Broadband access gap remains large

With 40 percent of U.S. homes without broadband, educators continue the push to close the digital divide.
With 40 percent of U.S. homes without broadband, educators continue the push to close the digital divide.

Roughly 40 percent of Americans do not have high-speed internet access at home, according to new Commerce Department figures that reinforce what some educators believe is causing some students to fall behind.

That number of households without high-speed internet access also underscores the challenges facing policy makers who are trying to bring affordable broadband connections to everyone.

The Obama administration and Congress have identified universal broadband as a key to driving economic development, producing jobs, and bringing educational opportunities and cutting-edge medicine to all corners of the country.…Read More

Google rebuts DOJ objections to digital book deal

Google is taking on the DOJ in defending its book-scanning settlement.
Google is taking on the DOJ in defending its book-scanning settlement.

Google Inc. wants the digital rights to millions of books badly enough that it’s willing to take on the U.S. Department of Justice in a court battle over whether the internet search leader’s book-scanning ambitions would break antitrust and copyright laws—a battle with important implications for students, teachers, scholars, and researchers.

The stage for the showdown was set Feb. 11 with a Google court filing that defended the $125 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit the company reached with U.S. authors and publishers more than 14 months ago.

Google’s 67-page filing includes a rebuttal to the Justice Department’s belief that the settlement would thwart competition in the book market and undermine copyright law. The brief also tries to overcome a chorus of criticism from several of its rivals, watchdog groups, state governments, and even some foreign governments.…Read More

Congressional Democrats challenge Comcast, NBC on merger

Congressional Democrats on Feb. 4 challenged executives from Comcast Corp. and NBC Universal to show that the cable TV operator’s plan to take control of the entertainment company won’t hurt consumers and rivals, reports the Associated Press. In back-to-back hearings, members of House and Senate subcommittees expressed concern that the transaction could lead to such competitive harms as higher cable TV rates and fewer video programming choices. Comcast is seeking federal approval to acquire a 51-percent stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co. The Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission are expected to sign off, but likely with conditions—and input from Congress could sway the outcome of those regulatory reviews. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told lawmakers that the combination would produce “a more creative and innovative company that will meet consumer demands” and drive more innovation among competitors. But Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said he is worried about the dangers of allowing the nation’s largest cable and broadband provider to take control of NBC Universal’s vast media empire. “When the same company produces the programs and runs the pipes that bring us those programs, we have a reason to be nervous,” said Franken, a former comedian who spent nearly two decades as a writer and performer for NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”…

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Experts split: Are FY11 student aid increases enough?

One financial aid expert said Pell Grants would have to be doubled to increase the number of degree-holding Americans.
One financial aid expert said Pell Grant amounts would have to be doubled to increase the number of degree-holding Americans.

President Obama’s fiscal year 2011 budget includes $156 billion in student aid, a second consecutive increase in Pell Grant funds, and a lower cap for student loan repayments—but financial aid officials said the proposals fall short of policy changes that would make college universally accessible.

The president’s budget, released Feb. 1, raises Pell Grants from $5,500 to $5,710. The Pell Grant program would see a $17 billion increase under the administration’s plan; Obama boosted Pell Grants by 13 percent in his fiscal 2010 budget. The budget calls for linking Pell Grant increases to the annual inflation rate plus 1 percent, making the maximum Pell Grant nearly $7,000 in 10 years.

The administration’s student aid package marks a 60-percent increase since 2008.…Read More

FY11 budget would boost research funding, student aid

President Obama's 2011 budget proposal increases student aid by 60 percent since 2008.
President Obama's 2011 budget proposal increases student aid by 60 percent over 2008 figures.

Research university officials praised President Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget proposal, which includes more funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Pell Grant program used by nearly 9 million college students this year.

The higher-education funding increases were tempered with a proposal that could shrink campus coffers: High-income taxpayers would be able to deduct less from charitable donations to colleges and universities if the budget is approved by Congress.

The proposed federal budget increases funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) by 8 percent, or $7.4 billion for fiscal year 2011. The funding increase would grow NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship program and the Faculty Career Development program, according to an NSF announcement. Both initiatives train college students and new educators in scientific research.…Read More

Wireless mic frequency change could affect colleges

Faculty members might have to use new wireless microphones after a recent FCC ruling.
Instructors might have to use new wireless microphones in lecture halls after a recent FCC ruling.

