Outgoing president leaves mark on CSUSM, North County Times
Roy McTarnaghan is somewhat of a footnote in the not-so-storied history of Cal State San Marcos, and that's just fine with the former university president who will soon "re-retire."

FSU president not selected for Calif. post, Dunkirk Observer
Dr. Dennis L. Hefner was not selected by the California State University Board of Trustees to lead its San Marcos campus.

Cal State Bridges Culture Gap, Jewish Journal of Los Angeles
The Los Angeles campus of California State University hardly seems fertile ground to introduce studies on Jewish culture and history.

Scientist to study otter bones, San Luis Obispo Tribune
A Cal Poly anthropology professor has won a California Sea Grant to explore how prehistoric people used sea otters and other marine species.

Minority science students, profs get grant, San Diego Union-Tribune
A $3.6 million federal grant to California State University San Marcos will support programs for minority students in the sciences and assist their professors in biomedical research.

UC to hold forum at UCLA on state budget crisis, Santa Cruz Sentinel
UC president Robert Dynes will host a Dec. 1 forum at UCLA on the state’s budget crisis, asking state policymakers, educators, community leaders and other experts to help develop solutions.

Center's Design Tries To Aid Autism Battle, Wall St. Journal
Can a building help cure a disease? That's the intention of a unique new research and diagnostic center at the University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

UC grad students threaten to strike, San Francisco Chronicle
The union for more than 11,000 University of California graduate students working as teaching assistants, readers and tutors threatened Tuesday to strike next week over what it described as unfair bargaining practices by the administration.

UCSF exec's raise irks union leader, Chico Enterprise-Record
The University of California, struggling with millions of dollars in budget cuts and with more possibly on the way, has given a UC San Francisco administrator a $27,300 pay raise.

Schwarzenegger budget would cut UC outreach funding, Modesto Bee/AP
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts would eliminate state funding for University of California outreach programs aimed at bringing disadvantaged students into the prestigious system.

Teens Helping to Uncover Universe's Secrets, Los Angeles Times
In partnership with Caltech, students at Southland middle schools are collecting data on high-energy cosmic rays.

Panelists call politics factor in grad-test decision, Daily Bulletin
Members of two panels that recommended raising the passing grade for the state's graduation test supported the state board's refusal to do so, though some said the decision was influenced more by politics than academics.

5 to 10 schools to be closed, Oakland Tribune
The city school district might not have too much money, but it does have too many campuses, says Oakland schools State Administrator Randolph Ward. Declining enrollment, vacant classrooms and continuing budget shortfalls will force closures of some of the city's more than 100 campuses after this school year, he says.

Slower growth projected for student enrollment, CNN/AP
School enrollment, which soared during the 1990s, will grow at a much slower pace during the next 10 years and even decline in the Northeast, an Education Department estimate shows.

Republicans Urge Inquiry of Head Start, New York Times
Facing an increasingly raw fight over the future of Head Start, Congressional Republicans asked the General Accounting Office today to examine the federal government's financial oversight of the program, which serves almost one million preschoolers who live in poverty.

A Woman's Work? Don't Tell That to This Kindergarten Teacher, New York Times
Mr. Winters has been teaching kindergarten for 15 years, which makes him an anomaly. Men, for the most part, do not teach kindergarten — or first grade through third grade, for that matter.

Congress Takes Holiday Break Without Completing Budget for 2004, Chronicle of Higher Education
Efforts to pass a vast $390-billion spending bill, which would cover more than one-sixth of the federal budget, have stalled. In a victory for college lobbyists and student advocates, the bill would prevent the U.S. Education Department from making a proposed change in the formula that the government uses to calculate a student's need for financial aid.

Boston College Uses Office Lease to Seek More Control Over Student Newspaper, Chronicle of Higher Education
Boston College officials are seeking to add provisions to a routine office-lease agreement with a student newspaper that would give the Roman Catholic institution a more powerful voice in the publication's business and editorial operations.

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to State Ban on Aid for Theology Majors, Chronicle of Higher Education
The restrictions affect few students, but the case has become an ideological battleground.

Peter Schrag: In the new California, we're all immigrants, Sacramento Bee
Most of California's problems -- the problems that we just elected an immigrant governor to solve -- touch on immigration and ethnicity.

Dan Walters: State spending cap would be one longer-term approach to budget, Sacramento Bee
Politics is an inherently short-range occupation -- focused on today's headline, next week's legislative hearing or next year's election.

Opinion: Simplifying the College Application Process, Washington Post
Most of our debates over college admissions process these days are pretty marginal.

Opinion: A Radical Plan For A Simplification of the College Admission Process, Washington Post
The Best Predictor of Academic Success Is Previous Academic Performance.

State Spending Cap Detailed, Los Angeles Times
Schwarzenegger plan would limit schools' right to new revenues. Educators are wary.

Fiscal plan gets rough reception, Sacramento Bee
Lawmakers sharply question the proposed bond and spending cap.

UC, CSU cite the human cost of outreach cuts, Sacramento Bee
Higher education leaders Tuesday warned that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget-cutting plans will wipe out decades-old programs that have helped bring poor and minority high school graduates into California's public universities.

NOTE: For additional political coverage, visit the Rough & Tumble website.

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