ATHLETE GRADUATION RATES ... Once it becomes a full member of the Division I Big West Conference in 2007, UC Davis may be at the head of the class. Last year Davis had an 80 percent graduation rate for its student-athletes, slightly better than the student body at large. The 2004 graduation rates for student athletes in the Big West include UC Santa Barbara (75 percent), UC Irvine (68), University of the Pacific (66), California Polytechnic State University (55), Long Beach State (53), UC Riverside (53), Utah State University (53), Cal State Fullerton (49), University of Idaho (43), and Cal State Northridge (27). …

TOP LOS ALAMOS CONTENDER DROPS OUT ... UC's chances for continuing to manage the nation's leading nuclear weapons lab, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, brightened considerably this week when Battelle Memorial Institute chose not to pursue the contract. The institute runs five other U.S. Department of Energy labs. UC has managed the Los Alamos facility, birthplace of the atomic bomb, since its World War II origin. …

STEM CELL CLASS OFFERED ... UC Berkeley is offering a first-of-its-kind class this semester on the language and politics of stem cell research and cloning as the state of California implements new stem cell research legislation. (See related story on page 1). Rhetoric and women's studies professor Charis Thompson said she created the class to analyze the ethical and political implications of cutting-edge scientific proposals and activity. "In this day and age, we are increasingly being asked to act as what I call 'citizen-bioethicists,' and to have political and personal opinions about scientific, technical and medical matters," Thompson said. "This class is an attempt to outfit us for that role." …

GOVERNMENT MEDDLING? The American Association of University Professors' Web site -- located at http://www.aaup.org -- now features a collection of resources on issues relating to government intervention in higher education. The association notes that several state legislatures and the U.S. Congress are considering or have passed bills and resolutions that challenge the independence of the higher education sector. One example, according to AAUP, is increased political influences in the sciences. …

HOSPITAL DELAYS AT UCLA ... Already five months behind, it appears the new $667.7 million medical center at UCLA, won't be finished until December. Completion of the hospital has been bogged down because regulators are faulting unapproved work on the site and contractors are claiming they are owed $100 million for delays and changes. "We need to get this project finished in a timely fashion," said Peter Blackman, UCLA's administrative vice chancellor. UCLA is building the new hospital because its existing medical center was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake and does not comply with seismic safety mandates. …

SHARING RESEARCH ... The UC Office of Scholarly Communication recently announced the public launch of its new eScholarship postprints service. Scholars seeking new ways to distribute the results of their research, and postprints -- peer-reviewed articles that have been previously published in academic journals -- will find that the new eScholarship postprints service is another option for regaining control of their scholarship and maximizing its availability and influence. For details, visit http://repositories. cdlib.org/escholarship/about.html. …

ONLINE NEWS SITE LAUNCHED ... Scott Jaschik, former editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education, recently launched a new online daily, Inside Higher Ed, devoted to news, opinion and career advice and services for all of higher education. The publication is located at http://www.insidehighered.com.