EDUCATIONAL DISCOUNTS: A committee of the UC Board of Regents has explored educational fee discounts for dependants of UC employees, according to David Bell, a staff adviser to the regents and a work-life professional at UC San Francisco. Bell, who serves as a non-voting member on the regents' Committee on Educational Policy, says committee members have talked about a one-third discount in educational fees that would apply to dependants — children, for example — of UC staff. He expects it may take a year or two at least for the policy, which must be approved by the Board of Regents, to become official. ...

CREATIONISM AND THE UC: A group representing religious schools in the state is suing University of California admissions officials for allegedly discriminating against high schools that teach creationism and other conservative Christian viewpoints. The Association of Christian Schools International, which represents more than 800 schools, filed a lawsuit Sept. 1 in federal court claiming UC officials have refused to certify high school science courses that use textbooks challenging Darwin's theory of evolution. UC spokeswoman Ravi Poorsina said the university has a right to set course requirements. "These requirements were established after careful study by faculty and staff to ensure that students who come here are fully prepared with broad knowledge and the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed," Poorsina said. ...

HURRICANE FALLOUT: Tulane University and Loyola University will not open for the fall semester in the wake of the damage of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, according to Inside Higher Ed. The universities' announcements came as leaders of key higher education groups issued guidelines for colleges to use in helping students unable to attend college in New Orleans. Other colleges in New Orleans may well be forced to make similar decisions. And academic meetings scheduled to take place in New Orleans during the next few months are being moved or called off. But a number of other colleges that suffered damage from Katrina are announcing plans to re-open for this semester. ...

EDUCATING EVACUEES: California community colleges would exempt Hurricane Katrina evacuees from the higher nonresident tuition typically charged out-of-state enrollees under an emergency bill recently sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, reports the Sacramento Bee. Assembly Bill 1646 would waive nonresident tuition at community colleges for displaced students who had enrolled or intended to enroll at any higher education institution in Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama during the fall term. Last week, California State University officials announced a similar waiver for those schools. ...

WHAT'S IN A NAME: With the transition to Division I comes more attention from national media and, as a result, more media outlets referring to UC Davis in strange ways. The correct reference for the university is either "UC Davis" or "University of California, Davis." The Athletics Department has seen many unusual names, including California-Davis, Cal-Davis, U.C. Davis, Cal St. Davis, Davis State and U.C.-Davis. ...

TOWN-GOWN RELATIONS: College and university enrollment nearly doubled between 1970 and 2001, to 15.9 million from 8.6 million, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. But many schools, according to the New York Times, have not built new dorms in decades, and the result is that more students are sharing neighborhoods with residential families. "Students of this generation aren't so interested in living in a dorm," said Tess Heffernan, policy manager for the city of Fort Collins, Colo., where Colorado State is located. In many cities, the number of students living off campus has grown. Nationwide, students are increasingly visible — and audible — in neighborhoods of single-family households. ...

BIG BROTHER WATCHING: Documents released by the Michigan branch of the American Civil Liberties Union suggest that some campus groups that have never engaged in terrorist activities have been monitored as if they were terror threats. Using the Freedom of Information Act, the ACLU obtained a FBI report on a 2002 meeting involving the FBI, the Michigan State police and other law enforcement agencies to discuss groups in Michigan "thought to be involved in terrorist activities." Among the groups monitored was By Any Means Necessary, a University of Michigan group (also active elsewhere) devoted to defending affirmative action. ...

GENDER TRENDS By 2014, American colleges are expected to enroll 19.5 million students, up 17 percent from 2002. Increases should be particularly notable for women, full-time students, and professional-school students.Those predictions come from "Projections of Education Statistics to 2014," the latest version of an annual report from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics that examines trends for the decade ahead.