Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:32:23 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Annie Karni :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Annie+Karni istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/testing-schedule-of-city-schools-is-criticized/68682/ Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Critics yesterday assailed the city's Department of Education for turning public schools into "test-prep factories" and compelling many students to take a standardized test as often as once every three weeks, according to a new analysis of the city's testing schedule. A report by the public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum, shows that only two of 12 tests that third- and fourth-graders take annually are required by law. The rest are city-mandated assessment tests that prepare students for state tests... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/public-universities-may-place-adjuncts-on-full/68632/ Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST State officials are recommending that New York's public universities mine their ranks of adjunct faculty for the 2,000 new full-time faculty the universities are seeking to hire by 2013. But the proposal is meeting resistance from many tenured professors, who say giving preference to part-time staff could restrict faculty searches and lower the quality of their departments. In an 85-page report outlining measures the state could take to repair its public higher education system, a commission on... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/lack-of-41st-st-station-is-focus-of-no-7-criticism/68501/ Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST State and city officials yesterday railed against the city's plans to build a 1.5-mile spur off the no. 7 subway line, arguing that extending the line without plans for a station at 41st Street and Tenth Avenue would deliver a crushing fiscal blow to the city. Earlier this month, the city celebrated a groundbreaking for the no. 7 line extension, which would serve the Hudson Yards and open up the far West Side for commercial and residential development. The city is footing the $2.1 billion price... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/mta-approves-unpopular-fare-hike/68374/ Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST The Metropolitan Transportation Authority yesterday voted to approve a fare hike and toll increase that many commuters, and more than 100 elected officials, have urged it to stave off at least until next spring. Under the plan, approved by 12 out of 14 board members, the base fare for subways and buses will remain at $2. About 86% of straphangers who purchase discounted passes, however, will pay more at the turnstile beginning March 2. The cost of monthly, unlimited ride MetroCards will rise to... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/business/new-york-area-leaders-criticize-plans-to-cap-jfk/68397/ Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Mayor Bloomberg, business leaders, and officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey yesterday came out swinging against a Bush administration plan to cap the number of flights at John F. Kennedy International Airport, arguing that shrinking the number of planes allowed to use the hub airport would damage the region's economy. "Nobody wants to have delays, but getting rid of the planes to get rid of the delays is literally throwing out the baby with the bath water," Mr. Bloomberg... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/princeton-pupil-faked-beating-death-threats/68210/ Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST A Princeton University student who claimed he was beaten unconscious by two assailants after receiving death threats for his morally conservative views admitted yesterday to fabricating the attack and sending the e-mail death threats to himself, other students, and a prominent conservative professor, police officials said. No charges have been filed against the student, Francisco Nava, pending further investigation, but Mr. Nava could face a misdemeanor charge and jail time, a fine, or... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/national/princeton-student-admits-to-staging-attack-police/68202/ Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:17:28 EST A student at Princeton University who said he was beaten unconscious by two black-clad assailants Friday has said that he fabricated the assault, and that he sent e-mail death threats to himself, three other Princeton students, and a prominent conservative professor at Princeton, Robert George, police said today. No charges have been filed against the student, Francisco Nava, pending further investigation, a spokesman for the Princeton Township Police said. In an interview, Mr. George earlier... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/report-of-attack-rattles-princeton/68139/ Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST UPDATE: Princeton Student Said To Have Staged Attack PRINCETON, N.J. — An alleged physical attack on a Princeton University student who is leading a movement to instill conservative moral values among undergraduates is rattling the campus here. A politics major from Texas who is a junior, Francisco Nava, said he was physically attacked Friday, beaten, and rendered unconscious by two black-clad men about two miles from campus, he told the student newspaper, the Daily Princetonian, in an... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/spitzer-may-hire-2500-more-professors/68057/ Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Governor Spitzer's Commission on Higher Education is poised to recommend to the governor on Monday that the State and City Universities of New York hire between 2,000 and 2,500 additional full-time faculty by 2013. As the state faces a $4.3 billion budget gap, the commission, appointed by Mr. Spitzer in May, is also expected to recommend spending billions of dollars to fix crumbling infrastructure at state schools and creating an "innovation fund" to subsidize scientific research it says would... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/yale-offers-free-online-course-access/67925/ Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Yale University students for years have flocked to a philosophy course titled "Death," where they reflect on their own mortality, debate whether immortality would be more desirable, and ponder what it means to die. In a new push to open its doors to a wider audience, the Ivy League school for the first time is offering the entire "Death" course and some of its other popular undergraduate classes for free online for anyone to audit. Videos and syllabi for classes in modern poetry, physics... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/harvard-leads-in-aid-race/67810/ Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Harvard University's plan to overhaul its financial aid policy to eliminate all student loans and reduce the cost of college for almost all middle- and upper-middle-class families could pressure other universities to keep up in the financial aid race. Under the new policy announced yesterday, families with annual incomes of between $120,000 and $180,000 will be asked to contribute 10% of their annual income toward tuition to Harvard. The initiative builds on a policy instituted last year that... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/commuter-costs-set-to-rise-under-revised-mta-plan/67793/ Mon, 10 Dec 2007 12:29:42 EST Commuters who purchase monthly and weekly MetroCards, more than 85% of the riding public, are likely to be hit with a fare hike next year, even after Governor Spitzer stepped in last month and ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to hold the base fare at $2. A new MTA proposal would increase the cost of a 30-day MetroCard to $81 from $76, and raise the cost of a weekly pass to $25 from $24. The cost of a one-day Fun Pass would rise to $7.50 from $7, and riders would have the option... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/taxi-protest-all-about-taxes-drivers-say/67736/ Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Avoiding taxes and higher health care premiums is the real reason some taxi drivers are resisting the mandatory installation of GPS tracking devices and credit card payment systems, according to some sources. The new technology could make it more difficult for some delinquent drivers to hide income from fares and tips that, if reported fully, would put them over the income limit to qualify for state Medicaid. In two largely ineffective strikes this fall, taxi drivers said the GPS devices and... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/pro-israel-group-puts-emissaries-on-campuses/67761/ Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST A group working to promote pro-Israel sentiment at American colleges is hiring students to act as campus emissaries of the Jewish state. Jewish student leaders from Columbia University, New York University, and Queens College will receive up to $1,000 a year from the advocacy group StandWithUs to bring speakers and films to campus that portray Israel in a positive light. "There's an atmosphere that everything has to be intellectually valid," a sophomore history major at Columbia University... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/most-campuses-restrict-free-speech-report-finds/67684/ Fri, 7 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Columbia and New York University, as well as Barnard College and the State University of New York, are schools on high alert for restricting free speech on campus, according to a new report by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. In a review of 345 American colleges and universities, FIRE found that 75% of campuses instituted public policies that restricted speech protected by the First Amendment, according to the report, "Spotlight on Speech Codes." At NYU, "teasing, mocking... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/mta-plan-for-independent-subway-lines-is-attacked/67706/ Fri, 7 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST A proposal to manage the city's subways more like a system of independent railroads would be hampered by so many built-in centralized features, experts warned yesterday, that riders should not expect to see major improvements in service. In an effort to improve the timeliness, cleanliness, and safety of its trains, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said yesterday they would consider appointing independent managers to run all 24 subway lines more like competitive, private companies... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/mta-is-the-last-to-know-trains-flunk-with-riders/67495/ Wed, 5 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is investing thousands of hours in designing, planning, and tallying the results of what will be more than 1 million "rider report cards" it is distributing to customers, so far has gleaned from straphangers that trains often arrive overcrowded during rush hour, that onboard announcements are garbled, and that stations could be cleaner. As the MTA fights the uphill battle of selling a fare hike to the riding public, elected officials and subway... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/tidal-wave-of-lawyers-nears-bar-data-forewarn/67423/ Tue, 4 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Even with 91,000 practicing attorneys in the five boroughs last year, a new wave of lawyers is hitting the city, as a record number of law school students are taking and passing the state bar, according to data provided by the New York State Board of Law Examiners. In July, 10,907 students sat for the bar — an increase of more than 20% since 2000 — and a record 70.6% of them passed the bar. While many associates who graduated law school in 2006 are earning bonuses at the city's most prestigious... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/new-york-in-danger-of-losing-its-artists/67365/ Mon, 3 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST New York City for decades has been a premier destination for painters, sculptors, dancers, and musicians from across the globe, but the city risks losing its artists if it does not provide subsidized housing and more exhibition and studio space to support the creative class, researchers warn. A new study of visual artists between the ages of 62 and 97 paints a dire picture of the life of a "mature" working artist in New York: A large percentage of aging artists are more educated than the... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/harvard-free-speech-battle-called-an-anti-israel/67319/ Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST A free speech battle brewing on Harvard Yard is being stoked by professors who led the fight to oust a former president of the university, Lawrence Summers. Arguing that critics of Israel at Harvard "tremble in fear" when expressing their views on campus, a professor of anthropology and African and African-American Studies at Harvard, J. Lorand Matory, is pushing a politically charged proposal demanding that the university renew its commitment to free speech. Mr. Matory, who in the past has... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/officials-may-move-to-end-tuition-roulette/67182/ Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST A commission on higher education appointed by Governor Spitzer is poised to recommend that state lawmakers institute a new financing program under which public universities would institute a series of modest tuition hikes over the next five years and put an end to what university officials have called a dangerous game of "tuition roulette." Extra dollars from tuition hikes would pay for at least 1,500 new full-time faculty positions at CUNY and SUNY, officials said. The plan, known as the... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/foreign-students-spend-holiday-in-amish-country/66902/ Fri, 23 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Lugging a suitcase stuffed with clothing and books, Homa Sorouri, a student at the New School from Herat, Afghanistan, boarded a bus in Midtown Manhattan yesterday at dawn and headed to Lancaster, Pa. As American students trekked home for Thanksgiving, leaving behind desolate college campuses, a group of 55 international students who attend Columbia, New York, and Rutgers universities, Barnard, the New School, and CUNY and SUNY schools this year decided to abandon their dorm rooms and celebrate... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/spitzer-plan-to-hold-2-fare-would-hike-costs/66783/ Wed, 21 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST The cost of a MetroCard swipe could rise in January for almost 85% of subway and bus riders, even though Governor Spitzer yesterday ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to hold the base fare at $2 at least until 2009. Mr. Spitzer's proposal, which allows for a hike in ticket prices on all discounted MetroCards, is drawing fire from MTA board members and elected officials who say his plan would benefit tourists and force commuting New Yorkers to shoulder the load of the transit... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/columbia-gets-back-into-rhodes-ranks/66688/ Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Ending a five-year drought of Rhodes scholarships, two undergraduates at Columbia University this weekend won the prestigious fellowships, tying their school with Harvard University and topping Yale University for the number of students it will send to study for two years at the University of Oxford. A political science major who hosts a campus cooking show, "the Careless Cook," Jason Bello, 21, and an economics and environmental science major who worked as a catwalk technician sampling... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/columbia-faculty-members-line-up-behind-president/66649/ Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST In response to an attack on the president of Columbia University last week by a coalition of more than 100 faculty members who accused Lee Bollinger of allowing outside interests to sway the school's tenure decisions and of aligning the university with the Bush administration's foreign policy in Iraq, a smaller faction of professors is circulating a letter in his defense. "The point was to show that the faculty was not united with their statements," a professor of epidemiology who supports Mr... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/columbia-capitulates-to-hunger-strikers/66544/ Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST A weeklong hunger strike staged by five students at Columbia University could cost the institution $50 million. Columbia officials said Wednesday night that, after a faculty committee grants approval, the university would spend the funds to pay for an expansion of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and a restructuring of Columbia College's core curriculum that would add faculty for courses on non-European civilizations. The strikers are declaring the concessions by the Columbia administration... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/harvard-yale-game-is-hottest-ticket-in-years/66468/ Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Armed with coolers of sandwiches, beer, and Bloody Marys, Harvard and Yale alumni from New York are planning for a mass exodus to New Haven, Conn., this weekend to attend the most significant Harvard-Yale football game in nearly four decades. For the first time since 1968, the final weekend of the Ivy League season will pit two teams that are undefeated in the league, and for the first time in many years, the refurbished Yale Bowl is expected to sell out all of its 61,446 seats. Many older... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/universities-growing-liberal-bias-is-documented/66418/ Wed, 14 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Conservative professors must publish more than their liberal peers to be competitive for the same university jobs and promotions, according to new reports. At a conference sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute today in Washington, D.C., researchers from across the country will present 18 papers that they say document the growing liberal bias in academia. "Universities are tilting to the left, and it starts at the student level and goes all the way through to the hiring level and even... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/faculty-group-bollinger-has-sullied-university/66312/ Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST The president of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, is coming under attack from the left wing of the campus, with 70 faculty members accusing him of allowing outside interests to sway the school's tenure decisions, and of aligning the university with the Bush administration's foreign policy in Iraq. In a statement signed by those who say they are troubled by a lack of autonomy at Columbia, the faculty members accuse Mr. Bollinger of conflating his own political views with those of the... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/nyu-has-most-students-abroad/66343/ Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST With more college students preparing to pursue global careers after graduation, the number of American students studying abroad reached an all-time high in the 2006–07 school year, according to a report by the Institute of International Education. New York University had more students studying abroad than any university in the country. The top five study abroad destination choices for American students — Britain, Italy, Spain, France, and Australia — did not budge from previous years, but more... