· New Addition to the Website

· Welcome New Members

 

Summary of the March CLE Workshop

           Thanks to all our members who attended the recent CLE workshop: Higher Education Employment Law:  Compliance, Conflicts, Change and Challenges for College Counsel.  It was held March 5-7 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle, WA.  There were 175 paid registrants in attendance.  I’d like to issue a special thank you to those of you who served as moderators, speakers, or discussion group leaders, and also to the workshop planning committee; we have received very positive feedback from registrants.  If you would like a copy of the workshop CD-ROM, please click here.

 

Recap of the March Board of Directors Meeting

The NACUA Board of Directors met March 4 and 5 in Seattle, WA, prior to the CLE Workshop.  The agenda for the meeting is posted on the NACUA website, as are all of the committee reports.  As part of its meeting, the Board discussed the following issues:

w Emerging Trends in Technology on Campus: What does it mean for Higher Education, College and University Lawyers, and NACUA? Presentations were given by Diana Oblinger, president of EDUCAUSE, and Beth Cate, NACUA Board member and Associate General Counsel at Indiana University, on the issues higher education lawyers face in dealing with these trends.  To view Diana’s presentation materials, please click here.  To view Beth’s presentation materials, please click here.

w NACUA staff presented to the Board an overview of how member satisfaction with the Association is measured.  To view the presentation materials, please click here.  If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact Miriam Miller, NACUA’s Manager of Membership and Outreach Services.

 

Upcoming NACUA Programs

· One-Day CLE Workshop – Friday, April 11, 2008 – Memphis, TN – Legal Issues in Organizing and Operating Overseas Programs.  All information about the workshop, including a comprehensive schedule, registration information, and materials can be found on the website.  Any program questions should be directed to Karl Brevitz. All other questions can be directed to Meredith McMillan.

· 48^th Annual Conference – June 22-25, 2008 – New York, NY – The Annual Conference website is up and running!  Registration and hotel reservations will open in late March.  We will send notification via email when this occurs.

 

New Member of NACUA’s Board of Directors

           Miles LeBlanc, former General Counsel of the Houston Community College System, has taken a position as Assistant General Counsel of the Hudson Independent School   District and thus has resigned his position on the NACUA Board of Directors.  In accordance with the Association Bylaws provision on vacancies, the Board elected, by a ballot vote which was concluded January 22, 2008, Miles Postema, General Counsel at Ferris State University in Michigan.  He will complete the unexpired term, which ends June 2009.

 

New Addition to the Website

 NACUA does a good deal of work in collaboration with other associations as part of the Association’s strategic priorities.  We have decided to include information about these collaborative activities on our website: http://www.nacua.org/aboutnacua/associationcollaboration.asp.

Some recent examples include our work with the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas, the American Association for Affirmative Action, the Association for Student Judicial Affairs, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, and the National Association of College and University Business Officers.  Please feel free to check out the link to learn more.

 

Welcome New Members

Welcome to our newest NACUA members, and congratulations to those of you who are making career changes or moving to other legal counsel positions. 

 

As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me to let me know if there is anything we can do to serve you more effectively.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Kathleen

 

Kathleen Curry Santora

Chief Executive Officer

 

 

 

Today's USA Law.com posts

Academic Blog Posts

Bibas, Schanzenbach, & Tiller on Politics & Sentencing
From Legal Theory Blog on March 13 at 00:29
Stephanos Bibas , Max M. Schanzenbach and Emerson H. Tiller (University of Pennsylvania Law School , Northwestern University - School of Law and Northwestern University - School of Law) have posted Policing Politics at Sentencing on SSRN. Here is the...

Graffiti As A Gateway Crime
From The Faculty Lounge on March 13 at 09:47
Call it a blogger confessional. I know that I haven't been putting up hugely substantive posts of late. Those entries take more time and concentration than I can currently muster - in part because I am teaching my entire year's...

