Joan Roberts Consulting

RECREATION & LEISURE

“Brooklyn Bridge Park Awaits Funding Plan.” By Joseph De Avila. Wall Street Journal. June 1, 2011. A milestone for the future of Brooklyn Bridge Park is approaching as officials continue to look for ways to generate operating funds for the partially built public space that eventually will cover 85 acres. The original plan to fund the park’s expected annual expenses of $16 million called for building new housing within the park. That plan is opposed by many locals who say that housing would detract from the park. Now a committee of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp., the nonprofit that oversees the park, is awaiting a final report from an outside consulting firm examining how the park can earn money to pay for its yearly budget. The report is expected in June. “The final report will provide a timely and incisive road map for a reliable funding plan,” said Regina Myer, president of Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp. The first portions of Brooklyn Bridge Park opened last year, and further construction is under way. On Saturday, an additional two-acre section of the park opened. Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, another part of Brooklyn Bridge Park where Jane’s Carousel will be housed, is scheduled to be ready this summer. When completed, the park is expected to cost about $350 million, of which the city and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have already committed a combined $224 million for construction. The city will chip in an additional $44 million for building costs, but only after the park’s board agrees on a plan to pay for the park’s yearly maintenance and operation. Bay Area Economics, a consulting firm, delivered a preliminary report to the park’s committee on alternative funding earlier this year that examined nine potential revenue sources. It included the creation of a park improvement district where property owners in the area would pay an assessment, parking revenue, fund raising and other measures. These options could deliver between $2.4 million to $7 million annually, the report said. Critics said one potential source for money that wasn’t fully examined in the report was deriving revenue from about 30 buildings near the park owned by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York Inc., part of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Watchtower has applied for a permit to construct an administrative complex in Warwick in Orange County, N.Y. With approval from the town, Watchtower may later sell its Brooklyn properties.

PHILANTHROPY

“Donor of the Day: One for the Books: Retired Lawyer’s Gift of Literacy.” By Melanie Grace West. Wall Street Journal. June 2, 2011. It’s a whirlwind when Burt Freeman brings a group of 25 third-graders to a bookstore. Children sit in the aisles and read aloud. They eagerly pull Dr. Seuss and Junie B. Jones from the shelves and page through books on Greek mythology, reptiles, amphibians, anatomy and the like. Some even grab a dictionary. For some, it’s their first time to browse in a store and to buy a book. This field trip, where each child gets a $50 allowance to buy books, is the single but simple mission of Mr. Freeman’s My Own Book program. The genesis for My Own Book came casually. Shortly after his retirement in 1998 as a senior managing director and counsel from Bankers Trust Co., Mr. Freeman sought an opportunity to put his family foundation to work. At the urging of his daughter, a retired librarian, he began volunteering at the East Harlem Tutorial Program helping them to set up a computer lab. He’d often ask the children there about their favorite book. When he began getting blank stares, he started to do some follow-up. So, he started a small pilot program at the East Harlem Tutorial Program to take children on a book-buying trip. “I’m a retired bank lawyer, a capitalist. And ownership to me was an important issue,” he says. “Intuitively, I felt that if children owned books and if they had books at home, they’d have a greater vested interest in literacy.”
The program was a hit. He then reached out to the New York City Department of Education and expanded the program to a few public schools. The program now operates in 45 public and four non-public schools, reaching about 4,400 students annually in all five boroughs.

“Donor of the Day: Pledge to Daughter Becomes Group Home.” By Melanie Grace West. Wall Street Journal. June 3, 2011. When Melissa Riggio was a teen, she asked her parents to promise to buy her a home in Basking Ridge, N.J., an area she loved. Her parents—Steve, the vice chairman of booksellers Barnes & Noble Inc., and Laura—agreed. Even though Melissa, who had Down syndrome, died at age 20 in 2008 after a battle with leukemia, her parents were determined to make good on their promise. So when the Somerset Hills YMCA in Basking Ridge announced plans build a group home for developmentally disabled adults next to their main facility, it was only natural for the Riggios to become involved. Their $1 million gift to the Y helped to build the Melissa Riggio Residence, which opens Friday. “It’s our gift to Melissa and Melissa’s gift to the community,” says Mr. Riggio. Mr. Riggio says the six-bedroom home is what Melissa would have dreamt of. The facility, which was constructed in part by state and local funding, will allow residents easy access to the Y, which will serve as an extended family. Melissa had a part-time job at the Y, and was especially fond of the many of the opportunities for friendship, work and recreation that the Y provided, Mr. Riggio said.

“Donor of the Day: Softball and Charity on the Brain.” By Melanie Grace West. Wall Street Journal. June 4, 2011. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to hit a softball. But for a charity tournament this Saturday in Central Park, all of the players are neurosurgeons. The 8th annual Neurosurgery Charity Softball Tournament brings together over 300 of the country’s best neurosurgeons to raise money for brain-tumor research. Over the years, the tournament has raised more than $300,000. This year’s goal is $100,000 and the money raised will primarily fund research grants from the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. The event is the brainchild of Ricardo J. Komotar, a neurosurgery fellow at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He launched the event while an intern at Columbia University Medical Center’s Department of Neurological Surgery and says it was initially just a friendly game between four of the city’s neurosurgery programs. The inaugural tournament was such a success that in the second year the number of teams doubled. That’s when a light bulb went off and Dr. Komotar decided to make the tournament a charity event. A friend suggested he call the Yankees to ask for sponsorship, which turned out to be the pivotal moment in the tournament’s growth. “I got transferred about a thousand times and was on the phone for three hours and eventually I got on the phone and George Steinbrenner agreed to sponsor the tournament,” he says. This year, there will be 24 teams coming from around the country and Toronto. “It’s a real commitment and kind of a tribute to the fact that these teams are willing to spend so much time and money to come out here,” says Dr. Komotar. “It reflects that camaraderie that’s in neurosurgery and the charitable nature.”

When I launched Nonprofit News & Comment nearly three years ago, my ambitions were modest. For decades, I had been clipping news stories about philanthropy, nonprofits, volunteering, and related topics both to inform my own research and to use in classes. Digital technology and the internet made it feasible to share these resources with communities of scholars, students, practitioners, journalists, and others interested in trends and events in the nonprofit sector.

The original idea was simply to post stories and articles about nonprofits that appeared in the major media. But a number of other concerns inevitably shaped and ultimately broadened my criteria of selection.

The first was continuing rapid growth and change in the sector — change that far outstripped scholarship in terms of timely acknowledgement of significant innovations, issues, and problems. A good example of this is Stephanie Strom’s important 2008 New York Times article, “Tax Exemptions of Charities Face New Challenges,” which examined how the increasing commerciality of nonprofits, which obscured the distinctions between for-profit and nonprofit enterprises, were prompting legal challenges to tax exemptions and major changes in state and federal charities and tax laws.

This and similar articles suggested that among the important dimensions of change meriting attention were changing criteria for charitable exemption and shifting allocations of task between for-profit, nonprofit, and public agencies. This latter issue seemed especially compelling, given trends in the health care and education industries, where conversions of ownership and the emergence of nonprofit or quasi-nonprofit service provision (charter schools) were among the most frequently covered stories.

The second concern involved globalization. For decades, we tended to think of nonprofits and philanthropy as primarily Anglo-American institutions. Only recently have we begun to fully appreciate the work of Lester Salamon and others (see, for example, his article “The Rise of the Nonprofit Sector in Foreign Affairs, July 1994) in calling attention to the fact that the post-World War II emergence of nonprofits and NGOs has been part of a global associational revolution. This revolution involved not only the proliferation of indigenous NGOs, but also global and transnational organizations, associations, and coalitions addressing a wide variety of issues. Further, flows funding, information, and norms were affecting the scale and scope of nonprofit activity world-wide.

There are many examples of these international flows, but among the most compelling is the British conservatives’ “Great Society” agenda, intended to dismantle the UK’s welfare state and to privatize significant areas, like education and health care, that had been under state control. The central ideas of the Great Society scheme were based on the programs of US conservatives during the Reagan and Bush administrations. Really, one couldn’t understand what the Tories were up to without an understanding of the American precedent, nor could we grasp why the scheme was like to fail, based as it was on fundamental misunderstandings of the trajectory of conservative revolution in the US.

On another front, the efforts of the British Charities Commission to implement a public benefit standard as a criterion for charitable tax exemption appears to be influencing the thinking of scholars and policy makers in the US, as suggested by recent changes in the Form 990, requiring accounting of “exempt purpose achievements” and revenues and expenditures used to sustain them.

This calls attention to a third concern shaping criteria for inclusion of stories in Nonprofit News & Comment: the importance of law and public policy. Few areas of institutional activity are more policy sensitive than the nonprofit sector. The incentives which lead citizens to create nonprofits — tax exemption, deductibility of donations, eligibility for foundations support, limited legal liability, exemption (in the case of religious organizations) hiring discrimination and other laws — are all products of government policy. Demonstrably, the scope and scale of nonprofit domains worldwide is a direct consequence of laws and public policies which can authorize and encourage — or prohibit and discourage — their existence. Further, in nations where nonprofits enjoy special tax privileges, such things as corporate and individual tax rates may have a profound influence both on the willingness to donors to give and on the use of philanthropic and nonprofit entities to reduce estate and income tax liabilities.

Finally, the fourth concern was prompted by the financial crisis of the print media, which has led to steadily decreasing quantity and quality of coverage of nonprofits in newspapers and magazines. Presently, only two papers, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, devoted significant resources and space to the topic. The Washington Post, which once had an impressive team of reporters covering non-profits locally and nationally, has become increasingly dependent on wire service copy and lightly-edited organizational press-releases.
It was hoped that in making world-wide reportage on nonprofit conveniently available, reporters in struggling paper might look beyond scandal and organizational self-promotion for their stories, while at the same time having opportunities to grasp the increasing economic and political centrality of nonprofits throughout the world.

So, since its inception, Nonprofit News & Comment has evolved from a simple compilation of news stories and articles on the US nonprofit sector to a global collection of published, broadcast, and on-line items, including not only stories about nonprofits, but about the industries in which they operate, their economic, political, and social roles, their place in the emerging new world order, and the impact of changing law and public policy on their activities. Stories are organized by country and, with multi-national stories like the Catholic sex abuse scandal or tsunami relief, by topic. Stories within the United States are categorized by topic (i.e., law and public policy) or by industry (i.e., arts & culture).

Peter Dobkin Hall
Editor

ADVOCACY & POLITICS

“A Candle in the Darkness – Amnesty Turns 50.” By Portia Crowe. Interpress Service (ips.net). May 31, 2011. Thousands of people worldwide raised glasses in a toast to freedom over the weekend to celebrate Amnesty International’s 50th anniversary. The symbolic salute paid tribute to two Portuguese students who, 50 years ago, were imprisoned for toasting to liberty, and whose story inspired Peter Benenson to found the global human rights watchdog and demand justice for Prisoners of Conscience around the world. Anniversary celebrations took place in nearly 60 countries, from Argentina to Ghana to Turkey to New Zealand, and in London’s Trafalgar Square, Amnesty International Secretary-General Salil Shetty gave a public address. The world’s largest human rights organisation, Amnesty International was kickstarted in 1961 when Benenson published ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’ in The Observer newspaper and launched a global campaign called ‘Appeal for Amnesty 1961′. He opened a small office in London and held an international meeting to establish a permanent movement in defence of freedom of opinion and religion. By 1964 the organisation had gained consultative status at the United Nations, and in 1977 it received the Nobel Peace Prize for “having contributed to securing the ground for freedom, for justice, and thereby also for peace in the world”. Today, Amnesty International, or AI, has grown to have more than three million members and 500 staff working in over 150 countries worldwide. It works closely with the United Nations and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.

ARTS & CULTURE

“S.I. culture vultures could be left high and dry; Budget cuts could force Snug Harbor, others, to close.” No by-line. Crain’s New York Business. May 29, 2011.Staten Islanders may soon have to ferry to Manhattan to get their cultural fix. The borough’s five main institutions, including the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Gardens, the Staten Island Children’s Museum and the Staten Island Zoo, face a proposed city budget cut of about 50% for the next fiscal year. All on city-owned property, the groups receive a total of $5.2 million in city funding; $1 million of that is allocated to energy costs and is exempt from cuts. The remainder accounts for half of the nonprofits’ operating budgets. They have already reduced hours and staff to deal with previous cuts. They are now considering shutting down for certain days during the week and may even have to close altogether. “All cultural groups are struggling right now, but the difference between Staten Island institutions and those in Manhattan is we don’t have the large endowments that some of the Manhattan groups do,” said Lynn Kelly, chief executive of Snug Harbor.

“Playing Musical Chairs at Lincoln Center; Philharmonic Considers a Move Across the Plaza to Koch Theater, a Key Element in Long-Awaited Avery Fisher Overhaul.” By Erica Orden. Wall Street Journal. June 1, 2011. The New York Philharmonic is exploring the temporary occupancy of the David H. Koch Theater as part of a long-term plan to renovate its home, Avery Fisher Hall, according to a person familiar with the matter. A move across the plaza of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts would be several years off, as potential renovation plans remain in initial discussions. Both the orchestra and performing-arts complex must resolve several significant questions before proceeding with any renovation project. But with the New York City Opera’s recent announcement that it intends to vacate its longtime home at the Koch in advance of its fall season, the Lincoln Center landscape is entering a period of transition that may boost the Philharmonic’s proposal. A spokesman for the Philharmonic, Eric Latzky, said it is too premature to discuss where the orchestra would perform during a renovation of Avery Fisher. A spokeswoman for Lincoln Center, Betsy Vorce, declined to comment on the Philharmonic’s interest in the Koch Theater. The renovation of Avery Fisher, a hall that has long been regarded as acoustically flawed, has been explored in fits and starts for nearly a decade, with fund raising, logistical and personnel challenges hampering its progress. The question of where the orchestra would perform during a renovation is one of the main obstacles to an overhaul, and resolving that matter would bring the Philharmonic one step closer to its goal.

