University

PHILADELPHIA -- Amid preparations for Monday's commencement exercises, University of Pennsylvania officials spent much of yesterday dealing with the racial tension that has plagued the campus over the last semester.The university's Judicial Inquiry Office held a closed hearing yesterday to determine whether a white student who had called some black students "water buffalo" had violated the university's policy forbidding racial harassment. The policy prohibits racial epithets meant to "inflict direct injury" on people.

WASHINGTON - A major university will conduct an independent review of the FBI's "Carnivore" Internet-snooping device and then issue a public report on its findings, Justice Department officials said yesterday. "The university review team will have total access to any information they need to conduct their review," Attorney General Janet Reno said at her weekly news briefing. "I would hope we could do [the review] quickly." Justice Department officials said they plan to ask a still-unselected university to study Carnivore to relieve fears of privacy groups and lawmakers.

CHICAGO - Should homosexuals be hired as teachers? One outspoken Internet pundit says no. But his opinion has fueled a controversy over academic freedom of expression because it is posted on a site maintained by the writer's employer, a state university. Hiring gay teachers "puts the fox into the chicken coop," Eric Rasmusen wrote on his Web log, or "blog," on Aug. 26. "Male homosexuals, at least, like boys and are generally promiscuous," he continued. "They should not be given the opportunity to satisfy their desires."

Judges of the state's highest court pointedly grilled the lawyer for the University of Maryland yesterday as she argued that federal law bars the school administration from releasing records of campus parking fines assessed to student athletes.Three of the seven judges challenged Dawna Cobb's assertion that parking fine records are educational records protected by federal law, asking why they weren't considered criminal records, which would be public.One judge wondered if it is fair to other Marylanders that the university guards the secrecy of student parking fine records but tells the Motor Vehicle Administration about other unpaid violations.

Johns Hopkins University officials intend to sell WJHU, the city's primary public radio news station, after concluding that the cash-strapped station would fare better with an owner willing to spend more money on its future. "The radio station has never been a money-maker for Hopkins, nor perhaps was it ever set up to be one," said James McGill, the university's senior vice president for finance and administration. No price estimates have been made by Hopkins or potential purchasers. If no buyer emerges, Hopkins could decide to enter a partnership allowing another outlet to run the station.

Robert J. Harwood Jr., accused of killing a fellow Johns Hopkins University student in April, may have to spend the rest of his life in prison, but right now he's got a more academic concern -- he's upset that the university will not send him a diploma.The university recently informed Harwood, 22, that he is suspended from Hopkins -- and therefore will not receive a degree -- until the outcome of charges of first-degree murder in the killing of student Rex Chao, 19.According to police, Harwood fired two bullets from a .357-caliber Magnum into Chao outside the campus library April 10, as Chao's horrified girlfriend looked on. The two men had had a close friendship, but in the weeks before the shooting, Chao tried to cut off communication and complained to university officials that Harwood was obsessively calling him and sending electronic mail.

Boro Dropulic had the rapt attention of about 40 Johns Hopkins University students and faculty as he spoke recently on a subject scientists at the venerable research institution once considered anathema: how to start a biotechnology company. "An entrepreneurial scientist really has to be an optimist," said Dropulic, a former Hopkins researcher who founded the gene-therapy company VIRxSYS Corp. "If you look at your own technology with cynical eyes, you'll never get funded" by venture capitalists.

Johns Hopkins medical professor Lloyd Minor will become the university's new provost, or chief academic officer, Hopkins announced Friday. Minor, 52, has been a Hopkins professor since 1993 and has led the medical school's head and neck (otolaryngology) department for six years. In announcing the appointment to the university's No. 2 post, Hopkins President Ronald Daniels lauded Minor's commitment to scholarship and his skills as a consensus builder. "His passion is surpassed only by his ability to build consensus and implement ambitious, strategic priorities that are characterized by an uncompromising commitment to academic excellence," Daniels said in a statement.

BEIJING -- As Beijing University celebrates its 100th anniversary this week, it looks little like the school that helped ignite the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising -- and that is just how Chinese leaders want it.Long gone are posters calling for human rights and salons where people openly discuss democracy and public protest.Traditionally a powerful force for political change in China, many students at the country's most prestigious university are now more interested in finding well-paying jobs or studying for graduate school exams.

University of Maryland President William E. Kirwan urged lawmakers yesterday to approve $4.5 million for the design of a new basketball arena, but said he has not finalized a proposal for paying for the rest of the project -- which may call for $60 million in state money.Kirwan, who will depart later this year for the presidency of Ohio State University, said Maryland's arena cannot be economically renovated and must be replaced, probably at a cost of $100 million.Campus officials are still exploring various options for paying for the work, and said they hope to include private donations, non-academic school funds, and state aid. A recommendation on how to apportion the costs could be completed this spring, Kirwan said at a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee in Annapolis.