Witness Immunity Under Section 1983
From Adjunct Law Prof Blog on March 13 at 23:21
Rolan v. Henneman, ___F.3d___ (2d Cir. Feb. 25, 2008), is an interesting public sector employment law case.This case principally concerned immunity of the defendant, an acting police chief, for offering allegedly perjurious testimony at police disciplinary hea...

?Strip tease: Gay characters find home in comics?
From Feminist Law Professors on March 13 at 16:43
Here at SFGate.com.

Interactive Marketing Workshop for Continuing Studies
From Higher Ed Law Prof Blog on March 13 at 16:02
Interactive Marketing Workshop for Continuing Education July 28-29, 2008 Atlanta, GA UGA Atlanta Alumni Center About This Workshop For many continuing education marketing professionals, engaging prospective students to grow programs and measuring their marketi...

Lawyer Logic
From Legal Profession Blog on March 13 at 10:29
The District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility recently recommended disbarment of an attorney admitted in 2002 who used his law license for little purpose other than to steal "fees" from his numerous clients. The facts are detailed in a...

Litman on Fair Use
From Legal Theory Blog on March 14 at 04:56
Jessica Litman (University of Michigan) has posted Billowing White Goo (Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In this paper, written for a symposium on Fair Use: Incredibly Expanding or Extraordinarily Shrinking?, I...

Electronic Arts Plans Tender Offer for Take-Two
From Securities Law Prof Blog on March 13 at 06:16
Electronic Arts plans a tender offer for all shares of Take-Two at $26. Take-Two's board previously rejected its unsolicited bid for the same price, which at that time was a 50% premium over the market price, and described the offer...

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Echoes of the Turn-It-In.com litigation

Iowa State students revolt against plan they say would give away their work.From the Chronicle of Higher Education

New Mexico State officials resign amidst scandal

From the Las Cruces Sun-News

Interactive Marketing Workshop for Continuing Studies

Interactive Marketing Workshop for
Continuing Education
July 28-29, 2008
Atlanta, GA
UGA Atlanta Alumni Center

About This Workshop
For many continuing education marketing professionals, engaging prospective students to grow programs and measuring their marketing return on investment represent their top challenges. Interactive channels – like search engine marketing (SEM), email, or social networks to name a few – offer compelling new ways to connect with students and share the benefits of continuing education courses and programs.

The Interactive Marketing Workshop for Continuing Education examines the changing nature of CE marketing and provides guidance to marketers who want to adopt, or improve their use of, interactive channels and show greater returns on budget dollars spent.

Who Should Attend?
This Workshop is designed for continuing education executives and marketing professionals who are responsible for planning or executing their marketing plan to recruit prospective students and grow programs.

Register now.

NACUA Workshop on Overseas Programs

April One-Day CLE Workshop

Legal Issues in Organizing & Operating Overseas Programs

Friday, April 11, 2008

The Peabody Memphis Hotel

Memphis, TN

 

Register by Friday, March 21 to receive the Early Registration Rate

 

Special Rate for Multiple Attendees

NACUA is pleased to offer a special rate for multiple attendees from the same member institution.  Once a member attorney has registered, additional attorneys and administrators from the same institution may register at a special, reduced registration rate of $199.  Click here to register!  Feel free to invite your Director of International Education or other administrators involved in your overseas programming to this specialized workshop.

 

About the Program
This one-day program will review the key issues in establishing and operating college and university international programs, including:

• Getting Started: An Overview of Issues to Consider When Planning Overseas Programs

• Student Safety, Security, Health and Medical Issues

• Employment Issues in Overseas Programs

• Immigration, Compensation and Contract Issues

• Risk Management Issues
• Conducting Research and Sponsored Programs Overseas

• Student Affairs Issues in Overseas Programs

• Operating Programs in China: Opportunities and Challenges

• Legal Ethics Issues and Potential Conflicts for Counsel

Click here to view a detailed program schedule. Please join your NACUA colleagues and an experienced group of NACUA panelists for this in-depth look at the key legal, risk management and compliance issues in college and university overseas programs.

