By David Jaffee. Across the campus I walk
Nary an opportunity to talk
Student heads are a-sway
Faces cocked not my way
No one can say that they gawk

Cell phone ostriches all
The screen enough to enthrall
Be it Reddit or Twitter
No people to consider
A virtual social withdrawal. Read more...

By Scott McLemee. The Buddhist idiom “monkey mind” does not require years of contemplation to understand. It explains itself quickly to anyone who attempts the most basic meditative practice: closing the eyes and concentrating solely on the breath. Read more...

By Jim Larimore. The deluge of student data privacy laws proposed at both the state and federal levels attempt to provide much-needed updates to antiquated privacy regulations that allow far too many loopholes for the access and sharing of data. But in the rush to protect students’ information and keep profiteers from accessing students’ personal data, we risk losing crucial opportunities to use these data to help students, particularly those from less privileged backgrounds. Read more...

By Freeman A. Hrabowski III. America and much of the world have been transfixed by recent events in Baltimore. What’s most important, however, comes after the cameras leave. 
More than 50 years ago, Americans also were riveted as dogs and fire hoses were unleashed on the marching children of Birmingham, Ala. Participating in that march was the most terrifying experience of my life. Even so, it was not the hardest. Read more...

By Jacqueline Thomsen. For some students, Twitter isn't just a space to vent. Students frustrated with the slow pace of administrative responses to issues on campus are taking more drastic measures, going public on social media or sharing their stories with members of the media before officials can present their own solutions. Read more...

By Paul Fain. The U.S. Department of Education is poised to announce a limited exemption to the federal ban on prisoners receiving Pell Grants to attend college while they are incarcerated.
Correctional education experts and other sources said they expect the department to issue a waiver under the experimental sites program, which allows the feds to lift certain rules that govern aid programs in the spirit of experimentation. If the project is successful, it would add to momentum for the U.S. Congress to consider overturning the ban it passed on the use of Pell for prisoners in 1994. Read more...

By Jake New. The former president of Northwestern University said Tuesday that if the university was forced to consider college athletes as employees, he hopes Northwestern would leave big-time colleges sports behind. Read more...

By Ashley A. Smith. The privately held education company witnessed a one-year enrollment growth of 400 percent from 2009 to 2010, but media reports exposed that the college was recruiting homeless people from shelters. Read more...

By Elizabeth Redden. Chinese applicants to the University of San Francisco need not submit a transcript or an SAT score under a newly announced pilot program. Rather, the private Jesuit institution plans to admit students based on their scores on the grueling, multiday Chinese university entrance exam, the gaokao, and their performance in an in-person interview in Beijing. Read more...

By Elizabeth Redden. The Japanese government recently announced gifts of $5 million each to support the study of contemporary Japanese politics and foreign policy at Columbia and Georgetown Universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Read more...