Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eCampus News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Santorum: California universities don’t teach American history

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum sounded off against California higher education in Wisconsin Monday, saying that some of the state’s universities do not teach American history, the Daily Californian reports.

“I was just reading something last night from the state of California. And that the California universities – I think it’s seven or eight of the California system of universities don’t even teach an American history course,” Santorum said. “It’s not even available to be taught.”

But UC spokesperson Brooke Converse told Think Progress, which originally reported the story, that all University of California undergraduate programs require students to study American history and institutions, though the exact requirements vary by campus……Read More

State Senate passes higher education transparency bill

The California Senate approved Thursday a piece of legislation that would bring greater transparency and accountability to the state’s public higher education institutions–the University of California, California State University and the California Community Colleges, reports the Daily Californian. Senate Bill 8–authored by state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco–was passed with a 38-1 vote and would ensure that UC, CSU and the community college auxiliaries and foundations adhere to state public records laws. Under the bill, all financial records, contracts and correspondence would be subject to public disclosure upon request…

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Professors file petition against Google Books settlement

From UC Berkeley to Cornell, more than 80 professors have signed a petition against a pending settlement agreement between Google Inc. and authors and publishers, reports the Daily Californian. The petition calls into question provisions within the settlement that its signers say will give Google a “de facto monopoly” over books scanned in a digital library project. According to the petition, co-written by Pamela Samuelson, a UC Berkeley professor of law and information, two of the main concerns that professors have with the settlement are the amount of compensation authors will receive for the past scanning of books, and insufficient privacy protections. Jan. 28 is the last day for authors to reject the terms of the settlement, as well as to file objections to the settlement for the presiding judge to review. In a Jan. 27 campus memo in response to Samuelson’s petition, UC Berkeley professor of economics, business, and information Hal Varian said he sees the benefits the settlement would bring. “The agreement is not perfect, but I believe it to be a huge improvement over the status quo for authors, publishers, scholars, and the general public,” Varian said in the memo. “In my view, it deserves the enthusiastic support of all Berkeley faculty.”

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