 

Who Should Attend?

This program will be of interest to college and university counsel responsible for legal issues related study abroad and other overseas programs. The Campus administrators who may benefit from the program include study abroad coordinators, senior administrators with line responsibility for international programs, managers of international and study abroad programs, campus risk managers, human resources administrators, and business affairs managers, and other academic administrators with responsibility for overseas programs. After reviewing the program schedule, members may wish to consider inviting these or other administrators on their campus to join them for the program.

 

Publications

We are pleased to offer discounts on selected NACUA publications to all Workshop Registrants.  Click here for additional information and to access the publications order form. 

 

Hotel Accommodations

The Peabody Memphis

149 Union Avenue

Memphis, TN

To make reservations at the NACUA conference rate of $189 per night (single/double) please call (901) 529-4000 by Friday, March 21.  Cancellations must be made by 6:00 p.m. the day before arrival to avoid penalty.

 

Questions about this workshop or an upcoming NACUA event? Contact Meredith McMillan at 202-833-8390 or via email at mmc@nacua.org.

 

 

All NACUA members receive periodic email communications regarding upcoming NACUA member events and benefits.  To unsubscribe from these emails, click here.

 

National Association of College and University Attorneys ● One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 620 ● Washington, DC 20036

 

 

 

 

 

The Mother of All Higher Ed Qui Tam Actions

Timeline of Hendow v. University of Phoenix. Download hendowTimeline.pdf

A new multi-billion-dollar qui tam action...

... time v. Kaplan U. Fromt he Chronicle of Higher Ed

Cal appeals court deals blow to home schoolers

From the LA Times

New Research Resources from Emerald Publishing

Dear Emerald website user, As part of our continuous efforts to enhance our products and services, Emerald is pleased to announce two significant and exciting enhancements to our content and website:   The launch of Emerald Backfiles, the digitized archive of Emerald journal titles in business, management, library and information services, materials science, and engineering. More than 60,000 articles (some dating back to the late nineteenth century) are now in PDF format and available electronically for the first time Customers who have purchased Emerald Backfiles in advance will gain access to these articles from Monday 17th March. To other Emerald subscribers and users, the content of Emerald Backfiles will be indicated by the letter “B” and you will have access to the abstracts. For more information about Emerald Backfiles, please visit: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/info/products_services/emeraldbackfiles.jsp   The launch of its new website with improved navigation tools, a more intuitive interface design and enhanced interest zones containing business and management resources Deployment to the new improved website will start the week commencing 17th March and you will notice changes by the middle of the week. For more information about these enhancements, please visit: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/info/improvements.jsp We have taken all possible measures to ensure that this technical upgrade causes as little disruption as possible. Emerald subscribers will be able to browse, search and download articles as normal throughout the switch. However, we would like to notify all users that the functionality of the “My Profile” section may be affected during this period. We apologize for any inconvenience you may encounter until the new website has been successfully implemented and we thank you in advance for your understanding. Should you have any queries, concerns or comments, please contact support@emeraldinsight.com Best regards, Arnaud Pellé Corporate Communications Manager Emerald Group Publishing Limited tel: +44 (0)1274 777700 fax: +44 (0)1274 785200 apelle@emeraldinsight.com http://www.emeraldinsight.com Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Research you can use The world's leading publisher of management research.
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited  |     Copyright Info  |     Privacy Policy  |     Unsubscribe  Registered Office: Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley, BD16 1WA, UK. Registered in England No. 3080506, VAT No. GB 665 3593 06

And speaking of ethics: Bye, bye, Elliott

From Reuters:

NEW YORK - New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned on Wednesday amid a scandal over a $1,000-an-hour prostitute, cutting short a career built on pugnacious investigations of Wall Street crimes. Lt. Gov. David Paterson will replace him on Monday, Spitzer said.