“St. Ann’s Warehouse Scrambles to Find New Home.” By Patrick Healy. New York Times. June 3, 2011. St. Ann’s Warehouse, the Brooklyn theater whose versatile and cavernous playing space has become a magnet for New York and overseas acting troupes, is now confronting a likely fate that its leaders had worked years to avoid: homelessness. Scheduled to lose its 14,000-square-foot home next May because of commercial development, St. Ann’s thought its long-term future was secure after the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation approved the theater’s plans to move across the street after renovating the old Tobacco Warehouse on the Dumbo neighborhood’s waterfront. But some Brooklyn civic groups oppose handing over that landmark ruin — a shell of a 19th-century building, mainly walls but no roof — to any single organization, and in April the groups won a court decision on a technical issue that probably will preserve the Tobacco Warehouse as an open neighborhood site for the next few years, at least. All of this leaves St. Ann’s with little more than an inch-thick prospectus of ambitious artistic dreams: its submission to the park corporation, titled “The Future Tobacco Warehouse: Where Global, Regional and Local Communities Converge.” That appendices-stuffed proposal included maps for a 7,000-square-foot public garden and a 2,100-square-foot community hall intended to house some of the concerts and dance presentations that are now held intermittently at the Tobacco Warehouse. The proposal’s centerpiece was a 10,250-square-foot theater that would have sustained St. Ann’s reputation as a rare New York City space that allows ensembles to configure a high-ceilinged, column-free and technically sophisticated room to their needs. Among the renowned companies that have played St. Ann’s in recent years are Kneehigh Theater from England (“Brief Encounter”), the National Theater of Scotland (the Iraq war play “Black Watch”) and the downtown Wooster Group (“The Emperor Jones”). After the artistic staff and board members of St. Ann’s fixed their sights last year on the Tobacco Warehouse, they gave up developing a Plan B for a future home. Like other arts organizations in New York recently — the theater company Performance Space 122 and New York City Opera among them — St. Ann’s is facing a nomadic future until a permanent site can be found or a new home can be built, options that could take years.

CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY & SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

“ConAgra Foods gives $420,000 to 11 nonprofits.” San Jose Mercury-News/Associated Press. May 31, 2011. ConAgra Foods plans to give $420,000 to nonprofits in nine states to help reduce child hunger. The Omaha-based maker of Healthy Choice, Orville Redenbacher, Chef Boyardee and other branded food products picked the 11 grant winners out of more than 325 applicants for their innovative approaches. ConAgra Foods Foundation vice president Kori Reed says more than 17 million American children live in homes where they don’t always know where their next meal will come from. The winners will receive between $20,000 and $60,000 apiece. The grants will go to groups in Albuquerque, N.M.; Rocky Mount, N.C.; Washington D.C.; Memphis, Tenn.; Valdosta, Ga.; Saline, Mich.; Columbus, Ohio; New Orleans, La.; and Fresno, Oceanside and San Francisco, Calif. Details about the projects are available online at http://www.conagrafoodsfoundation.org.

“Energy industry shapes lessons in public schools.” By Kevin Sieff. Washington Post. June 2, 2011. In the mountains of southwestern Virginia, Gequetta Bright Laney taught public high school students this spring about a subject of keen interest to the region’s biggest employer: the economics of coal mining. Her lessons, like others in dozens of public schools across the country, were approved and funded by the coal industry. Such efforts reflect a broader pattern of private-sector attempts to influence what gets taught in public schools. Eager to burnish its reputation, the energy industry is spending significant sums of money on education in communities with sensitive coal, natural gas and oil exploration projects. The industry aims to teach students about its contributions to local economies and counter criticism from environmental groups. These outreach efforts have drawn scrutiny after news in May that Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher of children’s books, distributed fourth-grade curriculum materials funded by the American Coal Foundation. The “United States of Energy” lesson plan, which the foundation paid $300,000 to develop, went to 66,000 fourth-grade teachers in 2009. After critics raised questions about potential bias, Scholastic announced that it will no longer publish the material in question. Environmentalists and public education groups say the Scholastic example highlights the increasingly cozy relationship between industry groups and public schools. They also criticize what takes place in classrooms such as Bright Laney’s, where industries fund lessons that echo their interests.

EDUCATION

CHARTER SCHOOLS

“Charter school leader Vielka McFarlane brings personal history, passion to education.” By Teresa Watanabe. Los Angeles Times. May 30, 2011. Three decades after leaving her native Panama, Vielka McFarlane hasn’t forgotten how a first-class education can transform a poor kid with a hard-knocks life. The Los Angeles charter school operator remembers leaner days and long hours helping her struggling family sell empanadas from a street cart. Her eyes mist when she speaks of her hardworking parents, who sacrificed to send her to the best schools in Panama, despite discrimination from that society’s upper-class, and then to Los Angeles in 1982. So when the Compton school board rejected her petition this year to start a charter school in a city with some of the state’s worst standardized test scores, McFarlane got fired up. Determined to fight for Compton parents the way her mother and father fought for her, McFarlane appealed the board ruling to Los Angeles County education officials — and last week announced that she had won. She will open her new school this fall — Celerity Sirius, named after the brightest star in the night sky. McFarlane’s Celerity Educational Group has been at the center of the state’s first test of a landmark law allowing parents to petition for major changes at low-performing schools. In December, parents at McKinley Elementary in Compton submitted petitions to convert their campus to a Celerity charter operation under the new “parent trigger” law. Those petitions are tied up in court. But armed with county approval of her separate charter petition, McFarlane is moving forward with plans for her new school for 220 students in kindergarten through fifth grade at Church of the Redeemer in Compton. She has already hired a principal, plans a facelift for the space and expects to open her doors for applications beginning Wednesday.

“Detroit Looks To Charters To Remake Public Schools.” By Larry Abramson. All Things Considered/National Public Radio. May 31, 2011. This story is the first in an ongoing series on education overhaul in Detroit The Detroit Public School system hopes to convert dozens of schools into charters in the next year or so in a last-ditch effort to cut costs and stop plummeting enrollment. The plan faces tremendous skepticism from a generation of parents and teachers frustrated from previous reform efforts. No one has ever done what DPS is trying to do: turn more than 40 schools into charters, some in just a few short weeks. Greg Richmond of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers says that when the city first approached him with this idea, he hesitated. “I was concerned when I first heard about Detroit’s idea of starting a large group of charter schools this year, that they were trying to do too much too fast,” Richmond says. Richmond is helping review applications from groups that want to run charters. He served the same role when New Orleans planted its own crop of charters after Hurricane Katrina. That was a tough challenge. But in many ways, Detroit faces even steeper odds.

“Tennis star to build charter schools.” No by-line. Boston Globe/Associated Press. June 3, 2011. Former tennis champion Andre Agassi and a real estate venture capital firm have teamed up to form an investment fund to finance buildings that would house charter schools. Agassi, who operates an award-winning charter school in Las Vegas, said the biggest impediment to charter school growth is finding facilities to house students. Agassi’s partner in the fund is a $20 billion Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm, Canyon Capital Realty Advisers. The fund, whose investors include Citigroup and Intel, plans to finance the construction or remodeling of 75 urban school sites over the next three to four years, with the first one in Philadelphia. The schools will be built as environmentally sustainable buildings, including elements such as solar power.

FOR-PROFIT SCHOOLS & COLLEGES

“Federal ‘gainful employment’ rule tightens oversight of for-profit colleges.” By Daniel de Vise. Washington Post. June 2, 2011. Federal education officials are tightening oversight of the ­burgeoning for-profit higher-education sector with the release Thursday of a new regulation they say will require career preparatory programs to yield “gainful employment.” The action culminates a lengthy debate between the Obama administration and for-profit college leaders and includes several concessions to the industry meant to soften the regulatory impact. The most important change from a previous draft introduces a multiyear grace pe­riod before deficient programs are shut down. The rule could face a legal challenge in courts and is likely to draw close scrutiny from Congress. Republican lawmakers and some Democrats have voiced support for the industry. The rule effectively would shut down for-profit programs that repeatedly fail to show, through certain measures, that graduates are earning enough to pay down the loans taken out to attend those programs. Advocates say it addresses the chief complaint against for-profit schools, that students emerge from them with too much debt and too little earning power. “The quality here has been very uneven,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said of the industry Wednesday in a conference call with reporters. “There have been some absolute superstars. And there have been some players whose intentions, quite frankly, we doubt.” The 3 million students in for-profit schools have already felt an impact. In anticipation of the rule, large for-profit providers have slowed enrollment, tightened entry standards and warned students against excessive debt.
Related stories:
“For-Profit College Regulations: Obama Administration Issues Rules.” By Chris Kirkham. Huffington Post. June 2, 2011.
“‘Softened’ Regulations Issued For For-Profit Schools.” By Larry Abramson. Morning Edition/National Public Radio. June 2, 2011.
“For-profit education companies’ stock up as regulation pared back from early draft.” By Steven Mufson and Jia Lynn Yang. Washington Post. June 2, 2011.
“For-profit colleges get rules tied to federal aid.” USA Today. June 2, 2011.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/02/for-profit-college-stocks-weak-regulations_n_870604.html

“For-Profit College Stocks Soar, Indicating New Regulations Won’t Hinder Industry Growth.” Huffington Post. June 2, 2011.

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/02/136897408/for-profit-colleges-face-new-rules

“For-Profit Colleges Face New Rules.” All Things Considered/National Public Radio. June 2, 2011.
“‘Gainful-employment’ rule to test for-profit colleges; Final plan has concessions to soften effect.” Washington Post. June 3, 2011.

HIGHER EDUCATION

“New Chicago Islamic College Connected to Mysterious Turkish leader.” By David Lepeska. Chicago News Coop (chicagonewscoop.org). May 30, 2011. The American Islamic College is expected to gain operating authority from a state education body early next month, a move likely to ignite controversy because of the college’s ties to a murky and far-reaching international movement led by Turkish religious leader Fetullah Gulen. Supporters see the opening of the college as an important step for Islamic instruction in the United States, where scores of Gulen-backed charter schools have gained a reputation for academic achievement and a commitment to spreading Turkish language and culture. Yet the Gulen schools have sparked widespread concern about possible manipulation of immigration laws and misuse of taxpayer dollars. Gulen himself is shrouded in mystery, too. An extremely wealthy and well-connected Turkish spiritual and political leader, he lives in self-imposed exile in rural Pennsylvania while his followers in Turkey have ignited controversy with their efforts to increase the role of Islam in public life. The Chicago college, founded in 1981 in the Lakeview neighborhood but dormant since 2004, would become the second Islamic educational institution in the country to offer college-level credit. For area Muslims, it would be a rejoinder to those who depict followers of Islam as uncivilized and prone to extremism. “It looks like a resurrection of the college, which is great,” said Zaher Sahloul, head of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago. “It’s very important to have an institution of higher learning run by the Muslim community. It fills a need in the Chicago area and the Midwest.” But top officials at American Islamic College have been linked to Mr. Gulen’s movement, which has been accused of fundamentalist teachings in some countries and of covertly building a more Islamic society in Turkey. In a cable obtained by Wikileaks, America’s former ambassador to Turkey characterized the Gulen movement as a potentially destabilizing influence in Turkey that some more secular Turks see as trying an effort to bring about a fundamentalist Islamic state.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

“Ethel Walker School Turns 100; Institution Holds To Traditions, And Still Evolves.” By Julie Stagis. Hartford Courant. May 29, 2011. Although Ethel Walker Smith died 45 years ago, she is still a driving force at the girls’ boarding and day school that bears her name as it approaches its 100th anniversary this October. Walker Smith founded The Ethel Walker School in Lakewood, N.J., in 1911. The school moved to its sprawling campus on Bushy Hill Road in 1917. The school was founded on a “bedrock of education” that is still of utmost importance, as Head of School Elizabeth “Bessie” Speers puts it. When Walker Smith — armed with a bachelor’s degree in history and economics from Bryn Mawr, experience as a teacher and secretary, and a vision — decided to start a school that would produce well-rounded girls who were prepared to attend top colleges, her approach was different. Many all-girl schools in the early 20th century, like Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, were finishing schools. “Miss Walker can be proud. Some schools have had to change their missions fundamentally,” Speers said. “We haven’t.”

PUBLIC SCHOOL PHILANTHROPY

“Energy industry shapes lessons in public schools.” By Kevin Sieff. Washington Post. June 2, 2011. [For story, go to Corporate Philanthropy & Responsibility].

HEALTH CARE

“R.I. judge clears sale of hospital to Steward; It would be Boston for-profit chain’s first deal outside of Mass.” By Robert Weisman. Boston Globe. June 1, 2011. A judge in Rhode Island ruled yesterday that Steward Health Care Systems LLC of Boston can move forward with negotiating a takeover of financially troubled Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket, which has been in court-appointed receivership for the past three years. Landmark had begun talking about a sale to Steward’s predecessor, Caritas Christi Health Care, in 2009, but the talks broke off in December without an agreement. The parties recently resumed negotiations and were working yesterday to finalize the terms of a buyout agreement that could be unveiled today. If a deal is reached, it would need Rhode Island regulators’ approval and represent Steward’s first out-of-state acquisition. The 8-month-old holding company is building a chain of for-profit community hospitals in Massachusetts and beyond under the direction of its ambitious chief executive, Ralph de la Torre. Steward was created by Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm, to run the six Catholic hospitals in the Caritas system, which it bought last fall. The hospitals, including St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center and Carney Hospital in Boston, were converted from nonprofit to for-profit institutions. Since then, Steward has purchased two more for-profit hospitals, Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, and struck deals to buy two nonprofits, Morton Hospital and Medical Center in Taunton and Saints Medical Center in Lowell.

