Drop in membership leads to disbandment of organization
The American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) announced on Thursday that it will close down at the end of May after almost 40 years of advancing scholarship around the country.
According to AAHE President Clara Lovett, membership in the last decade dropped from about 10,000 to 6,000 members. Since the AAHE needs membership dues to continue its work, the large drop in membership was the main reason for its closing.
"We came to the conclusion that it should not try to operate unless it can really produce the kind of work it is known for," Lovett said.
Lovett said that the sharp decline in AAHE membership in the 1990s was mostly due to the founding of many organizations that have similar goals to those of the AAHE. "Think of it like the airlines. You have a certain number of people who buy airline tickets and they certainly have more choices than they did 20 years ago," she said.
Instead of being cancelled, many of the AAHE's major projects will be transferred to interested colleges, universities, and organizations.
Students given financial incentive to finish college on time
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale instituted a new policy beginning next fall. The Finish in Four program would give a $500 cash reward to students who graduate in four years to spend as they wish.
Southern Illinois Chancellor Walter Wendler said that only one in four students graduates from the university in four years.
The Finish in Four program is one of many programs instituted in colleges and universities around the country urging students to complete their educations in a timely manner. Facing tight state budgets and limited space, these institutions actually are finding it cheaper to offer rewards to students.
The University of Texas pays off college loans to some students who graduate on time, and California State University has toughened its requirements for students to transfer to the university in order to cut down the number of credits students must take after transferring.
Wendler said that the program and other incentives would cost the school about $400,000 annually, but that cost would be off-set by additional tuition revenues from students who wish to take more credits to ensure graduation in four years.
Students stage hunger strike for janitors' rights; health officials worried
Georgetown University administrators agreed on Wednesday to raise wages for its janitors. The decision came after Georgetown students staged a nine day hunger strike in support of its janitors.
For the previous nine days, 26 students lived in a tent at the center of the Georgetown campus, refusing to eat until the janitors received what they called a "living wage." The students reportedly lost 270 pounds collectively and vowed to continue the hunger strike until janitors received their wage increase.
Dr. James Welsh, the Assistant Vice President for Student Health at Georgetown, said he was alarmed by the student's actions. Welsh wrote down the students' names and gave them to Georgetown Dean Todd Olson, who sent a letter to the students' parents to urge them to convince their children to begin eating healthfully again.
-- Compiled by Brian McPartland from the Chronicle of Higher Education