Strict ethics law covers Colorado colleges, sez court

From the Chronicle of Higher Education

Accommodations for "How to Recruit Minority Faculty" event in Philly

The Academic Network, Inc. has established a negotiated rate at the Marriott Residence Inn Philadelphia City Center for the "How to Recruit Minority Faculty Candidates" professional development workshop on Monday, April 28th. 

Participants can reserved their room, under "The Academic Network Group Block Rate" ($159.00 per night), by calling 1-800-331-3131 (central reservations). The negotiated rate is applicable for two evenings - Sunday, April 27th and Monday, April 28th. The reservation deadline is Monday, April 14th. 

Also, we have added 10 more seats to the venue. Should you have colleagues who are interested in attending, we will gladly accommodate their registration. We currently have 13 academic institutions represented. 

I look forward to meeting each of you.  

Regards,

Dr. Sonel Y. Shropshire
President
The Academic Network, Inc. 
 

A victory for public radio

12 March 2008

Contact:
SaveWCAL@hotmail.com
http://SaveWCALLiveJournal.com

SaveWCAL Wins a Victory for Public Radio Supporters and WCAL Donors

Northfield, Minn.—A Special Master report submitted on March 7, 2008 to the Rice County (Minn.) District Court is an important victory for supporters of and donors to public radio station WCAL and St. Olaf College, according to Ruth Sylte, the president of SaveWCAL, an organization representing the donors to WCAL.

“It is a very good day for supporters of public radio and thousands of SaveWCAL supporters!” said Sylte. “The report confirms that listener donations and support do matter.”

WCAL 89.3 FM was the first listener-supported radio station in the U.S. and a founding member of National Public Radio (NPR). Until its controversial sale, the station broadcast for more than 80 years from the St. Olaf campus in Northfield, Sylte explained. WCAL’s major assets—a 100k watt C-1 FM license, Rosemount broadcasting tower and translator station KMSE 88.7 in Rochester—were sold on November 21, 2004 over the objections of thousands of donors and listeners for a reported $10.5 million by its trustee, St. Olaf College, to Minnesota Public Radio (MPR).

The Special Master’s Report, containing more than 130 separate Findings of Fact and making Recommended Conclusions of Law on the subject of the Petition and Amended Petition filed by St. Olaf College regarding the WCAL charitable trust, includes the following highlights:

• The report recognizes that the WCAL donors created a charitable trust throughout more than 80 years of support to the station. This is exactly the position that SaveWCAL has advocated since the beginning of the current proceeding and, indeed, since October 5, 2004 when the organization specifically asked the Minnesota Attorney General to intervene in the sale of the trust's assets and the Attorney General declined. In fact, Special Master Judge Gary J. Meyer (ret.), specifically noted in his Memorandum that:

"The Attorney General notes that St. Olaf has not formally petitioned the court regarding the proceeds of the sale of WCAL assets to MPR. But St. Olaf takes the position that none of the proceeds of the sale are subject to any restriction and that St. Olaf is entitled to use the proceeds for any purpose it desires. Thus, it is unlikely that St. Olaf would ever bring a petition asking for direction from the court regarding these funds. Although the Attorney General clearly could have, and perhaps should have, brought a petition to the court, they have not done so. Instead, the court is left with the current petition, which, in the interests of justice, must be expanded to include additional funds not specified in the petition."

• The report also finds that the assets that currently comprise the trust are far greater than what St. Olaf College had represented to the court in its Petition and Amended Petition. St. Olaf claimed that it held $1.36 million in the WCAL endowment and that it should have unrestricted access to approximately $860,000 of that amount with approximately $500,000 restricted to "Core WCAL Activities." The Special Master has found that the WCAL charitable trust has assets in excess of $5 million and that the use of those assets should be restricted to "Core WCAL Activities."