HOUSING

“Renewing a Fair-Housing Fight; Group Claims Westchester Is Skirting 2009 Decree Over Racial Discrimination.” By Shelly Banjo. Wall Street Journal. June 2, 2011. A New York City nonprofit housing group on Tuesday asked a district court in Manhattan to step in and enforce a 2009 consent decree that settled a lawsuit over Westchester County’s alleged failure to enforce federal fair-housing laws. The Anti-Discrimination Center—which as part of the 2009 settlement received $7.5 million from the county and was subsequently dismissed from overseeing the settlement’s implementation—now wants to jump back in the fray. It claims Westchester County is skirting its obligations to enforce fair-housing laws, pointing to missed deadlines and a failure to provide sufficient planning documents. The center said the federal government and the court-appointed monitor aren’t adequately enforcing the county’s compliance with the settlement.
Westchester County disputes the center’s claims and said it’s actually ahead of schedule in the number of approved affordable homes. A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development spokesman declined to comment on the center’s court action but said the agency is taking the case seriously. Currently, it is withholding $7.3 million in Westchester’s yearly federal housing funds until the county meets certain federal funding requirements. The county, a court-appointed monitor and the federal government each said they are working together to establish affordable housing across the mostly affluent area.

HUMAN SERVICES

“Indiana Medicaid Plan Banning Planned Parenthood Funding Rejected By HHS Mitch Daniels Planned Parenthood Bill.” By Laura Bassett. Huffington Post. June 1, 2011. The Health and Human Services Department has rejected the state of Indiana’s request to block Medicaid recipients from receiving care at Planned Parenthood. Indiana lawmakers passed a bill in May that prevents Medicaid from contracting with any entity that provides abortions, which effectively cut millions of dollars in funding from Planned Parenthood. But Donald Berwick, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), sent a letter to Indiana’s Medicaid office on Wednesday saying that the bill violates federal Medicaid law because it discriminates against Planned Parenthood for reasons other than its ability to provide quality health services. “We assume this decision is not unexpected,” the letter says. “As the Indiana Legislative Services Agency indicated in its April 19, 2011, fiscal impact statement, ‘While States are permitted to waive a recipient’s freedom of choice of a provider to implement managed care, restricting freedom of choice with respect to providers of family planning services is prohibited.’” It is unclear what the consequences will be if Indiana fails to comply with federal Medicaid law, but an Indiana government official told reporters in April that violating it could cost Indiana all $4 million of the federal funds it receives for family planning. Planned Parenthood of Indiana — which, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, has challenged the defunding bill in federal court — said Berwick’s decision “confirm[s] what we’ve been saying all along.”
Related story:
“When States Punish Women.” Editorial. New York Times. June 2, 2011.

“NY state budget cuts to hit nonprofits; Social service organizations will see job losses.” By Jeremy Smerd and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh. Crain’s New York Business. June 5, 2011. Gov. Andrew Cuomo was hailed for shaving 2.3% off the state budget. But what was good for Albany may be bad for the city—especially social service organizations, which say the ripple effect could mean the loss of more than 11,000 nonprofit jobs here. That estimate comes from the Human Services Council of New York City, an umbrella organization of nonprofits, which calculates that a job is lost for every $35,000 in cuts. The group says Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed cuts to nonessential social programs total $400 million, largely to pay for other services that are required but not always funded by Albany. “The city has to make up the differences in mandated services,” said Chris Winward, a senior policy analyst at the Human Services Council. Funding for social services has actually increased $218 million statewide since last year, but that doesn’t cover the growing cost of providing mandated services, a mayoral spokesman said. The Human Services Council said most of the lost jobs would be among social workers and case managers. Because the funding is expected to be cut at the start of the city’s fiscal year on July 1, many organizations have already sent out 30-day layoff notices to workers, Ms. Winward said.

INTERNATIONAL

AUSTRALIA

“Diabetes group’s $2m loss sparks review of its $140m in funding.” By Kelly Burke. Sydney Morning Herald. May 30, 2011. Diabetes Australia engaged in unauthorised investments, leading to the not-for-profit government-funded organisation losing more than $2 million, an investigation has found. Although the loss in 2008 was documented in annual reports, the fact that the failed investments with Macquarie Bank using $10 million of government funds were never authorised by the government has remained concealed for the past 18 months in a confidential forensic review. The report by the corporate advisory firm McGrathNichol was conducted at the behest of the Department of Health and Ageing and was obtained by the Herald under freedom-of-information laws. The report suggested that the accountancy practices at Diabetes Australia were so poor that the government should consider stripping it of its annual funding of $140 million, used to deliver services to 1 million diabetics, and that a more financially competent operator should be found. The report also warned that if the government demanded full repayment of the loss on the unauthorised Macquarie investments, it could force the national peak body into insolvency. Diabetes Australia repaid the government, leaving the organisation with a deficit of almost $3 million in 2009. But a spokesman, Greg Johnson, who was the group’s acting chief executive and is now in charge of the $140 million National Diabetes Services Scheme, declined to say where the money to pay the debt came from, other than to say ”no taxpayer or government funds were used”.

“Catholic church that opens its arms to gays divides faithful.” By Leesha Mckenny. Sydney Morning Herald. June 4, 2011. Three or four times this year, groups of up to 50 Catholics have gathered to pray outside St Joseph’s in Newtown during its gay-friendly Mass. Sometimes they stop worshippers as they leave the service, demanding to know if they took Communion. If confronted by the parish priest, Father Peter Maher, they recite the rosary. On other occasions, one or two enter the church mid-service, and watch from the back. A parishioner, Paul Harris, said the incidents affected how other parishioners looked at newcomers. ”Any strangers that come along you greet them and welcome them and hope they’re there for the right reasons,” he said. Those who are not have been dubbed the ”temple police” – orthodox Catholics, either individuals or groups, who report what they see as liturgical abuses to bishops, or to Rome. Not that all complaints make it to the Vatican. When St Joseph’s began sponsoring a school in Pakistan, it was reported to ASIO. But last month these often anonymous upholders of orthodoxy claimed what might be their biggest scalp when the bishop of Toowoomba, William Morris, was forced to resign, ostensibly for raising issues such as female or married priests. Father Hal Ranger, an associate pastor at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Toowoomba, said most of the diocese was still hurt by the loss of the bishop. But he believed the influence of this militant minority was experiencing a resurgence in the Australian church, which was preparing to introduce a more literal translation of the Latin Mass that some priests had vowed they would not use.

CATHOLIC SEX ABUSE SCANDAL

“Belgian Church Will Pay Victims of Sexual Abuse.” By Stephen Castle. New York Times. May 30, 2011. After a tumultuous year following the resignation of a Roman Catholic bishop who admitted sexually abusing children, the church in Belgium bowed to pressure on Monday and agreed in principle to compensate some of the hundreds who claim that they were also victims of clerics. The church had previously promised to engage with those who suffered abuse but had not recognized the need to pay financial compensation, despite the harrowing testimony of many of the accusers. A report by a commission set up by the church said last year that 13 people were believed to have committed suicide as a result of sexual abuse by clerics. In a statement, the Belgian bishops and religious superiors said they now wanted to “help victims restore their dignity and, according to their needs, provide financial help.” The bishops were responding to a report from a parliamentary commission in March that called for the creation of panel to adjudicate compensation claims for those who say they were abused by clergy. Lieve Halsberghe, who represents the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, criticized the fact that the church was expected to be represented on the adjudication panel. “They can’t be the accused and the judge at the same time,” she said.

“An Archbishop Burns While Rome Fiddles.” By Maureen Dowd. Op-ed. New York Times. June 4, 2011. The archbishop of Dublin was beginning to sniffle. He could not get through a story about “a really nasty man” — an Irish priest who sexually abused, physically tortured and emotionally threatened vulnerable boys — without pulling out his handkerchief and wiping his nose. “He built a swimming pool in his own garden, to which only boys of a certain age, of a certain appearance were allowed into it,” Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told me recently. “There were eight other priests in that parish, and not one of them seemed to think there was something strange about it.” Two years after learning the extent of the depraved and Dickensian treatment of children in the care of the Irish Catholic Church — a fifth circle of hell hidden for decades by church and police officials — the Irish are still angry and appalled. The only church leader who escapes their disgust is the no-nonsense, multilingual Martin. He was sent home to Dublin in 2003 after 27 years in the Vatican bureaucracy and diplomatic corps and found the Irish church in crisis, reeling from a cover-up that spanned the tenures of four past Dublin archbishops. I went to see him at his office in Drumcondra in north Dublin because he is that rarest of things in the church’s tragedy: a moral voice. The frustrated Martin has criticized the Vatican’s glacial pace on reform and chided the church: “Denial will not generate confidence.” He has mourned the lack of faith among young people in Ireland, where fewer than one in five Catholics go to Mass in Dublin on Sunday. (A victims’ support group is called One in Four, asserting that’s how many Irish have been affected by the sexual abuse scandal.) In return for doing the right thing, he has been ostracized by fellow bishops in Ireland and snubbed by the Holy See.

INDIA

“Govt wants PM, MPs out of Lokpal Bill.” No by-line. Times of India. May 30, 2011. The government has opposed the suggestion of civil society members to include the Prime Minister under Lokpal Bill, Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday. The joint drafting committee for the Lokpal Bill met for the fifth time today to thrash out differences that persist between social activist Anna Hazare’s representatives and the government on several issues. After the meeting, Kejriwal said the government was also opposed to bringing the conduct of Members of Parliament under the purview of Lokpal. Civil society members have stressd on stricter punishment for high-ranking officials accused of corruption. They also want to bring under the purview of the Lokpal, the conduct of MPs inside Parliament, if it is an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act. In an earlier meeting, there was a consensus on seven of the 34 points submitted by the civil society members. There was an agreement on empowering the Lokpal to initiate a suo motu probe into allegations of corruption against ministers, parliamentarians and senior bureaucrats.
Related stories:
“Ramdev differs with Anna, says PM can’t be under Lokpal ambit.” Times of India. May 31, 2011.
“Ramdev’s turnaround on Lokpal Bill.” Times of India. June 1, 2011.
“Baba Ramdev adamant on fast, says he’s with Anna Hazare.” Times of India. June 2, 2011.
“Supporters of a Yoga Guru Assemble for an Anticorruption Protest in India.” New York Times. June 4, 2011.

“Class Struggle: India’s Experiment in Schooling Tests Rich and Poor.” By Geeta Anand. Wall Street Journal. June 4, 2010. stead of playing cricket with the kids in the alleyway outside, four-year-old Sumit Jha sweats in his family’s one-room apartment. A power cut has stilled the overhead fan. In the stifling heat, he traces and retraces the image of a goat. In April, he enrolled in the nursery class of Shri Ram School, the most coveted private educational institution in India’s capital. Its students include the grandchildren of India’s most powerful figures—Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party President Sonia Gandhi. Kids sit under a board filled with artwork in a corridor of Shri Ram School in New Delhi. His admission to Shri Ram is part of a grand Indian experiment to narrow the gulf between rich and poor that is widening as India’s economy expands. The Right to Education Act, passed in 2009, mandates that private schools set aside 25% of admissions for low-income, underprivileged and disabled students. In Delhi, families earning less than 100,000 rupees (about $2,500 a year) qualify. Shri Ram, a nontraditional school founded in 1988, would seem well-suited to the experiment. Rather than drill on rote learning, as many Indian schools do, Shri Ram encourages creativity by teaching through stories, songs and art. In a typical class, two teachers supervise 29 students; at public schools nearby, one teacher has more than 50. Three times a day, a gong sounds and teachers and students pause for a moment of contemplation. Above the entrance, a banner reads, “Peace.” Yet the most notable results so far are frustration and disappointment as the separations that define Indian society—between rich and poor, employer and servant, English-speaker and Hindi-speaker—are upended. This has led even some supporters of the experiment to conclude that the chasm between the top and bottom of Indian society is too great to overcome.

“Fee at Pawars’ school for poor: Rs 2,800 a month.” By Clara Lewis. Times of India. June 5, 2011. When the Pawar Public Charitable Trust wrote to Mumbai municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar on May 4, 2011 seeking to rent space for a school, it identified itself as working for the poor. The letter, signed by trustee Sadanand Sule, son-in law of Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, claimed the Trust provided affordable, quality education. Within 48 hours, the BMC agreed to lease for 11 months part of a building whose possession it received a day earlier, for a rent of Rs 90,000 a month. Sule had written that the construction of the school’s original premises at Chandivali had been delayed due to unforeseen circumstances and that it had taken in more than 550 students. “To avoid loss of a term for these students we request you to grant us permission to use 22 rooms at the BMC Training Centre, at Raheja Vihar, Chandivali,” reads the document procured under the Right to Information Act. Part of the institute — 18 rooms — is leased from May15, 2011 to April 14, 2012. But the Pawar Public School (nursery to Class X) which has an ICSE curriculum, charges Rs 2,800 per month as tuition fees besides other expenses. Asked what category of people the Trust considers ‘underprivileged’, Supriya Sule, MP and managing trustee, said in an SMS, “I appreciate your concern. We have only taken this for a few months. Rest assured we are paying rent and will be moving out as soon as possible.”

MALAWI

“Malawi orphan centre under threat after Madonna charity cuts funding Madonna pledged $1 million to fund the centre for orphans in 2006.” By Mabvuto Banda and Rhys Blakely. Times of London. June 4, 2011. Thousands of orphans in Malawi face an uncertain future after a charity co-founded by Madonna cut the funding that feeds them, The Times has learnt. Many of the children trek miles each morning to a care centre in the village of Mpandula. Madonna was hailed a saviour when she donated $1 million (£610,000) to build the compound in 2006. It feeds more than 1,500 orphans, many desperately weak because they are HIV positive, with a daily meal of soya porridge and milk. The children are cared for by Consol Homes Orphan Care, which feeds 24,000 orphans across Malawi, a country decimated by Aids. Since 2007 Consol Homes has relied on money from Raising Malawi, a foundation founded by Madonna and Michael Berg, the head of Kabbalah Centre International, the controversial sect of which Madonna is the most famous devotee. Madonna is worth more than £180 million, according to Forbes magazine. The Kabbalah Centre has assets estimated at £160 million. For the orphans of one of Africa’s poorest countries their patronage should be invaluable. Console Homes however, says that it has not received any money from Raising Malawi for nearly a year. “Since July last year, no money has been sent and we have resorted to borrowing from the banks,” Elicy Chapomba, the co-founder and head of operations for Consol Homes, told The Times. She could not say how long the feeding programme could continue because of its debts.

