Marketing, Reputation and Image Update

Prairie View black students charge disenfranchisement: Civil rights groups and students at Prairie View A&M University have filed suit contending the local district attorney is seeking to prevent students from voting.

District Attorney Oliver S. Kitzman said Prairie View students, who are predominantly African American, may not be legal residents, but merely students attending the institution. The question raised by the DA may well be legitimate, but what productive outcome can you envision in a process that splits the community along racial lines?

• New York Times

University of Phoenix makes inroad: The ubiquitous University of Phoenix is fast coming to your neighborhood, and you better be ready. With 139 campuses and learning centers in 29 states and 186,169 students enrolled by the end of last year, the UP may well take a bite from enrollments at many urban institutions. See the story on new centers in Indianapolis, a tome that could be written in many states. Prudent and prescient institutions will have marketing plans well in place before the UP takes to local airwaves.

• Indianapolis Star

Tuition "crisis" editorialized in Florida: Here's an old story with a new twist: Florida newspaper bemoans a tuition crisis, which is not new, but the coverage offers some unique suggestions on how to trim college costs.

• Press Journal

Flagship public institutions hammered by poor funding: Finally, the New York Times takes up the cause of stronger funding for public flagship institutions.

• New York Times

Campus Crises in the News

St. John's BB players disciplined after strip club romp: Two top St. John's basketball players were expelled, a third faces the same fate and four other players will receive disciplinary action after a post-sex-club tryst with a stripper.

• ABC News
• New York Times
• New York Times
• ESPN.com

Colorado students worry about scandal's long term impact: The fallout over allegations of offering free sex to football recruits is far from over. See the impact predicted by UC students and an update.

• Colorado Daily
• Rocky Mountain News

Two college basketball players die in accident: Returning from a game, two Navarro College basketball players were killed in a Texas car accident Feb. 9.

• BadgerHerald.com

Lost or stolen, Fresno State charged with million-dollar ineptitude: A state audit has uncovered $3.6 million in "wasted spending and slipshod accounting" at the California campus.

• Fresno Bee

McCarthyism returned to Iowa? A federal judge has ordered Drake University in Iowa to surrender records about a gathering of antiwar activists.

• Washington Post

Harvard mag to show skin: Under the promise of freedom of speech, a new Harvard magazine about sex will showcase, art, sex advice and fiction --as well as photographs of undressed Harvard undergraduates.

• MSNBC
• New York Times

Ball State suit filed: The family of a student fatally shot by a campus policeman plans to file a federal lawsuit against Ball State University police.

• Indianapolis Star
• Chronicle of Higher Education

UC Berkley faces gargantuan cuts: Academic departments at UC Berkeley have been told to brace for permanent reductions as high as $39 million next year.

• Daily Californian

Bob Knight again: Famed NYT columnist takes a shot at Texas Tech and the infamous coach, who recently feuded publicly with the university's chancellor.

• New York Times
• Washington Post