• The Special Master did not include the value of WCAL's FM license as an asset of the trust claiming that "it is impossible to discern from the record what assets were purchased with which funds or, most likely, combination of funds."
  
  Sylte pointed out that the report fails to recognize the fact that the license itself would have been lost long ago but for the support of WCAL donors. In order to renew its license, St. Olaf had to demonstrate to the FCC that the station was serving the public interest. It was able to do so, Sylte asserted, only because of the magnificent support of the WCAL donors. Indeed, the Special Master's Findings of Fact states:

   

"WCAL and St. Olaf had agreed on a goal of decreasing the St. Olaf cash contributions to WCAL and of eliminating them by 2005. From 1993 to 2004, St. Olaf's contributions to WCAL decreased from $350,000 (which was 21% of the 1993 WCAL operating budget) to $130,000 (which was 5% of the 2004 WCAL operating budget)."

   

As another example, Sylte related that the station would have been completely lost in 1924 if supporters had not raised the money to save WCAL after the College announced that it did not have the funds to operate the station. The station would have been lost a number of times without the donations of listeners, without which there simply would have been no license and therefore no assets for St. Olaf to sell in 2004.

Sylte also pointed out that St. Olaf College attorneys, in an attempt to prevent information that SaveWCAL supporters (or any member of the general public) might find from reaching the Court and the court-appointed Special Master, have been denying unrestricted public access to the college's archives, in direct conflict to the college's stated policy, since December 7, 2007.

• The report also does not address the trust status of the building in which WCAL was housed that was built, not with funds from St. Olaf College, but solely from the donations of WCAL listeners.

The submission of the Special Master’s report is yet another step—a large one—in SaveWCAL’s lengthy and continuing journey of more than three and a half years to obtain justice on behalf of the tens of thousands of WCAL donors, living and deceased, who gave millions of dollars to build and maintain a "unique and priceless public radio station" for more than eight decades, said Sylte. "The process is still continuing. We will continue to advocate that the WCAL charitable trust also includes the proceeds from the sale of the broadcast license. "

“Our efforts remain grounded in a deep affection for the college.” added Sylte. SaveWCAL's primary goal has been to preserve the WCAL station and/or its charitable trust, preferably to spiritually, financially and educationally benefit its historical home institution, St. Olaf College, she said. “What we have achieved thus far,” Sylte continued, “benefits St. Olaf by assuring its donors that they have a right to be heard and that their intentions should continually be honored.”

The parties now await instructions from Rice County District Court Judge Gerald Wolf regarding how the hearing on the St. Olaf Petition and Amended Petition will proceed. Judge Wolf, who is presiding over the case, has the authority to accept or modify the Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and proposed Order. A hearing is expected to be scheduled soon.