NETHERLANDS

“A Biblical Blueprint Meets the Fire Code and the Neighbors.” By John Tagliabue. New York Times. May 29, 2011. If Noah had run into the modern nanny state, or nimby, or a few of the other obstacles that Johan Huibers has been facing, the animal kingdom might look a lot different today. Mr. Huibers, 60, the successful owner of a big construction company, has spent the last few years building an ark, identical in size to the one Noah is said in the book of Genesis to have built: 300 cubits in length, or 450 feet; 30 cubits high, or about three stories; and 50 cubits, or 75 feet, wide. The cubit of the Bible, Mr. Huibers said, was the distance between finger tips and elbow, or in his case roughly 18 inches. He is building the ark out of Swedish pine, because some versions of the Bible describe the wood God ordered Noah to use as “resin wood,” which Mr. Huibers says is pine. Unlike Noah, Mr. Huibers had to conform to Dutch fire safety standards. To do so, he installed a special anchor that qualifies the 2,970-ton ark as a building, rather than a vessel. Moreover, he will have to paint the ark, inside and out, with three coats of fire-retardant varnish. (Noah covered his ark with pitch, making it waterproof but hardly fire retardant.) And then there are the neighbors. This ark is not the first that Mr. Huibers has built. He first began dreaming of an ark in 1992, shortly after a heavy storm lashed the coastal region north of Amsterdam where he lives. His wife, Bianca, a police officer, opposed the idea. “More than 600,000 people came, in about three years,” he said. He said he made about $3.5 million, enough to clear a profit of $1.2 million. But it was not about money. “It is to tell people that there is a Bible,” Mr. Huibers, a spry man with a quick sense of humor said. “And that, when you open it, there is a God.”

UK

“Cameron withdraws patronage of Jewish charity accused of displacing Palestinians; The JNF says that its mission is to ‘make the Zionist dream a reality’.” By Sam Coates. Times of London. May 30, 2011. David Cameron has removed his name from a list of patrons of the UK branch of a Jewish charity dedicated to the “Zionist dream”, in the latest signal of a cooling of relations with Israel. The Prime Minister broke with tradition and wrote to the Jewish National Fund (JNF) earlier this month to announce his decision to withdraw his patronage. He took on the role five years ago, following the example set by the former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Mr Cameron told the charity that his decision was due to “time constraints”, according to the Israeli Ha’aretz newspaper. His resignation means that none of the current three party leaders is a JNF patron. Downing Street yesterday reiterated the explanation without giving details. “The Prime Minister stepped down from a number of charities, including the JNF,” the office said. The JNF describes itself as a humanitarian and environmental charity, and says its mission is “to buy land and create the necessary infrastructure to rebuild the Jewish homeland” as well as “making the Zionist dream a reality”. JNF UK raises £15 million a year, intended to promote “exclusively charitable projects in Israel”. However, the charity faces significant opposition for, according to its opponents, trying to embark on a land grab of Palestinian territory. They accuse the group of pursuing “the ongoing displacement of indigenous Palestinians from their land and the theft of their property”.

“New free school ‘poaching pupils’ in a struggle to fill its first form; School withdrew an offer of places to its pupils .” By Greg Hurst. Times of London. May 31, 2011. Plans to create England’s biggest free school have been marred by accusations of pupils being poached and a pledge to offer places to children from a private school having been broken. Head teachers at nearby schools said that the rush to open the parent-promoted academy in Bristol had caused chaos to admissions. The controversy threatens to tarnish the Government’s free schools policy. Bristol Free School, set up by parents who campaigned for a new secondary school, is due to be the largest of about 16 free schools to open in September. It has approval for 150 places for its first year group of 11-year-olds, and will expand to 750 pupils over five years. But after a long-running row with the city council over the site, which delayed its approval from Whitehall, it was able to offer only 95 places last month and is still seeking to fill the rest. Free schools, which are state-funded independent academies, will receive about £5,000 per pupil, and so a shortfall of one third on projected pupil numbers would mean a big loss of revenue. Governors of the nearest comprehensive school are considering a legal challenge to Bristol Free School’s admissions policy after it wrote to local primary schools inviting parents to apply even if they had taken places elsewhere.

“Lib Dems warning to government on big society faith groups; Protect secularism and prevent proselytising, urge grassroots Lib Dems following involvement of faith groups in public services.” Guardian. May 30, 2011. Grassroots Liberal Democrats are to press for government guarantees that greater involvement from faith-based groups in the provision of public services under the “Big Society” will be subject to strict safeguards to protect secularism and prevent proselytising. The move comes against the backdrop of recent tie-ups between local government and faith groups. seeking to play a role in provision of services in potentially sensitive areas, such as advising on sexual health. In east London, a new website aiming to promote sex education for young people “using a faith sensitive approach” has been launched after receiving funding from health authorities. It follows a recent controversy in south-west London over Richmond council’s awarding of a £89,000 contract to the Catholic Children’s Society, which will be involved in advising pupils on issues including contraception and teenage pregnancy. Evan Harris, the former Liberal Democrat MP and an increasingly influential voice on behalf of the party’s grassroots, is among those involved in pushing to for strict guidelines to govern involvement of faith groups in public services. He said: “The party has made clear that it does not want the government to sanction ‘proselytising on the public purse’ when local councils or health bodies award a contract to a faith-based group.”The Faith, Relationships and Young People (FRYP) website was set up by Alternatives, a charity in Newham which also provides crisis pregnancy counselling and is linked with a national network of independent centres through the Christian organisation, CareConfidential. A spokesperson for the East London NHS Foundation Trust, which provides services to the City of London and the London Boroughs of Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham, said there was a “high level of joint working and partnership work between statutory sexual health services and the charity.” Despite being the focus of suspicion by pro-choice groups and others, Julia Acott, CareConfidential’s Counselling Services Manager, insisted they were a fully pro-choice organisation.

“Thousands of elderly at risk in care crisis; Age UK warned that councils were already referring fewer elderly people into care.” Times of London. June 1, 2011. Tens of thousands of vulnerable elderly people in care are facing an uncertain future as Britain’s biggest private provider of care homes today runs out of money to pay the rent. Southern Cross Healthcare, which runs 750 care homes, is cutting rental payments by a third in a stand-off with its landlords. The financial crisis leaves the 31,000 residents facing an anxious wait to learn whether the business will go bust, if the landlords will seize back the homes or if the company’s survival plan can work, amid fears that standards of care will decline. Local authorities are watching anxiously as they have a legal obligation to step in and provide care for any elderly people left stranded by a crash in the private sector. Age UK warned that councils across the country were already referring fewer elderly people into care, and underpaying fees to care home providers by as much as £500 million a year. If a number of residential homes closed suddenly, and clients had to move to other accommodation, lives could be at risk, the charity said. Bondcare, another private care home provider that also leases properties to Southern Cross, said: “If Southern Cross goes into administration, the care of these residents in our view would be jeopardised.” Morale at Southern Cross, which employs 44,000 people, is at an all-time low, according to one employee who spoke to The Times, citing recent problems such as staff leaving their jobs without notice, and delays in being paid. The company blamed the problem on new payroll software. All councils have a duty of care if homes have to shut, which includes transferring the elderly to a different care home or bringing in temporary local authority managers.
Related stories:
“Southern Cross cuts rent payments without landlord agreement.” Independent. June 1, 2011.
“Southern Cross slashes rent to avoid mass care home closure; Experts warn that care home provider could soon collapse into administration.” Guardian. June 1, 2011.
“Let Southern Cross care homes company go under, former boss says.” Times of London. June 3, 2011.
“Southern Cross care fiasco sheds light on secretive world of private equity; Critics are asking how the provision of social care was allowed to be bought and sold like any common or garden commodity.” Guardian. June 3, 2011.
“Making a killing from care; City investors have reaped millions from Britain’s care homes, but now the biggest firm is close to collapse. What went wrong?” Times of London. June 5, 2011.

“Money guru enlisted to sell tuition fees as costing two pints and a bag of crisps;
Oxford University dons will debate a no-confidence motion in David Willetts.” By Joanna Sugden. Times of London. June 1. 2011. Ministers have drafted in the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com to help to explain the new tuition fees system and stop poorer families from being deterred from sending their children to university, The Times has learnt. Martin Lewis, who has just been named by The Grocer magazine as the most powerful person on the high street, met senior ministers to work out how best to communicate the changes once universities start charging £9,000 a year from next year. The Government wants families to think of student debt as weekly repayments of £7.50 — the cost of two pints of beer and a packet of crisps or a bottle of wine. It comes as academics at the University of Cambridge called for a vote of no confidence in David Willetts, the Universities Minister, and the Government’s higher education policies. It follows similar moves by dons at Oxford, who will debate a motion of no confidence next week. Mr Willetts and Simon Hughes, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, are desperate to stop the prospect of debts of up to £40,000 upon graduation damaging social mobility.
Related story:
“‘No confidence’ in David Willetts, say Cambridge university dons.” Guardian. June 1, 2011.

“Sleek and shiny tribute to a city that’s always been on the move.” By Katherine O’Donnell. Times of London. June 2, 2011. In a recession-hit city, it is a building that proudly proclaims its faith in the future. Glasgow’s £74 million Transport Museum, designed by one of the world’s leading architects and displaying the city’s engineering history, threw open its doors for inspection yesterday — a symbol of the regeneration of post- industrial Clydeside. Viewed on an overcast day, the flowing silver waves of Zaha Hadid’s Riverside Museum blends with the sky and the water. The entrance stretches upward in jagged steel points. Inside it is painted lime green. Cars from across the decades are parked on bays up a wall and bicycles hang from the ceiling. A tram is accompanied by a film about the dances that it would carry youngsters to in the 1950s. There is a 1940s locomotive that was built in Glasgow and shipped out to South Africa. A street from the late-1800s has been rebuilt, complete with a horse-drawn carriage. Colin MacRae’s World Rally-winning Subaru Impreza is there, as is Graeme Obree’s hand-made bike on which he became world cycling champion. The Tall Ship Glenlee is moored outside after a £1.5 million refit. Yesterday, curators from Glasgow Life, which runs the city’s museums, were unpacking the last of the boxes before its public opening on June 21. They have been shifting the exhibits from the old Transport Museum. Work began on the new building in 2007 and it will hold more than 3,000 items

“Supporting the Arts; Companies and philanthropists deserve recognition for their generosity to the arts.” No by-line. Times of London. June 3, 2011. When a young Tom Stoppard was asked what his fêted new play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead was about, he shot back: “It’s about to make me very rich.” It did. But not all theatre is so successful that it can pay its own way. Even critically lauded drama does not always make money. Ever since the Medici, the purses of the rich have nurtured art, to the benefit of both benefactor and artist. The names of philanthropists embellish Britain’s artistic landscape, from the Tate and the Courtauld to the Wallace Collection and the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing. But many more, companies and individuals, sign cheques without which our cultural life would be drearier. Many earn credit for their generosity; others do not, and make do with the private warmth that comes from knowing they have enriched us all. As the demands on the Government’s cash in a time of austerity swell, theatres, museums, concert halls and galleries realise that they must nourish the culture of private philanthropy that is healthy in Britain, but which truly flourishes in the United States with the help of endowment funds and the encouragement of charitable tax breaks. To play its part in this marriage of culture and cash, from today The Times will be crediting major sponsors of shows, operas and concerts at the end of reviews where we deem it appropriate. Some may be businesses, such as Unilever, which sponsors the Tate’s Turbine Hall, or BP, which backs the National Portrait Gallery’s Portrait Award. Others will be arts philanthropists, such as the Clore Duffield, Jerwood or Paul Hamlyn foundations. A mention may not serve as an inducement. It is less still a bribe. But it is certainly a recognition of a good deed in what might otherwise be a wearier world.

“Camelot sets all-time sales record.” By Katherine Griffiths. Times of London. June 3, 2011. The lottery operator Camelot has delivered £1.7 billion to good causes in its most recent financial year, as sales hit a record high. Camelot, which runs games including Lotto and National Lottery scratchcards, reported sales across all channels of £5.8 billion in the year to March 31, beating its previous all-time high, in 1997-98, of £5.5 billion. The number of players has increased by 5 per cent in the last five years, and total sales are up by 20.4 per cent since the second lottery licence was granted in 2002. Dianne Thompson, the chief executive of Camelot Group, said that the National Lottery had outperformed other lotteries in a challenging economic climate. Camelot said that its new Thunderball game, which is similar to the core Lotto game and was relaunched in May last year, boosted sales, as did the Euromillions draw. Draw-based games experienced a sales increase of nearly 5 per cent, and the sales of instant-play games, such as scratchcards, increased by nearly 8 per cent. Camelot, which is owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, was awarded the National Lottery franchise in 1993 and sells tickets to 28,500 retailers across Britain.

“Oxfordshire cuts test ‘big society’ as librarians are replaced with volunteers; Professional staff also to be removed from libraries in David Cameron and culture minister Ed Vaizey’s constituencies.” By Patrick Wintour. Guardian. June 2, 2011. David Cameron’s faith in the “big society” is to be put to the test after Oxfordshire county council announced that professional staff are to be removed from six libraries in his Witney constituency, leaving them to be staffed by volunteers. The culture minister Ed Vaizey will also see two libraries in his neighbouring constituency of Wantage stripped of staff by the Conservative-controlled county council, leaving a mix of volunteers and professional staff to run them. The council has decided to keep only 22 of the constituency’s 43 libraries fully staffed, but had planned to close 20. Cameron will be relieved that libraries are to be kept open in Banbury, Chipping Norton and Witney within his constituency. Oxfordshire council insists it did not make its decisions on the basis of political lobbying by prominent local MPs, but according to where people live, work, shop and study. There will be a four-month consultation on the libraries plan, with no changes until the start of the next financial year in April. The initial plan to close libraries outright led to a wave of protests including some involving authors such as Philip Pullman, Colin Dexter and Mark Haddon. The shadow libraries minister Gloria De Piero said: “Volunteers have a role to play in libraries, but I would be amazed if you could run libraries by volunteers alone. It is a professional job.

