Daniel Dolan aloha

Tobacco Money for Universities: Just Say No

The NY Times reported today that Virginia Commonwealth University signed a contract in 2006 with tobacco giant Phillip Morris USA that restricts the university in ways that significantly compromise customary higher education research publication freedoms.

Although I believe that there are some cases in which universities might accept funding from tobacco companies without breaching ethical boundaries--for example, for research into health-related studies, it is clearly unethical for universities to allow tobacco companies to have any influence on publication of research results.

If tobacco companies want to fund tobacco-related research at universities, they must roll the dice with regard to research results without blowing smoke in the faces of scientists and administrators.

Univ. of Hawaii presentation: "The Problem with Loudspeakers in Japan"

I gave a presentation at the Univ. of Hawaii Center for Japan Studies on Feb. 7 titled "The Problem with Loudspeakers in Japan". The presentation was jointly sponsored by the Center for Japan Studies, the Richardson School of Law and the Speech Department. Here is the abstract:

What do pachinko parlors, political extremists and potato vendors in Japan have in common? They all use loudspeakers in public.

Although many people unfamiliar with Japan imagine quiet city streets and meditative tea ceremonies, the daily use of high-volume loudspeakers hand-held or mounted on vehicles by anybody with something to say creates city soundscapes in Japan that threatens the physical and mental health of citizens and raises critical freedom of speech issues.

Discussion of this important public policy question, which involves a difficult tension between free speech rights and the right to personal privacy from unwanted noise in public, will include audiovisual examples.

Harvard Endowment and Japanese Universities

Recent news of Harvard University's record-breaking endowment of $35 billion dollars got me thinking about the lack of healthy endowments at Japanese universities. Take a stroll around any Japanese university campus and look for buildings, programs, libraries or professorships named after donors, and you probably will find nothing.

In an essay online at the GLOCOM site, I present data comparing donations at US and Japanese universities, and argue that this situation needs to change in Japan to begin to make positive reforms in higher education in general. See:
"Harvard Endowment Points One Way Forward for Struggling Japanese Universities"

Harvard Steps Up: Names Woman as President

It was a long time coming, but yesterday Harvard named its first female president since the university was founded 371 years ago.

Drew Gilpin Faust, a historian of the U.S. south, is Harvard's 28th president and the fifth in a row selected from outside the sciences.

As the NY Times points out, with Faust's appointment half of the eight Ivy League schools now have female presidents. Ivy League schools include Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, U of Pennsylvania, Brown and Dartmouth.

Study Longer, Live Longer

One more reason to attend college: research shows that you will live longer.

The New York Times recently pubished results of numerous studies that point to a strong positive relationship between number of years in school and life expectancy (NYT, Jan. 3, 2007). One study found that "life expectancy at age 35 was extended by as much as one and a half years simply by going to school for one extra year".

For example, looking at data for five large countries--Japan, Germany, the U.S., China and India--there is a clear trend. Americans on average go to school the longest of among the 80+ countries studied (12 years), and have a much longer than average life expectancy (77 years). Japanese, who have the longest life expectancy at 81 years, also stay in school much longer than average (10 years).

Click on the chart below.

Of course, life expectancy is not related only to number of years in school, but these studies suggest that attending college could have a powerful impact on lifespan.

U.S. Higher Education Crisis?

The U.S. is quickly falling behind other countries in advanced science and engineering education attainment. A May 2006 report by the US Department of Education titled "Higher Education for a Highly Competitive World" documents some alarming trends:

* In 1970, the United States produced more than half of the world's science and engineering doctorates; by 2010, our share is projected to fall to about 15 percent (Richard Freeman, National Bureau of Economic Research).

* U.S. students rank 24th out of 29 developed nations in mathematics problem-solving (2003 Programme for International Student Assessment test [PISA]).

* The U.S. has fallen to ninth in the developed world in high school graduation rates among young adults (OECD).

The report points to poor high school preparation for higher education as a key problem, citing the following facts:

* High schools are failing to prepare too many of our students for work and higher education” –– National Governors Association.

* Fewer than half of our high school graduates are ready for college-level math and science (ACT). High school test scores in math have barely moved since the 1970s (Nation’s Report Card Long-Term Trend results).

* Nearly 30 percent of all undergraduates must take remedial coursework during their college career (National Center for Education Statistics).

* Among all ninth-graders, approximately three in 10 do not graduate on time; for African American and Hispanic students the figure is about five in 10 (Manhattan Institute).

The global information economy requires highly trained researchers, analysts, scientists and visionaries. Will we have them, and what contributions will come from the United States?

World's Best Universities

In a recent study by a University in Shanghai, universities world-wide were ranked according to numbers of Nobel prize winners and publications in an attempt to measure overall educational quality. Among the top 20 universities, only three were from outside the United States.

This raises many questions, including the measures employed in the study. But for you rank-ophiles, here is the list:

1. Harvard University
2. Stanford University
3. University of Cambridge
4. U.C. Berkeley
5. MIT
6. California Institute of Technology
7. Princeton University
8. University of Oxford
9. Columbia University
10. University of Chicago
11. Yale University
12. Cornell University
13. U.C. San Diego
14. Tokyo University
15. University of Pennsylvania
16. UCLA
17. U.C. San Francisco
18. University of Wisconsin
19. University of Michigan
20. University of Washington (my alma mater... go Huskies)