BACKGROUND / TIMELINE

• In August 2004 St. Olaf College suddenly announced that it would sell the license and Rosemount broadcasting tower of WCAL 89.3 FM radio station—the first listener-supported radio station in the USA—and its translator station, Rochester’s KMSE 88.7, to MPR for a reported $10.5 million. In spite of strong opposition, including a petition to St. Olaf with more than 5,000 signatures and unsuccessful pleadings before the FCC, the station was sold to MPR and ceased broadcasting as WCAL/KMSE on November 21, 2004 – just three days after the 82nd anniversary of the station’s official founding.
• At the time, St. Olaf College was holding at least $2.96 million in endowment funds for the benefit of WCAL radio station.
• On December 28, 2006 St. Olaf College filed a Petition in Rice County (Minn.) District Court seeking a release of all restrictions on two categories of gifts in the WCAL charitable trust endowment that it now classified as the restricted non-endowment gifts and the undocumented gifts. When the gifts were made, the College placed the gifts in both categories in the WCAL endowment. It asserted in its Petition that the donors of the gifts in the first category did not specifically direct St. Olaf to place their gifts in the WCAL endowment. As for the second category, St. Olaf claimed that it was not able to find documents to explain the decision the College made to place the gifts in the WCAL endowment. The College asserted that total market value of the gifts in both categories as of April 30, 2006 was approximately $961,000.00.
• On January 12, 2007 the Minnesota Attorney General's office responded to the filing in a letter to St. Olaf College, raising some technical questions about the Petition. This caused St. Olaf to request a continuance of the scheduled hearing and the hearing was rescheduled for March 8, 2007.
• On February 27, 2007 SaveWCAL attorney  Michael W. McNabb sent a five page Letter Memorandum to the Rice County District Court to inform the Court of issues related to the Petition filed by St. Olaf. The letter stated, "A thorough investigation will reveal that the court has the facts and the law to declare that the assignment of the license for 89.3 FM to MPR is void on the grounds that (1) it was a breach of its fiduciary duty as trustee for St. Olaf to create the circumstances which rendered it impossible to honor the intention of the donors and (2) St. Olaf failed to obtain the authorization of the court to terminate the charitable trust as required under Minn. Stat. 501B.41 subd. 2 and therefore St. Olaf did not have the lawful authority to assign or sell the assets of the WCAL charitable trust. In the alternative, the court could declare that the WCAL endowment fund (all $2.9 million) and the $10.5 million received from MPR constitute part of a continuing charitable trust and that pursuant to Minn. Stat. 501B.31 subd. 2 the trust must be administered to accomplish as nearly as possible the intention of the donors. "
• On March 6, 2007 just seven days after McNabb sent his Letter Memorandum to the Rice County District Court, St. Olaf College suddenly submitted an Amended Petition which completely removed St. Olaf's previous assertions of the WCAL charitable trust funds as a "charitable trust". Also removed was one exhibit previously submitted by St. Olaf after an heir of the donor notified the Attorney General and Court that what St. Olaf had presented in its Petition was not the wishes of the donor.
• On March 8, 2007 SaveWCAL attorney Michael McNabb received the permission of the court to participate in the hearing. Additional hearing sessions were held on April 13 and May 25.
• On October 16, 2007 Rice County District Court Judge Wolf issued two Orders. The first Order and Memorandum indicated that the Judge is reserving a decision on the St. Olaf Amended Petition pending the result of a full investigation by a special master appointed by the second Order to, among other things, "investigate and determine the amount of assets and donations that are attributable to WCAL...” without limitation. The order also confirmed the standing of SaveWCAL as a representative of the WCAL donors. It should be noted that SaveWCAL was the only party in the case to request that a special master be appointed and that a full investigation take place.
• On October 22, 2007 Judge Gary J. Meyer (ret.) accepted the appointment of Judge Wolf as Special Master for the St. Olaf College Petition. The Special Master was instructed to report his findings and his recommendation to the Court within 60 days of his appointment. The Special Master was also instructed that he could request additional time in order to complete the investigation. On December 17, 2007 Judge Wolf issued an Order extending the deadline for the Special Master to submit his report and recommendations to February 15, 2008. On February 15, 2008 Judge Wolf signed another Order extending the deadline for the Special Master's report to March 15, 2008.

Documents submitted to the Rice County District Court Special Master by the various parties (Minnesota Attorney General, St. Olaf College and SaveWCAL) are available for download in PDF format at: http://savewcal.livejournal.com/104585.html

# # # #

SaveWCAL is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that grew out of St. Olaf College's decision to sell essential and irreplaceable assets of the WCAL charitable trust, thus destroying the first listener supported public radio station in the USA—a founding member station of National Public Radio (NPR) and a leading member of AMPERS  (now Minnesota Independent Public Radio). 

Since 2004, St. Olaf has been attempting to dismantle the trust and repurpose millions of dollars in funds given to the WCAL charitable trust by tens of thousands of donors over the course of more than 80 years.

