What's new
University of Michigan's new president
Ann Arbor, Mich. - University of Iowa President Mary Sue Coleman was chosen last week to become the first female president of the University of Michigan. Dr. Coleman, a biochemist, will replace Lee Bollinger, who left to become president of Columbia University in New York. She will face a number of pressing issues when she takes the helm on Aug. 1, including two lawsuits challenging the university's affirmative-action policies.
New fairfield, Conn. - About 200 high school students here took to the streets Friday to protest a school-district policy requiring parents to pay up to $800 for their children to play school sports. Voters recently rejected proposed city and school budgets, prompting the finance board to cut $265,000 in school spending. School board vice chairman Lucy DiRocco said officials will try to find money to soften the blow.
Little rock, ark. - A university course about former President Bill Clinton's time in the White House will be offered in his native state next year. Margaret Scranton, a Republican and a political-science professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, is developing the curriculum and will teach the class. It is slated to serve as the prototype for the Clinton School of Public Service at the Clinton Presidential Library, which is expected open in fall 2004. The course will touch on the achievements and travails of Mr. Clinton's political life and the scandals and controversies that dogged his private life.
Los angeles - With music from "Indiana Jones" playing in the background, film director Steven Spielberg received his college diploma Friday, 33 years after dropping out during his junior year to get a head start on his moviemaking career. California State University at Long Beach allowed him to matriculate using a pseudonym, and he fulfilled requirements for a bachelor's degree in film and electronic arts through independent study.