“First skills report on small charities reveals severe shortage; Small charities need skills and support, not ‘big society’, to continue helping communities, says Pauline Broomhead.” By Pauline Broomhead. Guardian. June 1, 2011. As Small Charity Week approaches, the small charity sector – is anything more “big society” than that? – will pause to mark its achievements. The publication of the first skills report focused exclusively on small charities will identify their skills gaps and shortages. The Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI), which supports small charities and is a Guardian Charity Awards partner, undertook the research. So what does it tell us? First, the hardest vacancies to fill are for fundraisers. Fundraising is a highly specialised field where the best people are often snapped up by large organisations with immense salary and development budgets. In a big fundraising team, a fundraiser might specialise in one area, say trusts and foundations or community fundraising, where they can tailor the charity’s message to a target audience day in, day out. In a smaller charity, a fundraiser must master a whole range of audiences, presenting to a corporate one day, making the case to a major donor the next. FSI was set up to provide free training for small charities in fundraising methodologies and help them build a “mixed-income economy”, with a balance of voluntary, earned and statutory income. Action Acton, a small charity we have worked with, promotes economic and community regeneration in west London. It runs a number of vibrant social enterprises and has won government contracts. We helped them to increase their income from fundraising. Second, half of the charities in the report say they need more skills in the vital area of impact reporting. Understanding the need for a rigorous impact monitoring framework is essential for two reasons. The data collected is vital for demonstrating impact to all stakeholders, not least funders and donors. We lead by example here, publishing an annual impact report on all areas of our work. Charities need to demonstrate that they are delivering real results in a sustainable, cost-effective manner. But the strongest communication tool is a charity’s work with its beneficiaries. The stories of lives transformed by the intervention of an organisation committed to making a real difference to a community will always trump the latest marketing line being churned out by consumer advertising agencies.

“Top dons create new Oxbridge; A C Grayling has secured multi-million-pound funding from private investors to create an institution that will charge £18,000 a year for tuition.” By Jack Grimston. Times of London. June 5, 2011. Some of Britain’s best-known academics are to launch a private university to rival Oxford and Cambridge, charging students £18,000 a year for tuition. The philosopher A C Grayling has secured multi-million-pound funding from private investors to create an institution modelled on America’s elite liberal arts colleges. In addition to teaching by 14 “star” professors, the for-profit college will offer students weekly one-to-one tutorials, which Grayling argues are being reduced in their traditional Oxbridge strongholds because of cost-cutting. New College of the Humanities, based in Bloomsbury, central London, will start taking applications from next month and will begin the first of its three-year undergraduate courses in autumn 2012. It is the forerunner of what could be a new breed of American-style private colleges, exempt from the government’s £9,000 cap on fees and able to charge a premium price for high-quality teaching. Ministers are keen to encourage new institutions to compete with existing universities. The 14 professors behind the project, all of whom will teach, include Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist; the historians Sir David Cannadine, Linda Colley and Niall Ferguson; Steven Pinker, the psychologist; Sir Christopher Ricks, former Oxford professor of poetry; and Steve Jones, the geneticist.

“Help for Heroes to hit £100 million mark.” By Tom Lawrence. Independent. June 5, 2011. Armed Forces charity Help for Heroes is set to reach £100 million in public donations – just three and a half years after it was formed. It is hoped its latest fundraising event – a bike ride through the battlefields of France – will push donations past the milestone. More than 300 Help for Heroes supporters will begin the The Big Battlefield Bike Ride from Portsmouth later today, finishing the journey in Paris on Friday. The charity was founded by Bryn and Emma Parry in October 2007 and has so far raised £98.07 million. It has spent almost £90 million on various projects and is currently building five personal recovery centres for wounded servicemen across the UK. Its patrons include Victoria Cross holder Johnson Beharry, television presenter Jeremy Clarkson, actor Ross Kemp and cricketer Sir Ian Botham.

WORLD CUP/FIFA SCANDAL

“Soccer’s Governing Body Faces Heightened Scrutiny.” By John Revill. Wall Street Journal. May 31, 2011. The president of global soccer’s global governing body on Monday brushed off allegations that the organization is in crisis, as it faced intensifying allegations that both its decision to award the 2022 World Cup tournament to Qatar and its coming presidential election are tainted. FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter appeared alone at a Zurich press conference late Monday to cap a day of allegations and finger-pointing within the organization, whose control of the World Cup puts it in charge of one of the globe’s most popular sporting events. The crossfire has left Mr. Blatter the only candidate in Wednesday’s election for the presidency of FIFA, as the Fédération Internationale de Football Association is known. His only rival was one of two top officials suspended over the weekend pending an investigation into bribery allegations. Coca-Cola Co. has been an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup since 1978; its current agreement extends to 2022. “The current allegations being raised are distressing and bad for the sport,” said Petro Kacur, a company spokesman. “We have every expectation that FIFA will resolve this situation in an expedient and thorough manner.” Coca-Cola declined to say how much it pays for the sponsorship, which includes cash and in-kind products. On Monday, Mr. Blatter acknowledged the damage to FIFA’s reputation, then waved off the litany of allegations.
Related stories:
“FA calls on Fifa to postpone election as sponsors turn up heat; Blatter avoids questions.” Times of London. May 31, 2011.
“Summary of Times of London coverage of FIFA scandal, 9/2010-5/2011.” Times of London. May 31, 2011.
“Sponsors ‘distressed’ by Fifa corruption claims.” Independent. May 31, 2011.
“Fifa in crisis live blog: FA calls for Fifa elections to be postponed.” Guardian. May 31, 2011.
“FIFA President Heads for Re-Election as Crisis Grows.” Wall Street Journal. June 1, 2011.
“Fifa latest: Blatter unveils World Cup reform.” Times of London. June 1, 2011.
“Caught Offside: The reputation of Fifa cannot be repaired unless the only candidate, Sepp Blatter, steps aside.” Times of London. June 1, 2011.
“German FA demands an inquest into Qatar 2022 decision.” Times of London/Reuters. June 1, 2011.
“Fifa farce as whistleblower ‘sacked then reinstated’.” Times of London. June 1, 2011.
“FA fail to stop Fifa presidential election.” Independent. June 1, 2011.
“Fifa presidential election – live blog!“ Guardian. June 1, 2011.
“Sepp Blatter announces World Cup host vote changes.” BBC News. June 1, 2011.
“Sepp Blatter set for Fifa presidential re-election.” BBC News. June 1, 2011.
“FIFA’s President Wins Reelection.” All Things Considered/National Public Radio. June 1, 2011
“Soccer Leader Wins Vote, Immune to Scandal.“ New York Times. June 1, 2011.
“Even if Blatter is crowned today, the game’s up.” Times of London. June 1, 2011.
“President of Soccer Body Is Re-Elected; Blatter Will Lead Soccer’s World-Cup Organizer Despite Allegations of Payoffs That Have Rocked His Tenure.” Wall Street Journal. Associated Press. June 2, 2011.
“Insight: Argentina’s Fifa rep targeted by Qatar; A leaked memo reveals plans by the Middle East state to help leading Argentine clubs get out of debt.” Times of London. June 5, 2011.

ZIMBABWE

“Mugabe Ally Escalates Push to Control Anglican Church.” By Celia W. Dugger. New York Times. May 29, 2011. eligion, like politics, is often a dangerous business in this country. As President Robert Mugabe, 87, pushes for an election this year, the harassment of independent churches seen as hostile to his government has intensified. Truncheon-wielding riot police officers stormed a Nazarene church here in the capital last month to break up a gathering called to pray for peace. Days later, the authorities in Lupane arrested a Roman Catholic priest leading a memorial service for civilians massacred in the early years of Mr. Mugabe’s decades in power. Mr. Mugabe, a Roman Catholic, recently denounced black bishops in established churches as pawns of whites and the West, singling out for special opprobrium Catholic bishops who have “a nauseating habit of unnecessarily attacking his person,” the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported. But it is leaders of the Anglican Church, one of the country’s major denominations, who have lately faced the most sustained pressure. Nolbert Kunonga, an excommunicated Anglican bishop and staunch Mugabe ally, has escalated a drive to control thousands of Anglican churches, schools and properties across Zimbabwe and southern Africa.

MEDIA

“The Real Significance of WikiLeaks: The muckraker of the 21st century, WikiLeaks can narrow the information gap between the powerful and the weak.” By Yochai Benkler. American Prospect. May 30, 2011. Book review of: David Leigh and Luke Harding, Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy; New York Times staff, Open Secrets: Wikileaks, War, and American Diplomacy; Micah L. Sifry, Wikileaks and the Age of Transparency.

RELIGION

“Paws and worship: Ministry embraces pet owners, animals.” By Bella English. Boston Globe. May 30, 2011. Welcome to the Perfect Paws Pet Ministry, which marked its first anniversary this month. To celebrate, there’s cake and cookies for the humans, dog cupcakes and chewies for their pets. Folding chairs are set up in the parish hall — “it’s easier to clean,’’ explains the minister — and a few dozen people, two dozen dogs in tow, fill them. The idea for the ministry had its roots in an annual “blessing of the animals’’ in a local park, which attracts dozens of celebrants. Keith-Lucas thought a regular service might be a good way to draw newcomers by celebrating all of God’s creatures and the human-animal bond. “I think that relationship can be a way people experience God’s unconditional love, and they feel called to look beyond their needs and help another being, and that can help them grow spiritually,’’ she said. But what about traditionalists who might say that church is no place for animals? After a local newspaper reported last year on the new service, some online commentators took issue. One accused Keith-Lucas of “making a mockery of Christ and his church . . . by turning the church into a dog pound.’’ Someone else called her “dogmatic.’’ At Our Lady of Mount Carmel Mission in East Boston, Sister Mary Bernadette said she believes a church service that includes animals is distracting. “We go to church to worship God and raise our minds and hearts to God,’’ she said. “Now you put a kitty on my lap and I’m going to be very divided. God made the kitty, it is true, and as much as the animals can have a place in our life, when it comes to those moments where we are coming before God, humans can do that in a manner that animals can’t.’’ But others defend the service — some citing St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.

“Crossing the Church-State Divide by Ark.” Editorial. New York Times. May 30, 2011. The American landscape is dotted with tourist attractions created with the help of government subsidies bestowed in the name of economic development. Think of the cheese museum in Rome, N.Y. A project just approved in Kentucky pushes the constitutional envelope. The Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority granted more than $40 million in tax incentives for a planned $172 million Bible-based theme park, featuring a full-size replica of Noah’s ark, complete with live animals. Conceived by the Christian ministry that built the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., the Ark Encounter park aims to promote a literal interpretation of the Bible by “proving” that Noah had room on his vessel to fit two of every kind of animal. Ark Encounter is owned by a profit-making company, of which the ministry is a part owner. The project enjoys strong support from Kentucky’s Democratic governor, Steve Beshear, who says it is an opportunity to create an estimated 900 jobs. We suspect he is also eager to please an important political constituency. Under current Supreme Court doctrine, Kentucky’s support of the proselytizing theme park seems likely to withstand a possible church-state legal challenge, assuming state officials were scrupulous in applying the neutral financial criteria in the state’s economic development law. It is not even clear that the court’s conservative majority would find taxpayers have standing to sue. But granting tax incentives to the explicitly Christian enterprise clearly clashes with the First Amendment’s prohibition on government establishment of religion. Public money is not supposed to pay to advance religion. Kentucky’s citizens should certainly ask themselves if this is really the best use of taxpayer dollars.

SCANDAL

“Unforgiven, and never forgotten; At Camp Good News, a counselor suspected of abuse went unchecked, and there may have been others. Now, more than a dozen former campers are coming forward, hoping justice will at last be done.” By Sally Jacobs and Shelley Murphy. Boston Globe. June 5, 2011. Charles “Chip’’ Lewis found the naked boys by accident. A longtime counselor at Camp Good News, a Christian summer camp on Cape Cod, Lewis had recently moved into a cabin with another staffer in the summer of 1997. When he logged on to his cabin-mate’s computer to check his own e-mail, images of boys engaged in lurid sexual acts materialized on the screen. Unwilling to believe that the pornography belonged to the staffer he lived with and knew well, Lewis deleted the images and set the matter aside. But when more photos of naked boys appeared on the computer in the coming weeks, Lewis informed the camp’s director, Faith Willard.
The next day, Willard and Lewis confronted Charles “Chuck’’ Devita, the camp’s groundsman and former boating director. As Lewis recalls it, Willard asked Devita only one question: Are you a homosexual? Devita, then 29, said he was not and explained that he had stumbled upon the images by accident. Apparently satisfied, Willard suggested that they pray. Fourteen years later that decision is the subject of intense scrutiny as Camp Good News has become engulfed in a mushrooming cloud of allegations of sexual abuse committed by members of its staff. The accusations come from former campers moved to act after Senator Scott Brown’s revelation in February that he had been abused at a Cape Cod summer camp, later identified as Camp Good News. Since then, at least 14 former campers have come forward, to an attorney or to police, alleging they were sexually assaulted there from the 1970s through 2000. They have identified Devita and four other staffers as their abusers. Authorities would not comment on whether criminal charges are likely to be brought against any of the other camp workers, given the many years since the alleged incidents. But it remains a possibility, since some of those accused of molesting campers have left the state — meaning the statute of limitations may have not have run out in some cases.