SaveWCAL is made up of WCAL donors and listeners, St. Olaf College students, alumni, staff, faculty, parents and friends who care deeply about the station and its service to the college and the community. Our intention has always been to save the station to benefit the college—spiritually, historically, financially and educationally. More than 5,000 individuals signed the SaveWCAL petition in 2004.

For further information, see http://SaveWCAL.LiveJournal.com

-----
The folks at SaveWCAL
http://SaveWCAL.LiveJournal.com
SaveWCAL@hotmail.com

Twitter: savewcal

Eighth International Conference on Diversity

Dear Colleague,

On behalf of the Conference Organising Committee, we would like to inform you of the:

THE EIGHTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DIVERSITY IN ORGANISATIONS, COMMUNITIES AND NATIONS
HEC Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 17-20 June 2008
http://www.Diversity-Conference.com

The Diversity Conference has a history of bringing together scholarly, government and practice-based participants with an interest in the issues of diversity and community. The Conference examines the concept of diversity as a positive aspect of a global world and globalised society. Diversity is in many ways reflective of our present world order, but there are ways of taking this further without necessary engendering its alternatives: racism, conflict, discrimination and inequity. Diversity as a mode of social existence can be projected in ways that deepen the range of human experience. The Conference will seek to explore the full range of what diversity means and explore modes of diversity in real-life situations of living together in community. The Conference supports a move away from simple affirmations that 'diversity is good' to a much more nuanced account of the effects and uses of diversity on differently situated communities in the context of our current epoch of gl!
 obalisation.

Main speakers include Susan Bridges, University of Hong Kong; Jock Collins, University Technology, Sydney, Australia; and Brendan O'Leary, Lauder Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the University of Pennsylvania Program in Ethnic Conflict. The Conference will also include numerous paper, workshop and colloquium presentations by practitioners, teachers and researchers. We would particularly like to invite you to respond to the Conference Call-for-Papers. Presenters may choose to submit written papers for publication in the fully refereed International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations. If you are unable to attend the Conference in person, virtual registrations are also available which allow you to submit a paper for refereeing and possible publication in this fully refereed academic Journal, as well as access to the electronic version of the Conference proceedings.

The deadline for the next round in the call for papers (a title and short abstract) is 31 March 2008. Proposals are reviewed within two weeks of submission. Full details of the Conference, including an online proposal submission form, are to be found at the Conference website - http://www.Diversity-Conference.com

We look forward to receiving your proposal and hope you will be able to join us in Montreal in June 2008.

Yours Sincerely,

Sebastien Arcand 
Professeur adjoint
Service de l'enseignement du management
HEC Montreal

Michele Glemaud
Executive Director
Montreal Hooked on School
For the Advisory Board, International Conference on Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations

***

If you have any inquiries about this conference, please send them by reply to this email. All emails are answered in person by one of our conference administrators within two working days.

US Law.com March 12th Blogs

Law Blogs Updated on March 12th, 2008

Academic Blog Posts

Murphy on Natural Law Ethics
From Legal Theory Blog on March 11 at 07:08
Mark Murphy has a revised version of The Natural Law Tradition in Ethics in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Here is a taste: ?Natural law theory? is a label that has been applied to theories of ethics, theories of politics,...

Barbara Seaman
From Feminist Law Professors on March 11 at 10:26
Seaman died on 2/27/08. From Women’s Enews: Barbara Seaman always believed that women knew more about their bodies than male doctors did. As a young mother in the 1950s, she made the revolutionary decision to breastfeed her child at a time when infant fo...

Lemos on Judiciall Administered Statutes & Nondelegation
From Legal Theory Blog on March 12 at 06:02
Margaret H. Lemos (Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law) has posted The Other Delegate: Judicially Administered Statutes and the Nondelegation Doctrine (Southern California Law Review, Vol. 81, 2008) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The nondelegation doctrine is th...

And now for some good news...
From Higher Ed Law Prof Blog on March 11 at 07:31
UCLA experts reject cries of "Recession." From the LA Times

The Role of Higher Education in the 21