New Chico State president must pass a stringent test, Enterprise-Record
A job description that in some ways sounds like a singles ad has been posted by the headhunter firm that is leading the search for the new Chico State University president.

Two CSU campuses vie for small-business centers contract, Orange County Register
Two California State University campuses are vying to run the small-business development centers in Orange and San Bernardino counties.

CSULB to host Special Olympics, Long Beach Press-Telegram
About 1,500 athletes and their coaches will converge at Cal State Long Beach this weekend when the university hosts the Special Olympics Southern California games for the fifth consecutive year.

Longtime business college dean exits after 34 years with CSUH, Hayward Daily Review
Jay Tontz, the most senior business school dean in the country and Cal State Hayward's own, will step down after leading one of the university's four colleges for the past 30 years.

Opposites in Legislature push to get budget passed, San Francisco Chronicle
They hail from opposite ends of the state and the political spectrum, but if California manages to get a budget on time, it may be in large part thanks to two relatively unknown assemblymen.

With 1 Sentence, Assembly Lets Budget Talks Advance, Los Angeles Times
Assembly Democrats pared a 675-page budget bill down to one sentence Tuesday in what Republicans labeled an effort to avoid exposing internal dissent.

$82 million project to create Mondavi wine and food institute, San Jose Mercury-News
Like a dusty bottle of cabernet grown musty, the University of California-Davis, the premier U.S. university for winemaking and wine research, has not aged as gracefully as it should have.

UCR launches tribal center, Press-Enterprise
The Center for California Native Nations at UCR is coming together after many years of planning and brainstorming. Under the direction of Professor Joel Martin, the center will eventually serve as a source of research, historical and cultural preservation and community outreach.

A guiding light, Orange County Register
Bea Levin, 85, reaches out to students who may be overshadowed, setting them on the road to college.

Military cleanup roster, costs grow, Sacramento Bee
The Defense Department said in a report this week that 160 former military sites in California have unexploded bombs and shells that pose public safety risks and will cost an estimated $2.3 billion to clean up. [Ft. Ord mentioned.]

S.D. community colleges cut way back, San Diego Union-Tribune
To address an $18 million reduction in state money, San Diego Community College District trustees yesterday approved a tentative budget for the 2003-04 academic year that would deny access to as many as 6,000 students.

Stanford will address workplace complaints, Oakland Tribune
Stanford University President John Hennessy announced Tuesday that he will form a committee to review workplace policies as students marked the one-week anniversary of a hunger strike to protest labor conditions.

School Board OKs Budget Labor Opposed, Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday passed a budget for the next academic year that asks most of the school district's 80,000 employees to give back 2 1/2 days of vacation or classroom preparation time — half the five unpaid days previously sought.

L.A. Unified Gains From Others' Loss, Los Angeles Times
L.A. Unified is reaping a talent bonanza as it hires experienced teachers such as Coats who have been laid off by other districts and are unable to find jobs elsewhere because of budget cuts.

Charter schools to target minorities, Oakland Tribune
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given $3 million to a nonprofit charter school start-up that plans to launch five high schools in the Bay Area, including one in either Alameda, Berkeley or West Contra Costa, by 2006.

Colleges cut back on inaugural festivities, Christian Science Monitor
Academic ceremonialists beware: State budget cuts are getting so tough that even the traditional pomp, circumstance, and filigree of installing a new university president - a key rite in the life of a university - is quickly morphing into a no-frills occasion.

Mississippi improves a poor report card, Christian Science Monitor
Throughout many Southern states, local politicians are making the retooling of their public schools a top priority.

CUNY Board Will Consider a 25% Increase in Tuition, New York Times
The City University of New York is proposing to raise undergraduate tuition 25 percent to $4,000 next year from $3,200, for in-state students at its senior colleges.

Texas Legislature Gives Universities Power to Set Tuition, Chronicle of Higher Education
The Texas Legislature on Monday gave the state's public universities free rein to increase tuition in a move that legislators say will help the state combat mounting budget shortfalls.

UMass President Battles a New Call for His Ouster, Chronicle of Higher Education
The embattled president of the University of Massachusetts system said that he would keep fighting for his job after the state's attorney general called for his resignation for refusing to cooperate with federal authorities trying to track down his fugitive brother.

In the Affluent Suburbs, an Invisible Race Gap, New York Times
Across America, there may be two or three dozen suburban school districts similar to this one, towns like Evanston, Ill.; Shaker Heights, Ohio; Arlington, Va.; White Plains. They are heavily upper middle class, are racially mixed and feature high quality public schools.

Hard Work Opens College Door for Whole Class, New York Times
Damian is one of 31 students who graduated from the University Park Campus School on Sunday. High school graduation was questionable for these students; college did not seem to be an option. But that is where each is heading this fall.

Guest View: Excuse me, fumbling state legislators: Who should resign?, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
The California State Legislature bonked CSU Chancellor Charles Reed over the head when he was summoned last week to explain why he is spending $662 million on a centralized computer system.

Letters: CSU's computer upgrade, Sacramento Bee
This letter, which ran in the paper Saturday, was only recently posted online.

Peter Schrag: So who's to blame, us or them -- and who's them?, Sacramento Bee
The coincident overlap of the silver anniversary of Proposition 13 on June 6 with this year's monstrous state budget mess raises all sorts of intense and angry questions about California's present condition.

Editorial: Alms for the schools, Sacramento Bee
If you think Californians won't pay more to improve their schools, or even to cling to the quality of the schools they've got, you haven't met Stuart White.

Dan Walters: Heat wave hits Capitol, but politics of budget remain frozen, Sacramento Bee
A hoary political axiom holds that the Legislature can't enact a state budget until the Capitol is enveloped in 100-degree heat.

Opinion: The deficit in science and math education, San Diego Union-Tribune
We often read that California ranks near the bottom in math and science achievement nationally. That's why it's especially important to recognize and encourage California students like those at the State Science Fair.

Opinion: A surer way to achieve diversity and fairness, San Diego Union-Tribune
Any day now, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide the University of Michigan affirmative action cases. Predicting Supreme Court decisions is always hazardous, but the experts expect a close and narrow decision.

Opinion: Davis Recall: Be Careful What You Wish For, Los Angeles Times
At first, the effort to recall Gov. Gray Davis looked ineffectual; now a special election seems inevitable.

Race-data initiative criticized, Sacramento Bee
Members of a higher education advisory panel expressed skepticism Tuesday after hearing arguments surrounding a controversial initiative to ban public agencies from collecting most racial and ethnic data.

GOP camps at odds over Davis recall timing, San Francisco Chronicle
The drive to recall Gov. Gray Davis has set off an unexpected tug-of- war between rival Republican camps supporting the effort -- a rift that could affect the outcome of an election to decide the Democratic governor's fate.

Racial data initiative draws fire, Ventura County Star
With the latest in a series of racially charged initiatives poised to go before California voters perhaps sooner than anticipated, critics rolled out an all-star political cast of opponents Tuesday who assailed it as a measure that would promote ignorance.

Davis Recall Foes Raise $344,000, Report Shows, Los Angeles Times
Much of the money comes from unions representing state employees, the filing says. The drive's backers have collected $844,000.