Member News

In July 1989, Edwin Welch took over as president of the University of Charleston, a troubled school with falling enrollment. He planned to stay about five years. In those first weeks, he spoke to Dawn Miller, then a Charleston Daily Mail newsroom intern, about his plans for the school.  This month, Welch will retire after 29 years at UC. He recently sat down with Miller, now the Gazette-Mail's editorial page editor. Here is the first part of an excerpt of their conversation.

 According to UT Tyler's press release, the partnership is set to improve degree pathways for students throughout the East Texas area. Undergraduate students from Jarvis Christian College will be able to transfer into selected undergraduate programs at UT Tyler, and well- qualified students from JCC will be offered limited study in selected master's programs at UT Tyler as they complete their baccalaureate degree. Students at UT Tyler will be able to pursue majors offered at JCC that are not provided at UT Tyler. 

Grace College & Theological Seminary (IN) stood up for its beliefs and, after six years, it won a permanent injunction this week against a federal requirement to include abortion-inducing drugs and contraceptives in its employee and student health plans.  The college issued a statement regarding Monday’s decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana’s South Bend Division. Biola University, a private Christian university in California, was a co-plaintiff. The lawsuit has been pending for nearly 6 years.

A former vice dean of USC’s Keck School of Medicine testified Tuesday that he feared the school’s then-dean, Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, “could be doing drugs” and expressed concerns about his general well-being to the university’s No. 2 administrator before Puliafito abruptly left his job in 2016.  Dr. Henri Ford’s testimony at a hearing of the state Medical Board marks the first suggestion that any USC administrator had suspicions about Puliafito’s possible drug use before he stepped down. 

A university praised as one of the most diverse colleges in the country has come under scrutiny after students alleged a series of racist incidents on campus.  A series of students have lodged complaints with St John’s University (NY), over the past year, the latest coming after a protest over a student’s “blackface” Instagram post ended with white students allegedly shouting the n-word at black students at a university event.