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/on-day-four-hunger-striker-ends-a-protest/66280/ Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Four days into a hunger strike at Columbia University, a sophomore protesting changes to the core curriculum was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital Saturday night after passing out in the library. The Barnard sophomore, Aretha Choi, 19, was one of five students who began a hunger strike Wednesday to protest what they say is the university's Eurocentric core curriculum and a climate of "institutionalized racism" on campus. The students are also protesting the university's Harlem expansion plan, and... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/hunger-strikers-demand-changes-at-columbia/66076/ Thu, 8 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Five students at Columbia University are staging a hunger strike to protest what they say is a Eurocentric core curriculum and a growing climate of racism on campus. They are also protesting the university's Harlem expansion plan, calling it disruptive. Two sophomores at Barnard College and three Columbia students last ate Tuesday evening and said they would not break their fast until the school committed to a core curriculum that includes a seminar addressing issues of "racialization and... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/group-formed-to-improve-middle-east-scholarship/66110/ Thu, 8 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Middle East scholars are forming a new group to promote high standards of teaching and scholarship on the Middle East. The Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, founded by a noted Middle East scholar at Princeton University, Bernard Lewis, will challenge the Middle East Studies Association, which is dominated by academics who have been critical of Israel and of America's role in the Middle East. "Because of various political and financial pressures and inducements, the study... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/does-traffic-tax-plan-affect-ticketing-policy/66013/ Wed, 7 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST The politics of where and when the New York Police Department enforces traffic laws is coming under scrutiny as Mayor Bloomberg pushes a congestion-pricing proposal to ease traffic in Midtown Manhattan. Enforcement of city parking and traffic laws for years has been irregular: residents in the East Village complain of overzealous meter maids, while unticketed town cars idle double- and triple-parked in front of Midtown hotels and cause miles-long back-ups. Some elected officials and taxi... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/columbia-professor-replaces-swastika-with/65951/ Tue, 6 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST The Columbia University professor whose office door was defaced with a swastika has replaced the symbol of hate with a mezuzah. At a rally of students and faculty on the steps of the university's Teachers College yesterday, the professor targeted by the anti-Semitic attack last week, Elizabeth Midlarsky, said that while Jews at Columbia are comfortable, they will never be safe. She said she was affixing the mezuzah, a small parchment scroll in a box, to her office door as an affirmation of her... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/three-cuny-students-finalists-for-marshall-honor/65881/ Mon, 5 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Three students from the City University of New York have been selected as finalists for one of the country's most prestigious undergraduate awards, the Marshall Scholarship. Among 23 college seniors selected from an applicant pool of more than 1,000 top students in the region, the city's public university has more candidates in the running for the scholarship, which funds two years of study in Britain, than many Ivy League schools. CUNY in recent years has emerged as a major contender against... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/lawmakers-attempt-to-derail-a-planned-mta-fare/65847/ Mon, 5 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST State lawmakers today are announcing new legislation that would increase city and state aid to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority by $660 million, a boost they say could help stave off the fare hike scheduled for February. Transit advocates are rallying behind the bill and are planning to voice their opposition to higher subway and bus fares this evening in Brooklyn at the first public hearing on the fare hike. "The state has not been giving the MTA its fair share of revenue to operate... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/after-battle-barnard-professor-given-tenure/65748/ Fri, 2 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST A Barnard College professor who argues in her scholarly work that archeological evidence has been manipulated to justify the existence of a modern Jewish state has been granted tenure following a heated battle, a source at the college said last night. Nadia Abu El-Haj, an anthropology professor at Barnard since 2002, is the author of "Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society," published in 2001. In the book, Ms. Abu El-Haj, who is a... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/university-systems-aim-to-cut-achievement-gaps/65705/ Thu, 1 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Amid mounting concern that America's higher education system is losing its competitive edge, the city and state universities of New York yesterday joined a group of 19 public universities in a national initiative to cut in half the achievement gaps for low-income and minority students by 2015. The national gaps between minority students and white students enrolling and graduating from college are wider than they were 30 years ago, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Education... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/emeritus-professor-at-cuny-is-sued-for-defamation/65483/ Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST A former head of the faculty senate at the City University of New York is suing an emeritus professor for $2 million for accusing her of recruiting terrorists to teach at the university and campaigning for administrative positions to avoid teaching classes herself. Susan O'Malley is accusing professor Sharad Karkhanis of libel and defamation for writing in a widely distributed anti-union newsletter that she was "obsessed" with finding jobs for terrorists at the university. Mr. Karkhanis, a... