Science rises in status, Fresno Bee
Construction will begin soon on the next piece of a Fresno State project the university hopes will change science studies in the San Joaquin Valley and could even change the Valley itself.

Big corpse flower expected to bloom in Fullerton, Modesto Bee/AP
It smells like road kill, stands 6 feet tall, and last bloomed three years ago.
Tiffy, one of the world's biggest, stinkiest flowers, is expected to unfurl its petals Tuesday at the California State University, Fullerton Arboretum.

Complaints filed by 2nd university official, Daily Bulletin
A second administrator has filed complaints of improper financial management by Western University of Health Sciences.

Graduate school offers help to community college CEOs, Daily Bulletin
A new executive coaching program recently begun at the Claremont Graduate University was designed to help chief executive officers of community colleges tackle the challenges of the largest higher education system in the world.

State Department Is Said to Plan Interviews With Nearly All Foreigners Seeking Visas, Chronicle of Higher Education
College officials are worried that a reported government proposal to interview nearly all foreigners applying for visas to enter the United States will keep many foreign students and professors from getting into the country in time for the fall term.

Book Review: Academia for Sale (Standards Included), New York Times
What might Harvard do for money if necessary? Put Nike logos on sports uniforms or the gym? Hold back a scientific discovery until it could be patented or produced? Offer credentials over the Internet?

Students are giving colleges a lesson in free speech, USA Today
College campuses, long viewed as forums for dissent and bastions of free speech, are looking more and more like legal battlegrounds.

U.S. Supreme Court Will Consider Whether States Can Ban Aid to Theology Majors, Chronicle of Higher Education
The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday that it would take up the question of whether states can deny financial aid to students who major in theology.

High Court Takes on Church-State Case, Los Angeles Times
The U.S. Supreme Court took up a case Monday that will test how far the government can go in funding religion, agreeing to decide whether states that give college scholarships must pay for a student's training to become a cleric.

Opinion: Testy Testy, San Francisco Chronicle
It's no mystery why teachers' unions and school boards oppose standardized achievement tests and exit exams. When they're falling short, they're not eager to announce it.

Opinion: Improving education for Hispanics, San Diego Union-Tribune
We learned recently from the UCLA Center for Study of Latino Health and Culture that one-half of the children born in California during the second half of 2001 were Hispanic. This startling statistic should serve as a wake-up call.

Editorial: Regents take a stand, Sacramento Bee
How times change. Seven years ago, University of California Regent Ward Connerly found willing allies when he sought support from his fellow regents for his initiative banning affirmative action in public education, employment and contracting.

Dan Walters: Real budget crisis is the $8 billion annual income-outgo gap, Sacramento Bee
Numerology is the pseudoscience that seeks occult meanings in numbers, but one needn't be an adherent to find significance in the recurring appearance of $8 billion in the state's budget crisis.

Editorial: The Davis budget challenge, San Jose Mercury-News
Gov. Davis came to San Jose Monday to damn his state budget plan with faint praise. The best he could say about the $95.8 billion 2003-04 budget he proposed last week is that no one else has offered a better one.

Assembly Republicans spurn budget cuts, Sacramento Bee
A sizable bloc of Republican lawmakers has refused to vote for a broad package of budget cuts, despite their party's mantra that reduced government spending is the key to erasing an estimated $38 billion deficit.

Analyst: Future holes in budget, Sacramento Bee
Gov. Gray Davis has offered a "precariously balanced" revised spending plan that will strap lawmakers with formidable budget holes in future years, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill said Monday.

Angelides hits Davis sales-tax plan, Sacramento Bee
State Treasurer Phil Angelides took issue Monday with Gov. Gray Davis' proposal to raise the sales tax to pay off part of the state's deficit, saying voters would be more likely to support higher taxes if they were invested in schools and public works.

Lawmakers Warned on State Budget, Los Angeles Times
California Controller Steve Westly warned Monday that state government is likely to shut down if lawmakers take as long as they did last year to agree on a budget.