Racism committee at Cal State refused, Press-Enterprise
Cal State San Bernardino President Al Karnig has formally rejected a request from a Mexican-American advocacy group to form an advisory committee of faculty, students and community members to review allegations of racism, sexism and sexual harassment at the university.

Budget gymnastics, San Diego Union-Tribune
Six-year-old gymnast Aria and more than 200 of her fellow bendable young athletes are the latest victims of California's budget crisis. Their training program is being evicted from San Diego State University after 38 years – news that has hit the children so hard, it's as if someone had canceled rainbows, forever.

Students to watch teacher graduate, Ventura County Star
Fifth-graders in Julie Sanchez's class at Hathaway School are going on a field trip Friday to California State University, Channel Islands. The 29 students will attend their teacher's graduation, which also happens to be the inaugural commencement for the new university.

Latinos, CSUF Settle Lawsuit, Los Angeles Times
The California State University system has paid six current or former employees at the Fullerton campus a total of $200,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging they were discriminated against because they are Latinos.

CSUMentor, Higher Learning Magazine
California State University (CSU) has seen a tremendous increase in online
student applications.

Investigators hunt for clues, Fresno Bee
With all the hot spots extinguished and only a few traces of smoke remaining, a team of investigators Wednesday combed the site of the burned-out University Village apartment project to try to determine what caused the blaze.

[Associate Press coverage of the CMS hearing in Sacramento, reported yesterday, also appeared in other online editions of California press, including the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Pasadena Star-News, Riverside Press-Enterprise, and Hayward Daily Review.]

New UC leaders refusing to panic, Modesto Bee
Carol Tomlinson-Keasey says nothing has changed for the University of California at Merced, despite a legislative vote earlier this week to slash funding and delay the campus's opening a year.

UC Merced may have to delay opening, Daily Bulletin
University of California, Merced officials said Wednesday that construction will continue on the first new UC campus in nearly three decades despite a state Senate subcommittee vote a day earlier to delay the opening for one year.

Los Angeles Voters Approve $980-Million Bond Package for Community Colleges, Chronicle of Higher Education
Voters in Los Angeles on Tuesday approved a $980-million bond measure for the Los Angeles Community College District just two years after agreeing to a $1.245-billion bond for the 130,000-student, facilities-strapped nine-college district.

College Head Start Provides a Leg Up, Los Angeles Times
Hector Beltran credits his broadened horizons to Early Start, a partnership between Poly High and nearby Valley College begun in the wake of Proposition 209's passage. The program combines high school and college course work to prepare students for the most competitive colleges. Most participants are minorities, and many of them are low-income.

Illegal Immigrants Get Resident Tuition, San Gabriel Valley Tribune/AP
Nineteen-year-old Francisco Urenda wants to become a doctor. The state of Oregon may help him make his dream come true - even though he is an illegal immigrant.

States Cut Test Standards to Avoid Sanctions, New York Times
Texas has not been alone in lowering its testing standards in recent months. Educators in other states have been making similar decisions as they seek to avoid the penalties that the federal law imposes on schools whose students fare poorly on standardized tests.

High College Costs Hurt Prepaid-Tuition Plans, Wall St. Journal
Prepaid-tuition programs once were the no-brainers of the college-savings industry. By investing in the state-sponsored plans, you could lock in today's rates to cover tomorrow's pricier college bills. But with tuition costs soaring, more plans are being forced to impose fees, temporarily halt enrollments and, in some cases, sharply boost "today's rates."

Universities Collected $827-Million in Payments on Inventions in 2001, Chronicle of Higher Education
Colleges and universities collected more than $827-million in royalties and other payments from licenses on inventions developed by university researchers in the 2001 fiscal year, according to data from an annual survey.

Explosion Jolts Yale Law School, Los Angeles Times
A blast believed to have been caused by an explosive device damaged two rooms at Yale Law School on Wednesday but caused no injuries, authorities said.

An Income Tax for Schools, Los Angeles Times
With their public school system a national laughingstock thanks to the comic strip "Doonesbury," voters in Portland, Ore., decisively approved the state's first-ever county income tax to prop up the city's ailing schools.

Outreach legislation rekindles race issue, Sacramento Bee
California lawmakers are considering novel legislation that would permit "special measures" to benefit minority and ethnic groups despite a statewide ban on preferential treatment based on race or gender in public employment, education or contracting.

Daniel Weintraub: Exit exam is crucial for disadvantaged students, Sacramento Bee
A crucial piece of the reform movement is now in danger, and the next few months will decide whether California presses ahead or flinches in the face of a vocal minority that opposes every effort to measure how well our schools are teaching and how well our kids are learning.

Other view: Put legislators' smarts to the test, Sacramento Bee
Maybe it is necessary to take harsh measures to raise student achievement. But if so, let's add one more group to be tested: our state lawmakers, the very people who implemented this testing regime, and who now point accusing fingers at our schools.

Opinion: Palomar College teachers face a lesson in pragmatism, San Diego Union-Tribune
Protracted and contentious contract negotiations aren't all that's going on at Palomar College.

Editorial: Fund good government, L.A. Daily News
Included in Davis' budget is a provision to do away with parts of state law that require local governments to make public the agendas, locations and times of all official meetings.

Editorial: An unlikely venue, Press-Telegram
Opening: Home Depot Center is in Carson, but will play well in L.B.

Opinion: By Digging In on Taxes, GOP May Dig Its Grave, Los Angeles Times
Listen closely, and that hissing in the Capitol over taxes may be the sound of Republicans cooking their own goose.

Davis Tries to Rally Support for Budget, Los Angeles Times
At a town hall meeting moderated by Peter Jennings, the governor calls on GOP to accept tax hikes to end legislative deadlock.