NCAA LEVIES ACADEMIC PENALTIES: In sixth year of reform and accountability system, college sports group sanctions teams and universities for their athletes’ poor classroom performance.

CLASH OF THE TITANS: Labor dispute may pull next NCAA president into battle with über player in the apparel industry, Nike, before he departs U. of Washington.

EMBEDDED LIBRARIANS: The staff of the Johns Hopkins medical library is leaving the building — and setting up camp everywhere else.

SECTOR UNDER SIEGE? Cloud of heightened federal scrutiny hangs over career college meeting, but some — taking the long view — see upbeat future.

ADVISING THE UNDOCUMENTED: International student advisers discuss how they can better serve students who are in the United States illegally.

I rely on four databases to find most of the citations I distribute through ACUHO-I. Since ACUHO-I’s Central Office benefits from a relationship with Ohio State University, we use OSU’s library system too. Your selection of databases may vary, but the ones I use most are: Education Full Text from H.W. Wilson; Education Research Complete from EBSCO Host; ERIC from EBSCO Host and PsycINFO from Ovid.

The best way to get what you want out of a database is to use search terms that are recognized by the database. While doing a full-text search on your own term (if possible) may net useful results, it may also result in lots of stuff that’s of no interest to you, with the items you want buried in the results somewhere. How do you figure out which terms the database prefers? Look in the database’s thesaurus. Unlike Roget’s, this thesaurus has little to do with synonyms; it is a listing of terms recognized by the database. Often the thesaurus is a little hard to find, since it’s an insider sort of thing to know about. Looking at the advanced search options might help; also look at the small menus above and below the big Google-like search box.  If you can browse the subject list, that’s it.

After using a database regularly, you’ll become familiar with its nomenclature. For example, in all the databases I just mentioned, the term residence halls isn’t used; the preferred term is dormitories. Another way to find useful terms is to find an article you want (either one you already know of, or one you find through an otherwise less-satisfying search) and look at the subject terms. Then search on those. You can also combine searches to get more targeted results. Let’s say you searched on “dormitories” and then you searched “autism” and you want to see how many records have both of those subjects attached. There will usually be a link or button called “search history” or similar. Click it, and you’ll see the searches you’ve already done and how many hits each got. Select the searches you wish to combine, choose to combine them with AND (not OR, which will give you one omnibus result!) and there’s autism + dormitories. Databases are not perfectly consistent however, so be sure you’ve covered all your bases. The broader term “College-students–Housing” is often used as a subject for articles in which “dormitory” would be equally appropriate. So run your search with that term as well. If you want to look like a librarian, and save some time by conducting only one search, you could do this too: “(Dormitories OR College-students–Housing) AND Autism”. See? Now all the pretty infogeeks are checkin’ you out!

To recap, parents of any Virginia Tech student under 21 involved in an alcohol violation will be contacted. Previously, only parents whose students were involved in serious situations (alcohol poisoning, drunken driving, et cetera) were notified. Now, the parents of students who are caught in their rooms with a beer will also be told about the incident.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) restricts institutions from telling parents some sorts of information, but allows some latitude when it comes to health and safety issues.

Most institutions only inform parents of alcohol incidents when they are of a more serious nature, but a handful, such as Virginia Tech, are deciding to let parents know when anything alcohol-related happens to their student. One of Virginia Tech’s reasons for the change was the dismay they encountered when parents, who didn’t know of an initial violation, were surprised when their student was booted from school after the second.

The Motherlode blog’s respondents have a variety of viewpoints. Some don’t seem to be familiar with FERPA and its restrictions; they think institutions should alert parents of students’ grades as well. Some, thinking of their theoretical or real-life children, think they would want to know about any alcohol incidents; others say they would want to hear about only the most serious situations. Some comments get into the 21-up drinking age; is adulthood at 18 and alcohol consumption at 21 the best way to do things? If you have the time to skim, the comments section is a great cross-section of ideas and viewpoints on the issue.

What is your policy on informing parents about underage students’ alcohol-related incidents? Do you encounter parents who want to know more–or less–information than your policy reveals? How do you educate parents and students on FERPA and its restrictions?