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/laguardia-gets-45m-in-grants/65449/ Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST LaGuardia Community College today is expected to receive $4.5 million in federal grants to increase education opportunities for Hispanic and low-income students, and to help prepare veterans to re-enter civilian life. With Hispanic students lagging behind other groups in earning bachelor's degrees, the Bush administration is seeking to close the achievement gap by awarding $17.2 million in grants to colleges that enroll a high percentage of Hispanic students. About two-thirds of LaGuardia... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/battle-over-use-of-donor-gift-could-cost/65342/ Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST Princeton University could lose $1.5 billion as the result of a critical development in a five-year legal battle that could influence how much say donors have in determining how nonprofit organizations use their gifts. The heirs of the A&P supermarket fortune are suing the Ivy League school, arguing that Princeton did not follow the terms of a $35 million gift their family bestowed on the university in 1961. The Robertson Foundation, now worth more than $800 million, was established to increase... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/kerrey-wont-seek-hagels-senate-seat/65196/ Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST The president of the New School, Bob Kerrey, announced yesterday that he will not leave the Greenwich Village university to mount a bid for a U.S. Senate seat from Nebraska, but he left open the possibility of seeking a political post in the future. "The move and the efforts in politics are not altogether good for my family, so I'm not going to do it," Mr. Kerrey said in an interview with The New York Sun. "I like what we're doing here. The New School is an important institution, and I'm... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/columbia-defends-professor-in-noose-incident/65043/ Tue, 23 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST Columbia University is issuing a belated defense of a professor who earlier this month was falsely accused of hanging a noose on a colleague's door. For weeks, the university has been silent as a tenured professor of psychology and education at the Teachers College, Suniya Luthar, has been portrayed in press reports as a rival professor driven by a personal grudge over a book credit to intimidate a colleague, Madonna Constantine, by hanging a noose from her office door. The president of... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/wall-brings-out-barnards-political-side/65009/ Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST At Barnard College, a temporary wall erected around the construction site of a new multimilliondollar building has become the center of political discussion on a campus known for staying out of the fray. With the blessing of the administration, Barnard students and faculty have transformed the wall into a physical blog, writing opinions about President Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia University, opposition to Columbia's plans to expand into Manhattanville, the war in Iraq, and even advertising... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/cuny-recruiting-program-seeks-war-veterans/64870/ Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST In preparation for an expected influx of 10,000 new soldiers returning to the city from Iraq and Afghanistan over the next year, the City University of New York is embarking on an aggressive recruiting effort for veterans and funding new programs to help ease the transition to student life from a structured military existence. With the number of high school graduates in New York State expected to decline by 14.5% over the next eight years, CUNY is counting on qualified veterans to help fill its... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/plunge-seen-in-applicants-for-college/64677/ Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST For years, New York City colleges have been awash in a record number of applicants, but beginning in 2009 they will have to contend with a shrinking pool from which to choose their freshman classes, a new report warns. Education and demographic experts say the shift could harm private schools financially and force public schools to lower admissions standards. By 2015, the number of high school graduates in New York State is expected to decline by 14.5%, and many private colleges are already... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/columbia-professor-calls-bollinger-white/64566/ Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST In a flare-up of old tensions between the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University and the school's administration, a leading Iranian scholar at the university is labeling its president, Lee Bollinger, a white supremacist whose harsh rebuke of President Ahmadinejad of Iran reeked of "mind-numbing racism." Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian studies and comparative literature, writes in an article published this week in an Egyptian newspaper, Al-Ahram... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/touro-college-brings-medicine-to-harlem/64542/ Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST Billing itself as the first medical school to open in New York State in 30 years, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine is celebrating its launch today in Harlem, where it will occupy a renovated building that sat vacant for decades across the street from the historic Apollo Theater. The new medical school, which occupies the former Blumstein's department store building, where Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed in 1958, is designed to encourage youth in the neighborhood to become medical... ANNIE KARNI http://www.nysun.com/new-york/after-noose-incident-vows-to-fight-racism/64356/ Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST More than 200 black-clad students, faculty, elected officials, and community members staged a rowdy protest in front of Columbia University's Teachers College yesterday afternoon, vowing to take a "zero tolerance" attitude toward what they described as a growing climate of hate on campus after a noose was discovered Tuesday hanging on the office door of a black professor. "Even in the Ivy League towers, at Columbia University in 2007, we might as well be in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1809,"...