Weekly Reader

Books Changed His Life
"It is with great sadness that we convey to you, this evening, news of the passing of a great friend of the Library of Congress and all people who know the joy of reading – author Walter Dean Myers, winner of two Newbery Honors and five Coretta Scott King awards." -- Jennifer Gavin, Library of Congress Blog, 7/2/14

Creating a Respectful Classroom Environment
"In our class: 1) everyone is allowed to feel they can work and learn in a safe and caring environment; 2) everyone learns about, understands, appreciates, and respects varied races, classes, genders, physical and mental abilities, and sexualities; 3) everyone matters; 4) all individuals are to be respected and treated with dignity and civility; and 5) everyone shares the responsibility for making our class, and the Academy, a positive and better place to live, work, and learn.” -- Maryellen Weimer, Teaching Professor Blog, 7/2/14

In Backlash Over Facebook Research, Scientists Risk Loss of Valuable Resource
"It was a remarkable result: By manipulating the news feeds of thousands of Facebook users, without their knowing consent, researchers working with the goliath of social media found that they could spur a significant, if small, effect on people’s behavior in the world beyond bits."-- Paul Voosen, Chronicle of Higher Ed | Research, 7/1/14

The Facebook Furor
"Tens of thousands of academics and other observers of Internet life who did not know the name Adam Kramer on Sunday night certainly now it now. But on the chance you’ve been “off the grid” for the past 24 hours, Adam Kramer is the Facebook data scientist who served as a the lead author on a research project that manipulated the positive and negative information in the Facebook News Feed to assess the emotional impact positive and negative news on some 690,000 Facebook users." -- Kenneth C. Green, Inside Higher Ed | The Digital Tweed, 6/30/14

Rising Tuition Discounts and Flat Tuition Revenues Squeeze Colleges Even Harder
"By now, the picture painted in a new survey of tuition discounting, net-tuition revenue, and other enrollment trends should be drearily familiar to many in higher education. The annual survey of private, nonprofit, four-year colleges, conducted by the National Association of College and University Business Officers, points to yet another year when discount rates for first-time, full-time freshmen reached a record high: 44.8 percent in 2012-13 and an estimated 46.4 percent for 2013-14." -- Scott Carlson, Chronicle of Higher Ed | Administration, 7/2/14