ADVOCACY & POLITICS

“IRS To Take On Karl Rove? Tax Laws Could Take A Bite Out Of Secret Political Spending.” No by-line. Huffington Post. May 25, 2011. Top Republican political strategist Karl Rove’s method of secretly funneling unlimited contributions from big donors was so hugely successful in the 2010 campaign that Democrats are now trying to copy it. But his model may yet end up backfiring spectacularly. In one scenario, groups like Rove’s Crossroads Grassroots Political Strategies could find themselves subject to massive fines, ranging as high as 35 to 70 percent of the money they received in secret donations. In another scenario, their deep-pocket donors could be hit by a 35 percent tax on their contributions. Rove may well have found a way around the nation’s federal election laws. But now the key question is whether the Internal Revenue Service is willing to be assertive. Because if it is, then just like with Al Capone, it could be the IRS that gets him. In Crossroads GPS’s solicitations for money, the group describes itself as a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organization, and due to a controversial loophole in federal campaign finance rules, the names of donors to those organizations do not have to be disclosed publicly. But contrary to popular belief, Rove’s group has not formally attained 501(c)(4) status. The group’s application, requesting the IRS to classify it as a “social welfare” group, is still pending. And while the designation is typically not much more than a formality — organizations routinely call themselves (c)(4) groups before they’ve been formally approved — tax and campaign finance experts contacted by The Huffington Post said the IRS could well deny Crossroads GPS’s application.

“The Influence Industry: ‘Super PACs’ could test campaign finance law.” Washington Post. May 25. 2011. [For story, go to Law & Public Policy].

“Conservative Group Wins Nonprofit Status From I.R.S.” By Stephanie Strom. New York Times. May 26, 2011. The Internal Revenue Service has granted nonprofit status to the group that brought down two senior executives at NPR and dealt a death blow to the community organizing group Acorn with videos of its employees giving tax advice to people claiming to be a pimp and prostitute. Project Veritas, a group founded by the videographer James O’Keefe, received the status from the I.R.S. in April, according to documents gathered by The Chronicle of Philanthropy through a Freedom of Information Act request. “It will help us expand as an organization and institution,” Mr. O’Keefe said in an interview on Thursday. He said the money saved with the status would help Project Veritas train and equip “an army” of citizen journalists to carry out its mission: “to investigate and expose corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud and other misconduct in both public and private institutions in order to achieve a more ethical and transparent society.” The organization applied for tax exemption in August and received one request for further information from the I.R.S. before it granted approval. The Chronicle of Philanthropy has posted all of the documents the tax agency gave it, along with analysis. Mr. O’Keefe catapulted onto the national stage in 2009 when, armed with a hidden camera and accompanied by a partner dressed as a prostitute, he caught Acorn workers on tape offering advice about how to finance a brothel.
Related story:
“IRS Grants Nonprofit Status To James O’Keefe’s ‘Project Veritas’.” Huffington Post. May 26, 2011.

“Judge Voids Ban on Campaign Donations by Business.” New York Times. May 27, 2011. [For story, go to Law & Public Policy].

“A Further Overreach on Political Money.” Editorial. New York Times. May 28, 2011. The spree of big-money political campaigning — and the corruption that comes with it — seemed guaranteed to worsen Thursday when a federal judge in Virginia ruled that corporations are now free to make direct donations to federal candidates.
District Court Judge James Cacheris claimed his decision was consistent with the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United case. But his interpretation of corporate free speech rights goes much further — and strains all credibility. The Supreme Court specifically said that the Citizens United ruling was about allowing corporate expenditures through independent campaign groups. A separate Supreme Court decision from 2003, Federal Election Commission v. Beaumont, still stands and leaves no doubt that the ban on corporate donations to candidates remains the law. Judge Cacheris would seem to twice overrule Supreme Court decisions — a hierarchical impossibility as any law student should know. (A federal judge in Minnesota previously ruled that the ban on corporate donations to candidates still stands.) Of course, in politics there is the law of the land and there is the tireless frenzy for money. Whether Judge Cacheris — who issued his opinion, as he said, “for better or worse” — meant to blur the two remains to be seen. His decision deserves to be struck down on appeal for “equating apples and oranges,” as Mark Lytle, the prosecutor in the case, said of the judge’s overreach. Judge Cacheris’s ruling struck down part of an indictment accusing two businessmen of illegally reimbursing employees for their donations to Hillary Clinton’s campaigns for president and the Senate. They are charged with paying more than $180,000 to 43 fake donors in an effort to evade donation limits. Most of the indictment still stands, with a trial scheduled in July. Campaign money bundlers will keep pushing the limits wherever and however they can — and the integrity of our electoral system will pay the price. The courts need to do a far better job of pushing back.

“A century of advocacy.” No by-line. Boston Globe. May 29, 2011.
1911 > The Boston NAACP is recognized as the organization’s first local branch.
1914 > The local branch persuades the Boston School Committee to remove a book containing racist language, Forty Best Songs, from schools.
1938 > The branch wins an extradition case preventing a fugitive from a Georgia chain gang caught in Boston from being sent back, a case that helped end Georgia’s chain-gang system.
1948 > Florence Lesueur is elected branch president, the first woman in NAACP history to lead a local branch.
1953 > The branch pushes the Meadows Restaurant in Framingham to hire a black waiter, marking the first time in the state that a major restaurant serving a white clientele had black and white servers working in the same dining room.
1960s > The branch battles with the city over segregation in its schools and in housing developments, and over a lack of code enforcement in privately owned apartments. Membership, at more than 5,000 people, is at its peak.
1972 > The branch files a lawsuit against the Boston School Committee over segregated schools, leading to the 1974 desegregation order by federal judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr.
1980s > The city’s housing authority, under legal pressure from the Boston NAACP, agrees to desegregate its developments in a landmark settlement.
1990s > The national NAACP removes the Boston branch president and assumes oversight of local operations. The branch later gets new leadership and sets out to rebuild its reputation.
2000s > The Boston branch fights to have minority leaders and minority-owned companies at the forefront during the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.
2010 > Membership is lagging, then Michael Curry, a lawyer, lobbyist, and NAACP insider, runs for branch president and wins over former state senator Bill Owens. Curry’s goal: reestablishing the branch’s voice.

ARTS & CULTURE

“A Move by City Opera Has Potential, as Well as Possible Pitfalls.” By Anthony Tommasini. New York Times. May 22, 2011. After talking, fantasizing and plotting about it for years, New York City Opera is moving out of Lincoln Center. Immediately! Or so the company said on Friday in a stunning, if very sketchy, announcement from George Steel, the general manager and artistic director. This news came after intense meetings between Mr. Steel and the board to deal with the struggling company’s financial crisis and rake over the disappointing box-office receipts for the recently concluded season, Mr. Steel’s second. Concerned supporters of the company were expecting news on Friday. But all they were hoping for was an announcement of next season’s productions. Given the financial straits, it seemed possible that there would be no next season or that City Opera might even go under. There will be a 2011-12 season, Mr. Steel asserted, though once again a limited one of just five full productions, including two smaller-scale operas in modest stagings. As to what works these will be and who will be singing them, let alone the pressing question of where they will be presented, all those details are to come, Mr. Steel said.
Related story:
“Singers’ Union to Opera: Halt.” Wall Street Journal. May 27, 2011.

“Asia Society Appoints Two Leaders.” By Kate Taylor. New York Times. May 22, 2011. The balance of power between the United States and Asia has shifted dramatically since 1956, when John D. Rockefeller III founded the Asia Society to promote greater understanding of Asia in the United States. In response, the Asia Society is shifting its center of gravity from New York to its outposts in Hong Kong, Mumbai, Manila and elsewhere. As part of this effort, the Asia Society is for the first time naming two leaders of the board, one based in the United States and one in Asia. Henrietta Holsman Fore, a former chief of the United States Agency for International Development, and Ronnie C. Chan, a real estate developer in Hong Kong and China, will assume joint leadership of the board on June 10, taking over from Charles R. Kaye. Ms. Fore is the first woman and Mr. Chan the first Asian, to lead the board. Next year the Asia Society will open a new $52 million center in Hong Kong, which will include a museum, theater, cafe, event spaces and offices. The society’s president, Vishakha Desai, said in an e-mail that the decision to have two leaders was part of an effort to further develop programs, influence and fund-raising in Asia.

“Artists try farmers’ tactic, selling community shares.” By Laura Collins-Hughes. Boston Globe. May 23, 2011. Andrew Galland is all in favor of buying locally. That’s one reason he purchased a share in a CSA: a community-supported agriculture program that, for a few hundred dollars, will deliver a box of fresh Massachusetts vegetables each week of the growing season to a drop-off near his house in Somerville. The 34-year-old software designer just signed up for another kind of CSA, too, but this one won’t bring him arugula or eggplant. His $300 share in Community Supported Art will get him three monthly assortments of locally created artworks — nine pieces in all, his to keep. CSArt, a new project of the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, is modeled on a wildly popular Minnesota art CSA, which has inspired groups in Chicago and Frederick, Md., to create their versions. And some glassmakers in Burlington, Vt., independently adopted the CSA form last year. The success of the Minnesota program is due in part to the fact that it’s based on something people understand, said Laura Zabel, executive director of Springboard for the Arts, one of the groups that developed it. “We pretty much took that model wholesale from community-supported agriculture,’’ she said.

“National Pinball Museum to close.” By Lori Aratani. Washington Post. May 23, 2011. Just five months after opening its doors to delighted pinheads and wizards across the D.C. region, Georgetown’s National Pinball Museum is being forced to close. David Silverman, the Silver Spring man whose dream it was to share his pinball collection with the masses, said Monday that he has received a letter informing him that he will have to vacate his third-floor space at the Shops at Georgetown Park in mid-July. For more than three decades, Silverman dreamed of opening a museum to showcase his collection of more than 800 pinball machines and to share the history of a game that was first played by French aristocrats. After a story about Silverman appeared in The Washington Post, a leasing agent at the Georgetown center approached him with the idea of opening the museum at the mall. Silverman spent six months renovating a third-floor space that once housed an FAO Schwarz toy store and put up $300,000 of his own money to make the project happen. The National Pinball Museum opened in December. The museum features 200 pinball machines, some of which were available for visitors to play, as well as displays detailing the art and history of the game. Silverman also highlighted the work of game designers and artists. Silverman said he remains committed to keeping the museum alive.

“New York Public Library: 100 Years Of Open Doors.” By Joel Rose. All Things Considered/National Public Radio. May 23, 2011. The marble lion “Fortitude,” one of a pair created by Edward Clark Potter in 1911, is seen at the main entrance to the New York Public Library on May 20. The marble lions — and the library they represent — have been photographed millions of times by an adoring public, and they’ve appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, including Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Ghostbusters and The Day After Tomorrow. The New York Public Library is not a modest building. The steps on Fifth Avenue lead up to a waiting room with grand marble columns — and zero books. Library President Paul LeClerc explains that the founders of the library were trying to send a message. New York has always been a ferociously ambitious city, even when there wasn’t very much to show off,” he says. “Those involved in creating this library wanted to create something that was on a par with the great libraries of the European capitals, especially London, Paris and Berlin.” Plus they needed to build something bigger and flashier than Boston’s library. Hence the majestic main reading room at the New York Public Library, which stretches for two city blocks. Beneath it lie the stacks, where the library keeps many of its 50 million items. The library is open to anyone, and you can ask to read virtually anything you want, no questions asked.

“Bringing the World to America.” By Earle Hitchner. Wall Street Journal. May 26, 2011. By the time 70-year-old Robert Browning retired earlier this month as executive and artistic director of the not-for-profit World Music Institute, he had already spent more than half his life presenting concerts of international music and dance in New York. The numbers just since he and his wife, Helene, launched WMI in 1985 are stunning: an average of 60 concerts annually, with a cumulative total of more than 1,500 music and dance groups and soloists from more than 100 countries appearing in more than a dozen venues in or near Manhattan. The influence of WMI also extends well beyond the city through several U.S. tours the organization helped arrange for foreign artists. “It is rare to find someone who runs nonprofit gigs in such a thoroughly professional way,” said singer Karan Casey from her home in Cork, Ireland. “Consistently Robert has placed Irish traditional music in top-class venues, and this has made a huge difference to the musicians and audiences he has nurtured.” That nurturing began positively on Fourth Street in 1975 at the Alternative Center for International Arts. It was founded by Mr. Browning and his friend Geno Rodriguez in 1974, the year Mr. Browning immigrated to New York from London, where he had studied visual arts and went on to create kinetic, edgy installations using inflatable art with avant-garde musicians and dancers. That passion for bold, eclectic fine art, coupled with his interest in Indian, Spanish and British folk music, jazz, blues, and “the various extremes of classical music,” shaped Mr. Browning’s co-directorship of the Alternative Center. “It started as a gallery to give exposure to painters and sculptors outside the so-called SoHo arts scene,” Mr. Browning explained by phone from his Brooklyn home. “Geno and I realized a lot of recent immigrants living here were talented, if neglected, artists, so we held exhibitions for them. One day an Argentinean musician walked in and said, ‘This would be a great place to have a concert.’ I had no prior experience in organizing or promoting concerts. So I told the musician that if he and his ensemble could bring in an audience, I’d borrow chairs from nearby Washington Square Church and let them perform. They brought in 150 people, and suddenly I was in concert production. Later, when a Brazilian group also asked to perform, I was scared stiff we’d lose our shirts by paying $500 to set it up. They drew a standing-room-only crowd of 250, dispelling my anxiety.”

“SFMOMA wing gently expands reach in early plans.” By John King. San Francisco Chronicle. May 26, 2011. The details are sketchy, but the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has released its design concept for a new wing that would double the size of the institution – a concept that aims to slide a block-long building into the landscape without causing a fuss. The expansion would stretch from Howard Street north to Minna Street behind the museum’s existing home, a length of 335 feet. The top height of 195 feet along Howard compares with the 163-foot peak of SFMOMA’s distinctive granite-rimmed skylight. But instead of a solid block, the architects envision something more like a weathered cliff that folds in on all sides to lessen the impact on views and not shade the museum’s popular sculpture garden. Dykers stressed that the concept is a work in progress. The material for the new wing’s skin hasn’t been selected. Architects are working with museum staff on how best to connect the new gallery spaces with the existing museum, a brick-covered box from 1995 that faces Third Street and was designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta. Still, the unveiling of what Dykers called “a preview of a preview” took place Wednesday with fanfare befitting a $250 million expansion that is shaping up as the city’s largest private development project between now and the planned opening in 2016. Along with images and a model, guests and the media had access to a buffet with cheeses, breads, a broad bowl of ripe berries and three California wines.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/arts/music/survival-strategies-for-orchestras.html?ref=todayspaper

“Survival Strategies for Orchestras.” By Vivien Schweitzer. New York Times. May 25, 2011.
From the recent string of crises at symphony orchestras you might conclude that orchestral business models are as outdated as the musicians’ Victorian attire. The Philadelphia Orchestra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April; the Honolulu Symphony and the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra recently folded; and musicians of the Detroit Symphony had their pay cut after a six-month strike. In a turbulent economy that has carried a wide range of organizations, including arts groups, banks and newspapers, to the brink, orchestras are being forced to re-examine their missions and structures to accommodate a changing fiscal and social landscape. “Music Makes a City,” an engaging documentary from last year about the Louisville Orchestra that was just released on DVD, offers an inspiring and cautionary tale of creative chutzpah and financial mismanagement. The orchestra, which itself filed for bankruptcy in December, was founded shortly after the floods that crippled Louisville, Ky., in 1937.

