Developer’s $1.3 million gift will benefit CSU Stanislaus-Stockton campus, Turlock Journal
California State University, Stanislaus, has received a $1.3 million gift from the estate of developer George Capurro.

University offers new scholarships, San Diego Union-Tribune
A series of $13,000 scholarships will be awarded to incoming California State University San Marcos students. Called the Presidential Scholars Program, it covers $13,000 in fees, books and living expenses.

University farm becoming center for irrigation training, Chico Enterprise-Record
An unusual coalition is making Chico State University the premier place in Northern California to learn about using and conserving what may be the region's most endangered natural resources - water and power.

Poly project: Finding places to live, San Luis Obispo Tribune
Gabrielle Serriere, a Cal Poly architecture student, and her 16 classmates spent the spring quarter coming up with affordable housing solutions for downtown San Luis Obispo by infilling on top of current structures.

CSUF sets enrollment boundaries, Orange County Register
Faced with an avalanche of student applications, Cal State Fullerton is planning new, tougher admissions policies for 2004 and adding geographic boundaries for the first time that will give preference to students who come from Orange County and portions of Whittier, Walnut, Diamond Bar and Chino.

'Golden Eagle' Is Airborne but Not Yet Soaring, Los Angeles Times
It's the $30-million "Golden Eagle," a sculpture-like structure in the center of the campus that is part food court, part conference center and part campus bookstore.

HSU, Native American Studies professors reach settlement, Eureka Times-Standard
Humboldt State University has reached a settlement with the three Native American Studies professors who sued the university in 2001.

Red Cross to break ground in cyberspace, Daily Bulletin
The groundbreaking for the nation's largest blood processing center, to be built at Cal Poly Pomona, won't involve any golden shovels.

Cherish parents, Stein tells Poly, San Luis Obispo Tribune
Ben Stein has been so many things in his 58-year life -- actor, author, game show host, law professor, presidential speechwriter -- that it's tough to know what to expect from him.Will his message be serious? Will he tell jokes?

Guseman named business dean at Cal State San Marcos, North County Times
It's official. After 15 months as interim head of Cal State San Marcos' College of Business Administration, Dennis Guseman has been named permanent dean, it was disclosed Wednesday.

$275 million tab on state budget fix, San Francisco Chronicle
California, struggling with a gaping budget deficit and dubious fiscal credibility, put the finishing touches on a short-term borrowing package Wednesday that could cost taxpayers as much as $275 million in interest and fees.

Workers protest UCR layoff plans, Press-Enterprise
Nearly 100 UC Riverside employees picketed outside Chancellor France Cordova's office Wednesday to protest campus layoff notices that went out this week.

Job market turnabout thwarts new teachers, Sacramento Bee
This year's newest crop of credentialed teachers is seeing a different picture, one shadowed by the state budget crisis, teacher layoffs and enormous uncertainty. Jobs are available in underperforming schools in inner cities such as Los Angeles, but they have dried up in the Sacramento region.

Measures for School Taxes Faced Tough Task, Los Angeles Times
Educators and parents hoping parcel taxes would help school districts through the current budget crunch found a sobering mixture of results in Tuesday's election returns in Los Angeles County and elsewhere in California.

Bill Postpones Exit Exam From High School 2 Years, Los Angeles Times
Assembly OKs measure. Its author says students are unprepared for test. The state education board is set to consider a similar proposed delay.

Strapped States Look to Schools In an Effort to Ease Budget Woes, Wall St. Journal
Tough times are driving more students to public colleges, but they'll find huge fee increases and cuts in services when they arrive this fall.

Survey: Teachers see selves as scapegoats, CNN/AP
Committed but dispirited, most teachers say they are unfairly blamed for school shortcomings, undermined by parents and distrustful of their bosses.

Web sites help students rate professors, San Luis Obispo Tribune/Orlando Sentinel
The Web site, ratemyprofessors.com, and a half-dozen others like it - is revolutionizing a grand old campus tradition, the collegiate grapevine that spreads names of easy teachers, cake classes and professors who never met a student they liked.

Congressional Panel Approves Measures on Teacher-Training Accountability and Loan Forgiveness, Chronicle of Higher Education
Teacher-education programs would have to comply with stricter accountability provisions under a bill approved on Wednesday by members of an education subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives, marking the beginning of legislation this year to reauthorize the Higher Education Act.

Editorial/Opinion: Rising college tuition, USA Today
Undergraduates returning to Arizona State University this fall face a 40% tuition increase for state residents. At the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, in-state tuition is jumping 15%. Those spikes aren't unique. On average, tuitions at public colleges are expected to rise nearly 11%, as schools struggle to offset state budget cuts, according to the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. That follows a 9.6% hike this year.

Opinion: Guess Who's Coming to Study, Wall St. Journal
The University of Michigan admissions case now before the Supreme Court is billed as being about affirmative action. It is not. Michigan's legal position does not turn on the status of the minorities who receive admissions preferences. It rests on the benefits to non-minority students who receive a better education because there are more minority students in the milieu.

Daniel Weintraub: CalPERS goosed pension fund to justify benefits, Sacramento Bee
Like many Californians, I fell for the 1990s stock market bubble. The good news is that my dreams were just that. I didn't retire early, or stop paying into my retirement fund. And while my losses hurt, my gains were only paper profits to begin with. I never really lost anything. The state should be so lucky.

My Turn: Stadium puts kick in long-suffering soccer fan’s life, Daily Breeze
Six miles from my Torrance front door a really rich guy has built a $150 million soccer shrine topped with a soaring, white roof that makes it seem more dream than reality — Carson’s Home Depot Center.

Opinion: Grade the Teachers, New York Times
The United Federation of Teachers in New York City and other teachers' unions are making a push to have their members seen not as a labor group but as "professionals." Yet they seem not have thought out why the position of teacher has diminished in stature so drastically.

Editorial: Voters want fiscal restraint, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
It's a no-brainer for us and probably every other California taxpayer. Legislation costing the state $44 billion in new bond financing should not be approved. Not when voters already served up plenty of bond measures.

George Skelton: The Two Budget Titans Who Refuse to Budge, Los Angeles Times
The wide gulf between Burton and Brulte on taxes is indicative of the entire Legislature. In fact, with only 10 days remaining before the lawmakers' June 15 constitutional deadline for passing a budget, they seem to be drifting further apart.

Brulte warns he'll campaign against rebels, Sacramento Bee
On the eve of serious negotiations to bridge the state's historic budget gap, the Republican leader of the Senate told lawmakers of his party that he would campaign against anyone who joins Democrats in voting for tax increases.

Business leaders oppose recall, San Gabriel Valley Tribune/AP
In a blow to the Republican-led effort to recall Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, a group of prominent business leaders said Wednesday they had voted to oppose the recall.

State economy stuck in recession, Press-Democrat
California remains mired in a recession, but the economy will start to recover by the end of the year, according to a widely followed economic report released Thursday.