The Credit CARD Act of 2009 restricts banks from offering credit to people under 21 unless an adult co-signs or the signer can show they are able to make the payment. Credit issuers cannot offer free gifts at campus events (team t-shirts at football games) as inducements to sign up.

For their part, institutions cannot collaborate with credit card issuers to offer institutional merch for credit card signees and the law puts restrictions on cards offered through alumni associations and similar.

The law encourages, but does not mandate, that the institution educate its students on responsible credit and money management. Does your institution do this? Does housing or residence life aid in this program? Let us know.

On a related note, the Talking Stick had a story on aiding students with money management; see that article here: Money Management TS

While she was in medical school.

And I was pretty impressed with myself because I’m reading a book about the function of the brain. (It’s quite interesting so far, if you have time to read something non-student-affairs-related.)

My Internet research tells me author Shannon Moffett is now  married to a man with a demanding job of his own, has young twins and a residency as an emergency-room M.D. in an inner-city hospital. In an essay written when her twins were toddlers, she says “It seems to take me twice as long to ‘get’ new concepts as it used to, and I never feel like I’m functioning at top speed.” So that’s what it takes to slow such a highly productive person down. In that case, twins might leave me unable to eat food unaided.

I was ruminating on this, and my own lesser productivity, when I ran across this article, about  Carmen Twillie Ambar, president of Cedar Crest College in Allentown, P.A., and mother of triplets. Her husband–no slouch himself–says his wife wakes at 5 a.m. to exercise and doesn’t even drink coffee. She has assistants and the couple hired a daytime nanny, but still…coffee. There are times I’d tell family secrets for another cup of coffee. (Sorry Mom and Dad!)

Of course, I thought of ACUHO-I members too. Student affairs and housing are 24-7 occupations, even without considering duties for professional associations, such as ACUHO-I, work within one’s institution, and, of course, a personal life.

What are the advice and lessons we can pull from stories of high-achievers? Moffett slowed her progression through medical school to allow time for her book. Ambar relies on schedulers and other assistants, and a little flexibility in her schedule. If she can’t do something at 4 p.m. because of childcare duties, she’ll move it to 2 p.m., or 7 p.m. It will get done at some time in the 24-hour cycle.

What helps you manage it all? Did a mentor show you the way? Was there a book that helped? Have you always been a go-go-go sort? Let us know.

The residence hall.

This is according to Diane Rogers, the director of the Learning Differences program at Mercyhurst College in Erie, P.A. Mercyhurst has been working to make their institution more welcoming to students with Asperger’s.

The musical-recruiting made James Baumann think of some other productions they could stage: West Quad Story, Joseph the RA and the Amazing Technicolor Pass Key; Quadspell; and The Phantom of the Study Lounge. That got me thinking: There’s A Cafeteria Line and Seven Credits for Seven Hours. If another university wishes to follow suit, they could try Oklahoma…State! If they wished to branch into plays, and reach transfer students, there’s You Can’t Take Those Credits With You.

Got any for us?

Are single-sex bathrooms a girl’s best friend? Is it okay to use “hostesses” to sell an institution’s football program? Do mentoring and female faculty influence students? Also, U. Mass modifies its ban on face coverings. These and many other important questions and answers, this week on Inside HigherEd!

A BATHROOM OF HER OWN: A student’s suit over lack of single-sex facilities raises the question: Do college women deserve some spaces where men won’t be disrobing?

BE THEIR GUEST: Investigation into U. of Tennessee’s football recruiting practices raises questions about the continued presence of “hostesses” — female students responsible for entertaining recruits– on some campuses.

PROOF THAN MENTORING MATTERS: Study of economists — complete with control group — shows impact of coaching women on the process or getting published and winning grants.

COLLEGE REVERSES VEIL BAN: Massachusetts institution adds a religious exemption to its rule barring face-obscuring head coverings.

ROLE MODELS AND STEREOTYPES: Study both backs up and challenges conventional wisdom about whether presence of female faculty members influences female students’ choice of major.