CHARITY

“Dress Giveaway Helps Poor Kids Achieve Prom.” By Karen Grigsby Bates. Weekend Edition Saturday/National Public Radio. May 21, 2011. The high-school prom is a costly American rite of passage. Most kids consider it a must, but prom is out of reach for many students from poor families. Recently, the Assistance League of Los Angeles held its annual prom dress giveaway, a reward to girls from poor or homeless families for their high academic achievement despite the odds. It’s not the apex of their lives; it’s a payoff for their hard work and a gentle encouragement to stick to their goals. NPR’s Karen Grigsby Bates attended the giveaway. It’s the season for the prom, a ritual that seems to get more expensive each year. NPR’s Karen Grigsby Bates recently visited a group of young ladies in Southern California who were getting ready for their Cinderella moment courtesy of some real-life fairy godmothers. Most weeks, this dressing room at the Assistance League of Southern California is filled with low-income, elementary school-aged children. They come to be fitted with free clothes and shoes, courtesy of a local nonprofit. But for one special day each year, it’s all about prom. And, says Goodman, while the dresses may look like mere special event clothes, they’re really much more than that. They’re rewards for girls who have excelled, despite extraordinary challenges.

EDUCATION

CHARTER SCHOOLS

“Charter schools boosted by strong support on Education Committee.” By Christopher Cousins. Bangor Daily News. May 22, 2011. Charter schools in Maine came closer than they ever have to reality Friday when the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee voted in favor of a bill that would allow creation of up to 10 of them in the next 10 years. Despite opposition by the Maine Education Association and the associations for principals, superintendents and school boards, nine of the committee’s members favor the bill sponsored by Sen. Garrett Paul Mason, R-Lisbon Falls. The latest version of the bill, LD 1553, “An Act to Create a Public Charter School Program in Maine,” has not yet been printed after amendments were approved Friday. Public charter schools, which have been rejected by the Maine Legislature 17 times in the past, are educational institutions that allow more flexibility on issues such as curriculum and schedule but are still held to precise standards in state and federal laws. They cannot teach religious practices and cannot discriminate against students or teachers. The concept of charter schools was supported recently by the State Board of Education. A poll by Pan Atlantic SMS in Portland, which was funded by the charter schools association, showed that more than 65 percent of Mainers support charter schools. “With bipartisan support, the Education Committee has recognized that public charter schools can help to improve education in Maine,” said Roger Brainerd, executive director of the Maine Association for Charter Schools, in a press release. “After a thorough public hearing, the Education Committee made changes to the legislation that made it stronger and builds a strong foundation for public charter schools in Maine.” But not everyone agrees, including when it comes to the issue of whether the measure was vetted thoroughly in a public hearing. Rep. Stephen Lovejoy, D-Portland, said of major concern is the fact that only a couple of legislators on the Education Committee were present for most of the public hearing — and both of them were charter school supporters. Members of the House of Representatives were absent from the May 11 hearing because of a special session called to debate a controversial package of changes to the state’s health care laws, which eventually passed and has been signed into law by Gov. Paul LePage.

“L.A. County education officials OK Compton charter school; Celerity Educational Group’s petition to open a campus was rejected by Compton’s school board. But its successful appeal to L.A. County education officials means that a kindergarten through fifth-grade campus will operate in a neighborhood church.” By Teresa Watanabe. Los Angeles Times. May 26, 2011. Compton parents, stymied in their efforts to petition for sweeping changes at their low-performing elementary school, now have another choice: They can send their children to a newly approved charter campus instead. Celerity Educational Group announced Wednesday that its petition to start a school in Compton, which was rejected by the city school board, has been approved on appeal by Los Angeles County education officials. The group, which operates four schools throughout the area, plans to open the Compton program this fall for 220 children in kindergarten through fifth grade at a neighborhood church. Parents said they were jubilant to finally have another choice for their children besides McKinley Elementary School, where standardized test scores are rising but still rank in the bottom 10% of elementary schools statewide. The announcement marks the latest twist in the long battle over McKinley. The school has become a closely watched test case for the state’s new Parent Trigger law, which allows parents at low-performing schools to force staff and curriculum changes, school closure or conversion to a charter school. Charters are publicly financed, independently run schools. Parent Revolution, a Los Angeles educational advocacy group, helped organize McKinley parents to submit the state’s first Parent Trigger petition last December, asking that school management be turned over to Celerity. But the Compton school board rejected the petitions, saying that they were not properly drawn up. The group sued and a Los Angeles judge tentatively agreed, in part, with the board. Further arguments are scheduled for next month. As the parent group faltered on the legal front, Celerity moved forward with a separate and ultimately successful charter petition. Celerity founder and chief Vielka McFarlane said the new school will be named Celerity Sirius — after the brightest star in the night sky.

FOR-PROFIT SCHOOLS & COLLEGES

“For-Profit Colleges Spend Much Less On Educating Students Than Public Universities.” No by-line. Huffington Post. May 25, 2011. For-profit colleges devote less than a third of what public universities spend on educating students, even though the for-profit institutions charge nearly twice as much as their public counterparts for tuition, according to new federal government data released Thursday. Students attending bachelor’s degree programs at for-profit schools are also much less likely to graduate than students who attend public universities or private non-profit schools, concludes the report from the National Center for Education Statistics. One in five students graduate from for-profit bachelor’s degree programs within six years, compared to more than half of students at public universities. The new federal data lands amid fierce debate over the practices of for-profit colleges, which confront the stiffest government scrutiny in decades. The Obama administration has been crafting new rules aimed at preventing schools from promising more than they can deliver, in response to reports that many tout their training programs as stepping stones to lucrative careers only to set up students up for jobs whose wages will rarely keep pace with their resulting debt burdens. The for-profit industry relies heavily on federal student aid as part of its business model, but the industry is responsible for an increasing number of defaults in the federal student loan program. The Department of Education is expected to finalize the new rules within the next few weeks. The rules could limit federal student aid money flowing to programs at for-profit schools and some non-profit vocational programs that yield too many graduates who are unable to pay off their debts.

“For-profit colleges see major gains in past decade.” By Mary Beth Marklein. USA Today. May 26, 2011. Undergraduate enrollments increased by more than a third, to 17.6 million, in the first decade of the 21st century, with the most dramatic growth occurring at for-profit colleges, a federal report out today shows. It was the fastest decade of growth since the 1970s. The for-profit higher education sector posted a number of highs — and lows— in other findings, including the highest average price of attendance after grants are factored in, highest average loan amounts and the lowest spending per student on instruction, according to the report by the National Center for Education Statistics. It doesn’t capture more recent enrollment declines among some of the largest for-profit colleges in recent months as the sector weathers scrutiny from Congress and the Education Department. But NCES commissioner Jack Buckley said the “remarkable amount of growth” — for-profit colleges enrolled 9% of all undergraduates in 2009, up from 3% in 2000 — can’t be dismissed. For-profit enrollments increased five-fold, to 1.2 million, at four-year colleges, and nearly doubled, to 385,000 at two-year institutions. “We are seeing a shift” that has “created additional opportunities … (and) brought to light differences in how students pursue and pay for that education,” he said, adding that higher education “may look quite different” in 2020, when enrollments are projected to reach 20 million.

“Questions Follow Leader of For-Profit Colleges.” By Tamar Lewin. New York Times. May 26, 2011. In 2004, when Todd S. Nelson was chief executive of the University of Phoenix, the nation’s largest for-profit college, he signed a $9.8 million settlement with the Department of Education, which found that Phoenix had “systematically and intentionally” broken the federal rules against paying recruiters for students. Mr. Nelson is now chief executive of the nation’s second-largest for-profit college company, Education Management Corporation, or EDMC, and the Justice Department and two state attorneys general are intervening in a whistle-blower lawsuit charging that EDMC also violated the ban on what is known as incentive compensation. That practice encourages aggressive recruitment of unqualified students for their federal student aid. Given the cast of characters — along with Mr. Nelson, a half dozen former Phoenix executives are now at EDMC — the complaint against EDMC says that “senior management knows that the compensation system it administers violates the incentive compensation ban.” Phoenix never admitted any wrongdoing, either in the settlement with the Education Department or in a later $78.5 million settlement in the whistle-blower suit that had led to that inquiry. Education Management, which enrolls about 150,000 students at Argosy University, Brown Mackie College, South University and in its Art Institutes, has said it plans a vigorous defense.

“DKE sanctions may prove difficult to implement.” By David Burt and Jordi Gassó. Yale Daily News. May 27, 2011. Even though Yale’s undergraduate disciplinary body has issued sanctions against Delta Kappa Epsilon resulting from an inflammatory public pledge chant in October, it is still unclear whether the University will have any sway over the future of the fraternity. Yale College Dean Mary Miller announced the outcome of the Executive Committee’s disciplinary proceedings against DKE in a May 17 email to students and faculty. ExComm has prohibited DKE — which, like most Greek organizations on campus, is not registered under the Yale College Dean’s Office — from recruiting new members or holding any events on campus for five years. Miller said in her email that DKE has been asked to register as a student group, and that Yale requests that the fraternity’s national organization suspend the Yale chapter for five years. But higher education law experts said DKE’s status as an off-campus, unregistered student organization could make it difficult for the University to sanction the fraternity as a group. “It’s a big challenge for modern universities to deal with the gray space between on and off campus,” said Peter Lake, director for the Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy at Stetson University.

HIGHER EDUCATION

“NYU Expands Outside Village.” By Craig Karmin. Wall Street Journal. May 24, 2011. New York University’s efforts to expand its main campus in Greenwich Village have been curtailed by fierce local opposition, but the school is forging ahead with growth plans in Brooklyn and Manhattan’s East Side. NYU is also announcing that it has chosen the architecture firms Kohn, Pedersen, Fox Associates and EYP Architecture & Engineering to design a new 170,000-square-foot school on its First Avenue health corridor between 24th and 34th streets. The building will house a new bio-engineering program, an expansion of the dental school and the relocation of the nursing school from Washington Square. The new properties are part of NYU’s ambitious expansion plan to add up to six million square feet to the university by 2031 to coincide with its 200th anniversary. University officials say about half the new footprint will be around the campus’s core area by Washington Square Park, a prospect that has sparked heated opposition from many NYU neighbors who say the new buildings will flood the area with construction and other disruptions. Opponents scored a recent victory when NYU abandoned a controversial plan to add a 38-story building to I.M. Pei’s landmark three-tower plaza in Greenwich Village. Instead, the university shifted the proposed new tower, at a lower height, to a nearby site. Earlier this year, NYU also modified its requests for city land to expand the campus in the area. A Department of City Planning meeting on Tuesday to begin the process of assessing the potential environmental impact of NYU’s Greenwich Village expansion is already mobilizing local activists. “Let’s not let them have easy access to destroying our community,” Sylvia Rackow, a local resident, wrote in an email to her neighbors.
Related story:
“Critics Fault NYU Growth Plan.” Wall Street Journal. May 25, 2011.

“With $5 Million, Davis Founds NYU Institute.” By John Jurgensen. Wall Street Journal. May 24, 2011. The storied record executive Clive Davis can now officially be called an institution. With a new $5 million gift, he has created the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University. The donation marks the expansion of a department within NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts that he first endowed in his name in 2003 with a gift of the same amount. The program, designed as a pipeline into the industry for musicians, producers, managers and entrepreneurs, graduated its fourth class of students last week. Mr. Davis’s additional support will allow it to grow its enrollment (eventually to 80 students, from about 28), offer more scholarships, establish a feeder program for high-school students, and recruit additional faculty and guest instructors. Last year the program saw a 64% spike in early-decision applications, the highest percentage growth ever for a Tisch department, according to Mary Schmidt Campbell, the school’s dean. Mr. Davis said such benchmarks (and a solicitation from the dean) helped encourage him to renew his support, adding that his original goal was to create the equivalent of NYU’s film school, but in a field more typically associated with on-the-job training. A Brooklyn native and NYU graduate (class of 1953), Mr. Davis became the president of Columbia Records in 1967 after serving as the company’s chief counsel, cultivating talent ranging from Carlos Santana to Whitney Houston. The primary focus of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music is to effectively train students for a business that has been utterly transformed in the last decade. It offers instruction from high-profile professionals (during the most recent academic year, one of hip-hop’s most successful producers, Swizz Beatz, had a residency and offered students one-on-one training) and places an emphasis on capstone projects in which students design viable business plans.
Related story:
“Music Executive Giving $5 Million to N.Y.U. to Expand Music Business Program.” New York Times. May 24, 2011.

“Banning DKE? Yale should make its own decision regardless of public pressure.” Editorial. Harvard Crimson. May 24, 2011. In response to the now-notorious incident this past fall—in which both members and pledges of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity publicly chanted offensive and misogynistic phrases on campus—Yale has decided to restrict the fraternity’s activities for five years. Members will not be allowed either to recruit or to conduct any other on-campus activities, and the organization will have limited access to the Yale name. Interestingly enough, however, this was not the university’s initial solution to the problem. In fact, Yale had originally decided to penalize only the students involved, although the nature of the penalties was unclear due to federal privacy laws. To be sure, the actions of the students involved were reprehensible on many levels, and we need not explain here why the respective chants of “No Means Yes!” and “Yes Means Anal!” have no place on a college campus or in any other space. As comforting as it is to know that disciplinary action has been taken against the fraternity, however, we aren’t sure that the most appropriate decision was made. In our view, the university’s previous decision to impose individual sanctions against the offending students was a more appropriate reaction than the recent decision to suspend the activities of the fraternity as a whole. In other words, by punishing those involved, Yale demonstrated that it holds individual members of its community accountable for their actions. But in suspending the entire fraternity in a very public manner, the university seems more interested in appeasing a bloodthirsty public than it does in dealing with the incident and its perpetrators in the most reasonable, appropriate fashion possible.

