KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2010 NEWS
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HAITI (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
the american Red Cross to provide relief in Haiti.
The University of Kansas athletics department, Self and his wife Cindy, and women's basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson will all match a portion of the money raised, doubling the donations sent to Haiti. Self said he wanted the fundraiser to bring in thousands of dollars.
"I'm hopeful that we can raise a minimum of 25, and then match it, so wed be able to give 50. I think that would be a good number," Self said. "I was really
"I'm hopeful that we can raise a minimum of 25, and then match it, so we'd be able to give 50."
"As a college student with no formal medical or professional
big deal right now. Let's have some people over, put a bowl out and see if they want to donate." Nielsen said, adding that he thought the party was a success. The party raised $225 in donations.
hoping wed raise close to 50 and be able to match that or at least a pretty good portion of it, and give close to 100 thousand to them."
The total amount raised will be announced at the men's basketball game tonight against Baylor.
Cantwell said fundraising seemed to be the only way they could help with earthquake relief.
BILL SELF Kansas coach
Students are finding ways to raise funds for Haitian relief too. Kris Nielsen, a senior from Overland Park, and Devon Cantwell, a sophomore from Topeka, decided to host a party at Cantwell's house to raise whatever funds they could.
"Me and Devon were just sitting around and were like, 'Hev, this is a
training, the only thing I could think to do is provide monetary assistance," Cantwell said. "What better way to get a bunch of college students to donate money?"
Cantwell said
her friends were not sure which agency they would use to donate the money. Nielsen said they would look into donating through the Athletics Department to double the total.
According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a newspaper dedicated to covering nonprofit organizations, charities have raised more than $220 million in donations for Haitian earthquake relief as of Tuesday afternoon.
Edited by Megan Heacock
ECONOMY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ohio State University President Gordon Gee talks to students on the university campus in Columbus, Ohio. Gee is the highest-paid school president in this year's public school survey and his pay is worth more than $1.5 million during salary, retention and deferred compensation.
College presidents lose pay increase
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The recession has reached the executive suites of the nation's public universities and colleges, putting a stop to a string of large annual pay increases for school presidents.
A survey released Monday by the Chronicle of Higher Education showed compensation packages of chief executives at public schools leveling off in 2008-2009, rising a relatively modest 2.3 percent. One in 10 saw their pay decline. Some who did get raises or bonuses gave the money back to their schools.
Presidential salaries at public universities and colleges have come under greater scrutiny as many bursting-at-the-seams schools raise tuition to offset steep declines in state funding.
The latest figures show that the economy and fears of a backlash over perceived high salaries are trumping the argument that public schools need to pay top dollar for
top talent.
"Students and families have had to tighten their belts, so I bet they'll appreciate seeing some restraint among college presidents," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a critic of executive pay at colleges and other nonprofits. "Holding off on raises is in sync with the reality for families trying to pay for college in the midst of high unemployment and the worst economy in decades."
Over the previous six years, annual pay increases of 10 percent or more became the norm for many public school presidents. So while base salaries rose for two-thirds of top executives in the 2008-2009 survey of 185 public universities and community colleges, the dollars involved were significantly smaller. The median compensation package for public school top executives in 2008-2009 was $436,111. Eleven public university presidents earned $700,000 or more, down from 15 the previous year.
POLITICS
Democratic candidate, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Goakey concedes after losing a special election on Tuesday in Boston. The election was held to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death of SeparEd Kennedy.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican victory could spell trouble for Obama
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — In an epic upset in liberal Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown rode a wave of voter anger to win the U.S. Senate seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy for nearly half a century, leaving President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in doubt and marring the end of his first year in office.
Addressing an exuberant victory celebration Tuesday night, Brown declared he was "ready to go to Washington without delay" as the crowd chanted, "Seat him now." Democrats indicated they would, deflating a budding controversy over whether they would try to block Brown long enough to complete congressional passage of the health care plan he has promised to oppose.
