LOOSE LIPS....Tri-State University, a private college of about 1,400 students in Indiana, recently reversed a policy that would have banned students and employees from talking with professional journalists without permission from the school's marketing department. The policy, announced Oct. 14, had instructed the campus community not to answer questions from reporters without prior permission from the university's Department of Brand and Integrated Marketing. However the Indianapolis Star reported that many press and civil liberties groups had criticized the rule, and so the university rescinded it. ...

FROM ABROAD: Enrollment of first-time foreign graduate students was up 1 percent this fall, following successive declines since 2002, according to a report by the Council of Graduate Schools. Total enrollment appears to be down 3 percent this year. ... DONE DEAL: Congress reached agreement on a compromise spending bill that would provide the National Science Foundation with $5.65 billion in the 2006 fiscal year, an increase of $181 million over what the agency is receiving this year, according to Inside Higher Ed. The measure, which is expected to win final Congressional approval and White House approval, is $70 million above what President Bush requested but $34 million less than what those programs are receiving this year. ...

BODY WATCH: A Los Angeles judge has agreed to let UCLA reopen a program that allows citizens to donate their bodies to be used for scientific study. The university shut down the program last year amid a criminal investigation into the abuse of human remains. ... NICKNAMES: According to Inside Higher Ed, the University of North Dakota has filed a second appeal of an August ruling by the National Collegiate Athletic Association that the university's use of its "Fighting Sioux" nickname and various Native American icons is "hostile" and "abusive." Based on opposition from some Sioux tribes in the state, the NCAA turned down North Dakota's initial appeal last month.