A court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of a consulting firm in bankruptcy proceedings is suing Yale University for the return of $6-million in donations, The Wall Street Journal reported. The firm, BearingPoint Inc., had paid that amount as part of a $30-million deal to endow a chair in management and name facilities at the university before it filed for bankruptcy last year. A spokeswoman for Yale, Tabitha Wilde, declined to comment to the newspaper on the suit.

Fourteen national higher-education associations have filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to uphold the use of race-conscious admission policies by the University of Texas at Austin. A lawsuit challenging the university's decision to go back to considering race after several years without doing so argues that the university had achieved sufficient diversity in its enrollments through other, race-neutral means, such as a state law guaranteeing admission to students in the top 10th of their high-school class. The associations' brief argues that Supreme Court precedents concerning academic freedom give colleges...

An Iranian-American scholar who was the only American detained in the crackdown on the widespread protests that followed the disputed Iranian election in June was temporarily released on Saturday on $800,000 bail, the Associated Press reported. "Iran traditionally releases some prisoners during the New Year holiday," according to the AP, and Kian Tajbakhsh, a social scientist and urban planner who was convicted of spying and accused of fomenting unrest against the regime, is being released for 15 days to be allowed to celebrate the holiday with his family. Mr. Tajbakhsh received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and has been a...

The University of Alabama athletics department paid $4.3-million on an eight-day trip in January to Pasadena, Calif., for college football's national championship game, according to an analysis of expense reports obtained by The Birmingham News. Nearly one-third of the expenses came from bonuses to coaches and administrators, the study found. The rest included travel, meals, lodging, and entertainment. The university's estimated revenue from the game came to about $3.7-million. In the game itself, Alabama defeated the University of Texas to win its first national title since 1992.

While graduation rates for Division I men's basketball players competing in the NCAA tournament have increased over all, the gap between those of white and black players has widened, according to a report (link forthcoming) released today. In the report, the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, at the University of Central Florida, found that 84 percent of white basketball players graduate, compared with 56 percent of black players. The gap is four percentage points larger than it was last year.

Officials at Fresno City College have concluded that a health-science instructor violated district policy when he taught overtly religious material and described gay people as suffering from a mental disorder, according to The Rampage, the student newspaper at the California community college. The instructor, who has defended himself by citing his right to academic freedom, had faced complaints from the American Civil Liberties Union and others accusing him of making antigay remarks. A college official did not specify

The Faculty Senate of Texas Woman's University has overwhelmingly voted no confidence in the institution's chancellor and president, Ann Stuart. The no-confidence resolution passed last week argues that Ms. Stuart has fallen short when it comes to budget planning, maintaining a cohesive leadership structure, developing a long-term vision for the university, and working with the faculty and other employees. The chairman of the university's Board of Regents, Harry Crumpacker, responded with a statement expressing his full support for Ms. Stuart and calling the Faculty Senate's vote "an unwarranted embarrassment to Dr. Stuart at the latter stage of what has been a distinguished career." Tensions between the chancellor and the faculty have heightened as the administration has grappled with high turnover in the provost's position and predicted cuts in state support, and recently opted...

The next director of the National Science Foundation is the current dean of the engineering school at MIT, Subra Suresh, according to Science magazine. There's no word yet from the White House on a nomination, which would be subject to Senate confirmation. Professor Suresh, an expert in nanobiomechanics, would be a rare nominee in that he remains an active scientist, Science observes. If nominated and confirmed, he would succeed Arden L. Bement Jr., who is returning to Purdue University on June 1.

Colleges and universities are taking a more robust role in economic development, according to a report by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government of the State University of New York, through educating a competitive work force, leveraging research and ideas for economic gain, providing knowledge-based training and services, and working toward community revitalization. The report, "A New Paradigm for Economic Development," was commissioned by Nancy L. Zimpher, SUNY's new chancellor, but contains examples of university-based economic development from around the country.

The University of California at Los Angeles failed to report a laboratory fire to state regulators that seriously injured a graduate student in 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported. A year later, a staff research assistant at UCLA died after she was was severely burned by air-sensitive chemicals during an experiment. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health fined UCLA $23,900 last week for the earlier incident, the paper reported.