"The people of Massachusetts have spoken. We welcome Scott Brown to the Senate and will move
to seat him as soon as the proper paperwork has been received," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said he would notify the Senate on Wednesday that Brown had been elected.
The loss by Democrat Martha Coakley in the Democratic stronghold was a stunning embarrassment for the White House after Obama rushed to Boston on Sunday to try to save the foundering candidate. Her defeat on Tuesday signaled big political problems for the president's party this fall when House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates are on the ballot nationwide.
Brown's victory was the third major loss for Democrats in statewide elections since Obama became president. Republicans won governors' seats in Virginia and New Jersey in November.
"I have no interest in sugar-coating what happened in
Massachusetts," said Sen. Robert Menendez, the head of the Senate Democrats' campaign committee. "There is a lot of anxiety in the country right now. Americans are understandably impatient."
Brown will become the 41st Republican in the 100-member Senate, which could allow the GOP to block the president's health care legislation. Democrats needed Coakley to win for a 60th vote to thwart Republican filibusters. The trouble may go deeper: Democratic lawmakers could read the results as a vote against Obama's broader agenda, weakening their support for the president. And the results could scare some Democrats from seeking office this fall.
Turnout was exceptional for a special election in January, with light snow reported in parts of the state. More voters showed up at the polls Tuesday than in any non-presidential general election in Massachusetts since 1990.
EDUCATION
Yale offers free online courses
BY SUSAN SNYDER McClatchy Tribune
PHILADELPHIA — A stay-at-home mom in Maine. A physics teacher in an under-supplied school in Quito, Ecuador. A food-service-supply salesman in Lancaster, Pa., laid up for months with little to do after a hang-gliding accident. And two out-of-work West Philadelphia men looking to take an intellectual journey from their living room.
They are among millions around the world who have been attracted to Yale University's free courses on the Web, complete with audio and video lectures, syllabi and supplementary materials.
"It was such a great thing to me," said Steve Ziegler, 40, of Lancaster, who during his recovery watched Ivy League English-class lectures on Cormac McCarthy's novel "Blood Meridian," which quickly became one of his favorite books. "I was able to get more out of something that I love because Yale put these courses online."
More universities are beginning to upload full-length, free courses through iTunes, YouTube and the international consortium site OpenCourseWare.
The University of Pennsylvania put up an environmental course and a psychology course on its "open learning" site last year, with plans to expand.
Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa., launched a Christian
spirituality course and an urban sociology course, also in the last year.
The University of Delaware started a page on iTunes last month with courses currently restricted to staff and students, but with some likely to become public.
While some worry such projects are tantamount to giving away perhaps a university's most prized treasure, its teaching, others say the projects fulfill a mission to disseminate information widely.
Of the eight Ivy League schools, Yale has been a leader, with 25 free courses online and 11 more coming this fall.
"We wanted to share our academic treasures more widely with the world," said Diana E.E. Kleiner, a history of arts professor who directs the project
Since the website's launch in December 2007, more than 2 million from 193 countries have viewed, though not necessary.
"We wanted to share our academic treasures more widely with the world."
DIANA E.E. KLEINER Yale history of arts professor
ily completed, courses, she said. Many others have tapped into the courses on iTunes and YouTube, she said. Though these are the same courses taken for credit by Yale undergraduates on campus,
they are noncredit on the Web.
The learning is self-directed. There are no grades, no feedback, no course credit and no class-time interaction with faculty. Participants send e-mails to professors, which some opt to answer.
Some of Yale's star professors take part, including economics professor Robert J. Shiller, who wrote "Irrational Exuberance," about bubblelike market behavior.
The project is being funded by a $3 million, four-year grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
One of the biggest challenges is raising funds to add new courses, Kleiner said.
Such ventures can be costly.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2002 launched.
OpenCourseWare site and eventually uploaded materials for all of the university's 1,950 courses, said Steve Carson, external relations director for MIT OpenCourseWare. Thirty classes offer video.
by outside sources. The university spends about $3.6 million a year to maintain it, some of which also is funded from the outside.
It costs about $30 million; all but $5 million funded
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