Affirmative action watch

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Jan. 19 to delay Michigan's new ban on affirmative-action preferences, a move that will require three public universities in the state to continue admitting students without regard to their race, gender, or ethnicity, according to a report by the Bloomberg news service.

The court let stand a ruling last month by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which said that the ban approved by Michigan voters in November 2006 should go into effect immediately.

For-profit colleges and aid

Students at for-profit colleges in California will remain eligible for federal student aid after the state's Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education closes on June 30, the U.S. Department of Education announced. State officials had requested the department clarify the eligibility question last fall after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have provided a one-year extension of the bureau. The education department found that federal law requires only that colleges comply with state laws, not that they be authorized by a state.

University endowments

Stanford University's endowment grew to $14 billion in 2006, making it the third-wealthiest university in the nation behind Harvard and Yale, according to the San Francisco Chronicle

UC ranked No. 8 with a $5.7 billion endowment, and the University of Southern California, No. 22, with more than $3 billion. Across the nation, university endowments performed well in 2006, posting a 10.7 percent average rate of return.

UCLA taser case lawsuit

A student who was on the receiving end of taser shocks from police at UCLA has filed a lawsuit charging the university with using excessive force and violating the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Los Angeles Times reported. Campus police allegedly shocked Mostafa Tabatabainejad multiple times in a UCLA library when he refused to show his identification. A video of the incident circulated widely on the Internet and broadcast outlets, triggering multiple law enforcement reviews.

Student politics, spirituality

This year's entering college freshmen are discussing politics more frequently than at any point in the past 40 years and are becoming less moderate in their political views, according to the results of UCLA's annual survey of the nation's entering undergraduates. In another finding, new data shows that many students whose religious beliefs lead them to take views that are seen as conservative on social issues do not necessarily identify themselves as conservative. The Freshman Survey is run by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. To read the studies, visit www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/heri.html, and then click on "Recent Findings."

Tobacco vote postponed

The UC Board of Regents Jan. 18 delayed a decision on whether UC researchers can continue to accept money from tobacco companies. The vote will take place in May so faculty members could have more time to come to a consensus. The issue has divided faculty across the state. Philip Morris USA is the only tobacco company to fund current UC research, paying nearly $16 million for 19 studies across the 10 campus system.

Now that's a losing streak

The men's basketball team of the California Institute of Technology ended a 59-game losing streak Jan. 6, defeating Bard College, 81-52. The Caltech team's last victory was Nov. 22, 2004. The next goal for the Beavers is to end a 245-game, 21-year losing streak in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.