“Professors to Koch Brothers: Take Your Green Back; No one ever questions George Soros money, but apparently this $1.5 million gift violates academic freedom.” By Donald Luskin. Wall Street Journal. May 25, 2011. Times are tough for state-funded colleges like Florida State University. After four years of budget trimming, FSU now faces an additional $19 million in cuts and a $40 million deficit. So it’s an inopportune moment to raise a stink over private donations of $1.5 million made three years ago. But that’s just what two FSU professors—Ray Bellamy of the College of Medicine and Kent Miller, professor emeritus of psychology—did earlier this month in an op-ed in the Tallahassee Democrat, arguing that the donations are “seriously damaging to academic freedom.” The piece set off a firestorm of warring newspaper editorials, blog posts and online petitions. What’s the beef? Like many large private gifts, the $1.5 million to FSU was given to endow programs in a designated subject specified by the donors. The professors’ problem in this case is the subject, the strings attached, and, most important, who the donors are. The subject being endowed, as described by the two protesting professors, is the “political ideology of free markets and diminished government regulation.” That’s an inflammatory way to describe a program which, according to its founding documents, is to study “the foundations of prosperity, social progress, and human well-being.” Such a program would seem to fit right into its home at FSU’s Stavros Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Economic Education, which was founded in 1988. Then there’s the donors. One of the donors, according to the two professors, is known for his “efforts to influence public policy, elections, taxes, environmental issues, unions, regulations, etc.” Whom might they be referring to? Certainly not George Soros—there’s never an objection to that billionaire’s donations, which always tend toward the political left. No, it’s Charles and David Koch, owners of Koch Industries.

“Deal on CSU, UC foundation disclosures.” By Nanette Asimov. San Francisco Chronicle. May 26, 2011. State university officials, who have fought to keep secret the financial details of how campus foundations manage nearly $2 billion, have withdrawn their opposition to public disclosure under a compromise with public records advocates and state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco. The agreement, meant to protect the identity of most donors, means the public is a step closer to being able to scrutinize foundations like the one at California State University Stanislaus that hired former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to speak at a fundraiser last year but wouldn’t say how much it was paying her until a judge ordered the contract made public. CSU and University of California officials say they will no longer oppose SB8, introduced by Yee, which would require campus foundations and other “auxiliary enterprises” such as campus bookstores to operate under the California Public Records Act. CSU has at least 23 foundations raising money for its campuses, and dozens of auxiliary enterprises, all managing more than $1.3 billion. Under the records actt, UC has one foundation for each of its 10 campuses, all managing more than $600 million. Lacking nonprofit status, UC’s auxiliaries already fall under the records act. So do community college foundations because, as local agencies, they are subject to the Brown Act, which mandates that city and county meetings be public. But a foundation run through the state office of Community College Chancellor Jack Scott would fall under the records act for the first time.

“Corporation Taps Three New Members.” By Zoe A. Y. Weinberg. Harvard Crimson. May 25, 2011. Three new fellows will join the Harvard Corporation in July, University President Drew G. Faust and Senior Fellow Robert D. Reischauer ’63 announced Wednesday—marking the first step in implementing the comprehensive program of Corporation reform enacted in December. Outgoing Tufts University President Lawrence S. Bacow, computer scientist Susan L. Graham ’64, and Boston businessman Joseph J. O’Donnell ’67 will join the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body. Their addition will give the Corporation more than seven members for the first time in its nearly 400-year history. The three new members were selected after a five-month search by the Corporation and three overseers, who reviewed at least 500 nominations. Two of the three members chosen Wednesday are local residents, continuing a trend that began with the selection of Boston lawyer William F. Lee ’72 as a fellow in 2010. Since his appointment, Lee has made a point of being present on Harvard’s campus. In the months before the announcement, some speculated that the expansion of the Corporation would also lead to more diversity in age and ethnicity among its members. However, Bacow, the youngest of the new members, is 59 years old, and all three are white. The Corporation undertook a review of its structure and functioning in 2008. In part, the impetus for the reforms was the precipitous drop in Harvard’s endowment, which led some faculty and alumni to call for the Corporation to become more transparent and accountable. Reischauer has said the reforms attempt to address these concerns.

“New Fellowship Pays For College Kids To Drop Out.” All Things Considered/National Public Radio. May 26, 2011. Michele Norris talks with entrepreneur Peter Thiel about his foundation’s latest endeavor: a fellowship that encourages young people with big ideas to drop out of college and pursue their dreams. The “Twenty Under Twenty” fellowship provides $100,000 over a two-year period to each of the recipients. Their projects range from technological advances to new educational ideas. Thiel suggests that higher education is over valued. And he argues that sometimes the university setting is actually an obstacle to innovation. Thiel is a co-founder of Pay Pal and an early investor in Facebook. Universities and colleges are thought of as incubators of big ideas, places where students in labs or classrooms not only learn but think thoughts that end up changing the world. Then, there are the people who say higher education is overrated. Entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel is one of them. He has deep pockets as a result of pursuing his own big ideas. Peter Thiel is a co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook. Now, he’s created a fellowship to give students under 20 years old a chance to ditch school and, as he says, begin to build the technology companies of tomorrow.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/us/29cncislamu.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

“Return of Islamic College Raises New Questions.” By David Lepeska. New York Times. May 28, 2011.
The American Islamic College, closed since 2004 when the state revoked its operating authority, is expected early next month to win approval to reopen. Supporters see the opening of the Chicago college, founded in 1981 in the Lakeview neighborhood, as an important step for Islamic instruction in the United States. But its detractors point to the college’s ties to a secretive and far-reaching international movement that has been accused of Islamism in some countries and of an overuse of non-immigrant work visas to hire foreign teachers in its schools in the United States. The movement, led by Fetullah Gulen, a Turkish religious leader living in self-imposed exile in rural Pennsylvania, supports scores of charter schools that have gained a reputation for academic achievement and a commitment to spreading Turkish language and culture. Yet the Gulen schools have caused widespread concern about possible manipulation of immigration laws and misallocation of taxpayer dollars. Mr. Gulen, an extremely wealthy and well-connected Turkish spiritual and political leader, fled Turkey amid charges of plotting to overthrow the secular government. He was acquitted of all charges in 2006. The college would become the second Islamic educational institution in the country to offer college-level credit. For Muslims in the area, it would be a rejoinder to those who depict followers of Islam as prone to extremism.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

“Catholic School in Harlem Is Closing Over Financial Woes.” By Jenny Anderson. New York Times. May 23, 2011. Rice High School, a Roman Catholic boys’ school in Harlem known equally for serious academics and excellent basketball players, announced on Monday that it would shut down at the end of the school year, after 73 years, because of financial difficulties. The board of directors voted to close the school after it became clear that it could neither attract enough students to make ends meet nor raise enough money to fill the gap. A statement issued by the board of trustees said, “The school hung on as long as it could to continue fulfilling its core mission of educating young men.” Student enrollment at Rice had dropped by 44 percent since 2003. Since such schools get a significant portion of their operating budgets from tuition, and Rice was at half of its capacity, administrators could not make ends meet. For years, the Christian Brothers, a teaching order dedicated to educating the poor that founded the school, had bridged the gap, providing $100,000 to $300,000 a year. But the head of school, Sister Patricia Ells, said this year that it could no longer do so. In early April, the chairman of the board of directors, Stephen Fitzgerald, said the school was trying to raise $5 million, in hopes of both erasing its $200,000 deficit and making up for the difference between the $10,000 the school spent on each student and the amount each one paid. The tuition was $5,750 a year, and 70 percent of the students received financial aid. At its peak, a decade ago, Rice had a $3 million endowment. But almost 40 percent of that was wiped out in the recent financial crisis, Mr. Fitzgerald said. By this year, the endowment had dwindled to $160,000, which was needed for maintenance of the school’s building, at 124th Street and Lenox Avenue, which costs about $425,000 annually.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

“Public Schools Charge Kids for Basics, Frills.” By Stephanie Simon. Wall Street Journal. May 25, 2011. Karen Dombi was thrilled when her three oldest children were picked for student government this year—not because she envisioned careers in politics, but because it was one of the few programs at their public high school that didn’t charge kids to participate. Medina City Schools are in deep financial trouble. To save their vaunted athletic and music programs, the district has enacted a policy that no one in the administration feels good about: Pay to play. WSJ’s Stephanie Simon reports from Medina, Ohio. Budget shortfalls have prompted Medina Senior High to impose fees on students who enroll in many academic classes and extracurricular activities. The Dombis had to pay to register their children for basic courses such as Spanish I and Earth Sciences, to get them into graded electives such as band, and to allow them to run cross-country and track. The family’s total tab for a year of public education: $4,446.50. “I’m wondering, am I going to be paying for my parking spot at the school? Because you’re making me pay for just about everything else,” says Ms. Dombi, a parent in this middle-class community in northern Ohio. Public schools across the country, struggling with cuts in state funding, rising personnel costs and lower tax revenues, are shifting costs to students and their parents by imposing or boosting fees for everything from enrolling in honors English to riding the bus. At high schools in several states, it can cost more than $200 just to walk in the door, thanks to registration fees, technology fees and unspecified “instructional fees.”

FINANCE

“Returns for foundations, charities slip in 2010; Investment returns for nonprofits totaled roughly 12% in 2010, down from about 21% the year before. Private equity real estate was the only asset class that sustained losses, a survey says.” By Timothy Inklebarger. Crain’s New York Business. May 25, 2011. Foundations and charities reported investment returns of roughly 12% in 2010, below the 21% range reported in 2009, with private equity real estate the only asset class that sustained losses, according a Commonfund Institute survey. Foundations had an average investment return of 12.5%, while operating charities returned an average 11.6% for the 2010 calendar year. Foundations returned an average 20.9% in 2009, and operating charities returned an average 21.5% for the same year. According to a report on the survey, the asset class consisting of energy and natural resources, commodities and managed futures was the best performer, returning 22.1% for the year. Following were domestic equities, at 17.7%; distressed debt, 15%; international equities, 14.5%; private equity 11.3%; alternative strategies, 10.6%; venture capital, 9.4%; short-term securities and cash, 9.2%; marketable alternative strategies, 9.1%; fixed income, 8.1%; and private equity real estate, -2.5%. Other category returned 10.6%. The average asset allocation for foundations at year-end 2010 was 38% alternatives, 26% domestic equities, 16% international equities, 13% fixed income and 7% short-term securities, cash and other investments. John Griswold, Commonfund’s executive director, said that private foundations typically do not receive additional donations above money used to establish themselves and must use investments for both normal operating costs and to regain assets lost to the financial crisis.

FUNDRAISING

“Precocious Power Brokers.” By Lizzie Simon. Wall Street Journal. May 28, 2011. The youth division of the Points of Life Institute, generationOn, on Thursday honored Laurie M. Tisch, Spike Lee and his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner and six young philanthropists ranging in ages between 7 and 17, who were dubbed Community Action Heroes. The evening raised more than $900,000. Mrs. Spitzer, in a figure-snugging white dress, admired her husband’s blue, iridescent tie. When Eliot Spitzer was asked if he’d had any philanthropic impulses as a child, he said, “I don’t want to pretend that I did. I was a typical kid.” The kids at this event were not typical at all. Max Wallack, 15, from Natick, Mass., is the founder of PuzzlesToRemember, which has collected more than 7,000 puzzles and distributed them to elderly patients with Alzheimer’s. In the past two years, Riley Hebbard, from Mechanicsburg, Pa., has shipped 18,000 toys to Lethoso, Zambia and Zimbabwe. She’s 7 years old. But these children aren’t just kind-hearted. They’re pint-size power brokers, each with his or her own website, business card and polished pitch. “I don’t even have a card,” said Sigourney Weaver. Perhaps the inimitable Mr. Lee had displayed comparable philanthropic impulses. “No,” he said, “as a kid in Brooklyn, I was just trying to get another piece of candy.”

“A Lights-Out Charity Dinner.” By Jen Wieczner. Wall Street Journal. May 28, 2011. The mood before the Foundation Fighting Blindness’s Dining in the Dark event was similar to the atmosphere before the curtain rises at a show. Guests anxiously anticipated the main attraction—the room would go dark, entrees would be served and guests would eat without seeing for 30 minutes. The lights-out experience happens around the country, both to raise awareness for the blind and to enhance sensory perception of eating. This week, a dinner at the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park raised $450,000. Blind servers worked the room by way of a rope maze strategically laced around tables. Guests, sighted and not, came up with guidelines: fill your wine glass before dinner, never let go of your fork and, a controversial point, don’t be afraid to use your hands. One blind waiter, Rick Mendez, alleviated concerns about diners spilling on themselves: “Nobody is going to see you.” Diners were warned: turn cellphones off, or spoil it for everyone. But as soon as the lights went down, cellphone screens flickered like fireflies in the pitch-dark ballroom. At times it was light enough to make out faces and the silhouette of a steak. “New Yorkers do this more than anyone,” said James Minow, the foundation’s chief development officer, who has dined in the dark 25 times. (At a recent San Francisco dark dinner, no one violated, he said.) Guests floated concerns into the darkness: Without seeing, would they eat too much? A vegetarian wondered for a moment whether she might unknowingly eat meat (fortuitously, she ended up with pasta). When light returned, the dinner was quickly hailed as a success. “It was eye- opening,” said Debi Mittman, wife of the event committee chair Evan Mittman (who is blind). She meant that figuratively, of course.