Private Gifts Bring a Public College to Town, New York Times
Amid the bounty in the desert, awash in golf courses and gated communities, the absence of a university was like a leak in the well, draining away what little youth the area had.

RHE professor pursues longtime interest in orangutans, Daily Breeze
A professor of communications at California State University, Long Beach, Briggs has helped animals since 1967, when she and her husband rescued an orphaned cat they named Sweet Bippy.

Chico State must keep students longer than a year, but graduate them as soon as possible, Chico Enterprise-Record
With budget-imposed enrollment limits, Chico State University is faced with what seems to be a paradox: Figuring how to keep the students it gets, and finding ways to get them out of school as soon as possible.

San Jose Library Marries Town, Gown, Los Angeles Times
Librarians unveil a new facility offering more features than either the university or the city could afford on its own.

Pilot program eliminates placement exam, Ventura County Star
CSUCI will allow freshmen to self-place in courses this fall.

Davis Signs State Budget, Los Angeles Times
The governor concedes that the hard-fought $99-billion plan isn't 'pretty.' He blames the GOP in a preview of his anti-recall strategy.

Late, loathed budget signed, Sacramento Bee
Davis says there's 'no reason for celebration' in a plan that includes massive borrowing and big cuts.

Budget highlights, Sacramento Bee
Highlights of the $99.1 billion state budget signed Saturday by Gov. Gray Davis

U. of California Faculty Loosens Its Policy on Academic Freedom, Chronicle of Higher Education
University of California faculty leaders voted Thursday to give professors more wiggle room to express their political and personal opinions in the classroom by revising the institution's 69-year-old academic-freedom policy, which had required instructors to be impartial and to give "dispassionate presentations."

New UC president rallies skill at forging consensus, Contra Costa Times
Robert Dynes is about to assume one of academia's most powerful positions.

UC Extension System Facing a Dry Spell, Los Angeles Times
The new state budget will slash funding by 25%. But officials have yet to decide which of the farm programs will be scaled back.

Schools face another layer of judgment, Modesto Bee
Statewide rankings already put California schools in the hot seat twice a year, and the system is about to get more complicated.

Worries about foreign students, San Jose Mercury-News
Hundreds of colleges and universities around the country did not meet Friday's deadline to register all international students in a new government database, prompting worries among Bay Area school administrators that some students would be turned away at airports.

D.C. voucher debate catches California's attention, North County Times
California educators have joined a political battle over a plan to let families use school vouchers, or taxpayer money for private tuition, to escape failing campuses.

Prison vocational classes in jeopardy, Sacramento Bee
But Corrections officials say restructuring may spare some teaching jobs.

When parents buy the dorm, Christian Science Monitor
Some try a tactic that covers a short-term housing need - and may even offer a return on investment.

In DSpace, Ideas Are Forever, New York Times
A number of universities, from the California Institute of Technology to M.I.T., are creating ''institutional repositories'' designed to harness their own intellectual output.

State Lawmakers Again Cut Higher-Education Spending, Chronicle of Higher Education
The burning question for public-college officials these days: Can it get any worse?

States to Join Forces to Review Oracle Bid, Los Angeles Times/AP
California's attorney general joins others in looking into possible competition-limiting deals by the company.

New Tactic Planned in Antipiracy Campaign, Los Angeles Times
Record-industry executives and online music companies are quietly working with colleges and universities to offer legitimate sources of free or deeply discounted music to students if the schools agree to take steps to deter piracy on campus networks.

Colleges Resume Webcasting, Warily, Chronicle of Higher Education
A compromise allows campus radio stations to broadcast music online again, for now.

Editorial: The Color of California, Wall St. Journal
Sharing ballot space on October 7 with Mr. Davis's would-be successors will be Proposition 54, also known as the Racial Privacy Initiative.

Editorial: Another Bad Initiative in California, New York Times
A misguided proposition to bar the state government from classifying people by race will now appear on the Oct. 7 ballot in California, complicating an already chaotic election.

Opinion: The Bucks Stop Way Before Here, Los Angeles Times
California now has a budget. We're still not sure of exactly what's in it, nor is anyone else — least of all, the lawmakers who voted it through. The devil is in the details, and it's only a matter of time before he makes his appearance.

Editorial: Weak structure, San Jose Mercury-News
California's new budget is a weak plan for guiding spending over the next year. It is a strong argument for changing the way budgets are written and passed.

Editorial: The tax on college, Sacramento Bee
Republicans in the Legislature won the budget battle.... But if they are being truly honest, they'll admit that they agreed -- in some ways insisted, with their reflexive resistance to new taxes almost anywhere else -- to tax college students to help bridge the budget gap.

Daniel Weintraub: Budget is a house of cards, Sacramento Bee
How did lawmakers manage to make a $38 billion shortfall go away without those cuts and taxes? They didn't.

Will Calif. Democrats Stand by Their Man?, Washington Post
Some Seek Bid by Sen. Feinstein; Some Say Party Must Stay Unified Behind Davis.

California Governor Will Sue to Delay Vote on His Ouster, New York Times
Lawyers for Gov. Gray Davis of California said today that they would file a legal challenge on Monday to the Oct. 7 recall election that if successful would delay the vote until March and would allow Governor Davis to run to replace himself.

Fighting back, Sacramento Bee
Davis arrives late at idea the recall drive is serious.

Governor blames GOP for cuts as his recall poll numbers worsen, San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Gray Davis, fighting for his political survival in the face of a campaign to recall him from office, signed a nearly $100 billion state budget on Saturday and laid much of the blame for painful cuts at the feet of Republicans.

Davis to challenge recall law, Sacramento Bee
He will petition the high court to add his name to the ballot.