Quick Takes

One of the most influential cultural theorists of her generation, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, died on Sunday following "a long and very public battle with cancer," in the words of David Manning, director of media relations for the CUNY Graduate Center, where Sedgwick was a distinguished professor of English. The author and editor of numerous books, Sedgwick is perhaps best remembered for Epistemology of the Closet (University of California Press, 1990), regarded as one of the founding works of what became known as "queer theory." A volume of her poetry, Fat Art, Thin Art, was published by Duke University Press in 1994. She mixed poetry, memoir, and psychoanalysis in A Dialogue on Love (Beacon, 1999), based on her struggle with breast cancer and depression. Sedgwick received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1975. Before joining the Graduate Center in 1998, she was a professor of English at Duke University, and also taught at Hamilton College, Boston University, and Amherst College. In 2005, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, then to the American Philosophical Society in 2006. --Scott McLemee

Fresh on the heels of reports that a campus admissions official trashed issues of a campus newspaper with an unflattering article about Ohio Wesleyan University, police officers at Virginia Commonwealth University are investigating the disappearance of 2,500 of the 3,000 copies of last week's issue of the Commonwealth Times, the weekly student paper there, the Student Press Law Center reported. According to the center's account, the newspaper contained an article about a campus theatrical production of "Beirut" and included a photograph of a male character gripping the face of a female character in a violent fashion, over the caption "Power of Love." Some letters to the editor of the paper argued that the publication of such a picture "normalizes domestic violence," and the newspaper's opinion editor explained her decision to run the photo in this week's issue.

While a number of colleges have created gay-themed housing units, Texas Christian University raised more eyebrows when it announced plans for such a program. On Monday, with some religious groups having criticized the plan, Texas Christian announced it was reversing course. The statement did not focus on gay housing, but said that the university wanted to review all theme housing before adding any new programs.

Lipscomb University announced Monday that it will create a new option for students to finish a bachelor's degree in three years. Participants will have to take summer courses, but they will still be able to save $10,000 in college costs and enter the job market a year ahead of others. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee, was on campus for the announcement. While relatively few colleges have seen major demand for three-year programs, Alexander has encouraged more colleges to experiment with the idea.

Oregon's government on Monday sued the manager of the state's college savings plan, saying the company's risky investments were negligent and breached their contract together, Reuters reported. Like many such funds, Oregon's College Savings Plan, into which parents and others invest (with tax incentives) to save for college, has taken a beating in the stock market. But Oregon charges in its lawsuit that OppenheimerFunds Inc. engaged in "hedge-fund like" investments that were particularly risky, and seeks to recoup $36 million in losses. Company officials said they were disappointed by the state's action.

Twenty pairs of African and American colleges were awarded grants Monday to help them develop collaborations aimed at attacking economic, health care, agricultural and other problems in Africa. The $50,000 grants, which were funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and announced by Higher Education for Development, emerged from the work of the Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative, which aims to spur American universities to work closely with their African counterparts to build the continent's capacity to transform itself. Many of the American institutions awarded grants are large universities such as George Mason, Georgia State, Michigan State, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech Universities, but recipients also include Durham Technical Community College and private institutions such as Calvin and Wheelock Colleges.

That's the controversial assertion that officials at the University of Wisconsin at Madison are making about last night's premiere of "College Life," about which the creators of the show on the music network say: "This isn't reality television, this is real." In the show, MTV says it gave cameras to eight underclassmen at Madison and gave them "a mission: film your 'College Life.' The result is an intimate portrayal of the highs and lows of the experience, a no-holds barred, honest portrayal of life on campus." Not so much, officials at Madison said in a news release Monday, at least based on their review of an early version of the pilot episode, which is all university administrators had a chance to see before last night's first episode (which came on after Inside Higher Ed's editors went to bed). "MTV’s reality-based series 'College Life' appears to present a sensationalized view of student life with an exaggerated emphasis on drinking and dysfunctional relationships," the university's statement said. Student reviews were not kind, either.