Colleges and universities that use wireless microphones operating on the 700 megahertz (MHz) frequency band have until June 12 to change the radio frequency or buy new equipment, according to a Jan. 15 ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The FCC’s decision is part of a larger government effort to clear the 700 MHz band for use by cell phones, digital TV transmissions, and emergency communications. About 25 percent of the country’s wireless microphones will have to be modified or replaced, according to federal projections.

The ruling affects schools, colleges, sports stadiums, churches, theater groups, musicians, and others who rely on wireless microphones to amplify sound. Some colleges using wireless mics to help their instructors or performers be heard more clearly could end up spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars to replace the banned equipment.…Read More

Obama: College affordability a key priority

Education was a key part of President Obama's State of the Union address.
Education was a key part of President Obama's State of the Union address.

Education is one of the few areas of the federal budget that would not see a spending freeze, if President Barack Obama gets his way this year—and making college more affordable will be one of his main priorities.

In his State of the Union speech on Jan. 27, Obama called on Congress to finish work on a measure to revitalize community colleges. And he called for a $10,000 tax credit to families for four years of college, as well as an increase in Pell Grants.

“In the 21st century, one of the best anti-poverty programs is a world-class education,” Obama said.…Read More

Obama to seek freeze on domestic spending to trim deficit

President Obama will call for a three-year freeze in spending on many domestic programs, including education, and for increases no greater than inflation after that — an initiative intended to signal his seriousness about cutting the budget deficit, reports the New York Times. Administration officials said the proposal, which could affect schools already struggling with steep cuts to state and local budgets, would be a major component of Obama’s State of the Union address on Jan. 27 and of the FY2011 budget he will send to Congress on Feb. 1. The freeze would cover the agencies and programs for which Congress allocates specific budgets each year, including education, but it would exempt security-related budgets for the Pentagon, foreign aid, the Veterans Administration, and homeland security, as well as the entitlement programs that make up the biggest and fastest-growing part of the federal budget: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The payoff in budget savings would be small relative to the deficit, but it could have important political implications: Perceptions that government spending is out of control have contributed to Obama’s loss of support among independent voters. Administration officials are working with Congress on roughly $150 billion in additional stimulus spending and tax cuts to spur job creation. But much of that spending would be authorized in the current fiscal year, so it would not be affected by the proposed freeze that would take effect in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1…

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MIT lags in hiring, promoting black, Hispanic faculty, internal report says

MIT must do a better job recruiting and retaining black and Hispanic faculty, who have a significantly more difficult time getting promoted than white and Asian colleagues, according to a frank internal study released today by the university. The Boston Globe reports that in some departments, such as chemistry, mathematics, and nuclear science and engineering, no minorities have been hired in the last two decades, according to the report, which was more than two years in the making. MIT’s first comprehensive study of faculty racial diversity and the experiences of underrepresented minority professors highlights a national problem across academia: the need to improve the pipeline of black and Hispanic scholars. Blacks and Hispanics make up only 6 percent of MIT faculty, an increase of 4.5 percent since 2000 but far below the university’s goal of achieving parity with the nation, where underrepresented minorities make up 30 percent of the population. The report indicates that in addition to focusing on recruitment and retention of these minority professors, the university needs to provide increased mentoring and expanding professional opportunities to make the climate at MIT more welcoming to underrepresented groups…

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Going rogue: IT officials fight student-run web networks

A University of Iowa security audit revealed rogue web connections across campus.
A University of Iowa security audit revealed rogue web connections across campus.

Campus technology officials say there’s only one surefire way to stop students from creating their own wireless internet connections in dormitories and creating a security risk for computer users: provide reliable wireless access across campus.

Unauthorized, or “rogue,” wireless networks cropped up on college campuses of every size in the mid-2000s, IT chiefs say, as students became impatient with little or no wireless connection in their dorms.

Many campuses only had wireless connections in libraries, leaving students to plug into the internet when studying in dormitories.…Read More

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