INTERNET ILLS: When asked whether the Internet has changed the quality of student work, 42 percent of professors in a recent survey said they had seen a decline, while only 22 percent said they had seen improvement, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Student plagiarism emerged as a key concern of professors. Forty-four percent agreed that plagiarism had increased in their students' work, while 23 percent disagreed and 33 percent were undecided. But a majority of participating professors, 67 percent, said the Internet had improved their communication with students. The nationwide survey, of 2,316 faculty members, was conducted in May 2004 by a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. ...

ALLEGED FACULTY PLAGIARISM: A faculty group has sent the investigation of University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill to the next level. Seven complaints of alleged plagiarism, historical fabrication and other research misconduct by Churchill will undergo deeper investigation, while two other complaints were dropped, his lawyer said. Churchill had opened a maelstrom of controversy with his view that America — and especially the "little Eichmanns" working in the World Trade Center — deserved the retribution of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. ...

LOS ALAMOS' WOES: The UC-operated Los Alamos National Laboratory has experienced more mishaps that could potentially damage a university bid to continue to manage the facility. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, in June, two employees at the lab inhaled toxic fumes. One of the employees spent six days in the hospital in July after suffering prolonged respiratory symptoms, while the other experienced temporary shortness of breath. Breaking with protocol, lab management was not informed of the incident until Aug. 3. ...

PARTY SCHOOLS: The University of Wisconsin-Madison topped a list of the nation's best party schools, according to the Princeton Review. The other schools on the list of the Top 10 party schools were Ohio University at Athens, Lehigh University, UC Santa Barbara, State University of New York at Albany, Indiana University at Bloomington, University of Mississippi, University of Iowa, University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Loyola University New Orleans. On the other hand, Brigham Young University and the United States Air Force Academy were the top two "stone cold sober" schools. UC Davis did not make either list. ...

DOSE OF REALITY: UC Berkeley last month announced that it was requiring freshmen to take an alcohol awareness course, which is now part of orientation for students at about 130 campuses. AlcoholEdu quizzes students on their drinking habits, and then uses videos and graphics to deliver facts and statistics about alcohol and its physiological effects, before testing the students. Earlier this year, UC Berkeley officials banned alcohol at events hosted by fraternities and sororities following alcohol-related incidents. ...

MBA SLOWDOWN: Student applications to masters of business administration programs fell for the third year in a row, Business Week reported recently. During the first half of 2005, there was a 0.4 percent increase in volume on the GMAT, the entry test for graduate business programs, compared with the first half of 2004. But the increase was due to test-takers outside the United States, which increased by 4.8 percent. Volume in the United States fell by 1.6 percent. ...

TEACHING RANKS: The proportion of recent college graduates who took teaching jobs in elementary or secondary schools increased to 12 percent in 1999-2000, up from 10 percent in 1992-1993, according to a report by the National Center for Education Statistics. The graduates who went into teaching, compared with other graduates, were more likely to be women, to have attended public colleges, and to have had higher grade-point averages but lower scores on college entrance examinations. ...

INFORMATION HIGHWAY PROJECT STALLED: Google will temporarily stop scanning copyright-protected books from libraries into its database, the company said last month. The company's library project, launched in December, involves the scanning of out-of-print and copyright works so that their text can be found through the search engine's database. Google is working on the project with libraries at Stanford University, Harvard University and other schools. The project had come under fire from numerous library and publishing groups. ...

CONVICTED BUT PROTECTED: The University of Wisconsin-Madison came under fire recently for not immediately dismissing three professors who have been convicted of crimes and for keeping two of them on the payroll while they serve time behind bars. Under a UW-Madison policy, the professors — whose convictions range from sexual assault to online dalliances with a minor boy and stalking — cannot be fired if they have been found guilty in a court of law. The university must launch its own investigation to decide whether there is cause for dismissal. The professors can appeal a dismissal through the university system and state court.

— By Clifton B. Parker