Member News

After a monthslong review of its partnerships with Saudi Arabia, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday condemned the kingdom’s abuses but said MIT should not cut ties with it or its affiliates.  In a letter to the campus, the president, L. Rafael Reif, accepted the recommendations of a report by Richard K. Lester, associate provost for international partnerships, despite protests from the MIT community.

Bennett College (NC), one of only two remaining historically black colleges for women, raised $8.2 million from more than 11,000 donors in its effort to save its accreditation, surpassing its $5-million goal. Bennett, in Greensboro, N.C., has spent the last 55 days in a mad dash to stay open and extended its February 1 deadline for fund raising to count donations through this past weekend.

Linfield College (OR) is preparing to cut faculty positions to save costs, as the small, private college based in McMinnville adjusts to a smaller student body.  Linfield faculty members say up to 25 tenure, or tenure-track faculty positions are at risk as college leaders wrestle with tight finances.  The college wouldn’t confirm there are 20-25 positions on the chopping block, as faculty members allege. But that’s what members of the Faculty Executive Council emailed out to Linfield professors after a meeting with college leaders, including Linfield President Miles K. Davis.

Many colleges, even those with exceptionally generous aid programs for low-income students, require aid recipients to contribute some summer earnings toward their bills at college. Williams College (MA)  has announced that it will eliminate the summer contribution requirement for all students on aid for one summer, of a student's choosing, during an undergraduate education.

Darrin Good will become the 17th president of Nebraska Wesleyan University later this year following the retirement of Fred Ohles, the liberal arts college announced Monday.  The vice president of academic affairs at Whittier College, a four-year private liberal arts college in California with an enrollment of 1,700, Good is responsible for 20 academic departments and 130 full-time faculty.