Afternoon Update: Change in "U.S. News" metrics prompts a rethinking of alumni giving

Ways colleges can help minority applicants; court blocks Biden's debt relief for defrauded students; ex-professor pleads guilty to assault; and more. ADVERTISEMENT [Afternoon Update Logo]( You can also [read this newsletter on the web](. Or, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, [unsubscribe](. STRATEGY SHIFT [‘Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead’: Change in ‘U.S. News’ Metrics Prompts a Rethinking of Alumni Giving]( By Francie Diep [STORY IMAGE]( The magazine is dropping alumni-giving rates from its rankings formula, which had encouraged lots of small-dollar donations. What will fund raisers focus on now? ADVERTISEMENT RACE ON CAMPUS [Four Ways Colleges Can Help Minority Applicants]( By Katherine Mangan [STORY IMAGE]( Colleges can no longer consider race as a factor in admissions. But they can change some of their admissions practices to take into account the experiences of marginalized students. STUDENT-LOAN DEBT [Federal Appeals Court Halts New Biden Rules on Debt Relief for Defrauded Students]( The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a request from an association of 70 for-profit colleges in Texas to block the new regulations during litigation to stop the rules permanently. The regulations would ease the path to loan forgiveness for borrowers who were defrauded by their colleges or whose colleges closed unexpectedly. (The Washington Post) SEXUAL ASSAULT [Former Music Professor at U. of Michigan and Husband Plead Guilty to Sexual Assault]( David Daniels, an opera singer, was fired by the Ann Arbor university after a student there alleged he had been sexually assaulted in 2018. The charges to which he and his husband pleaded guilty stemmed from their sexual assault of a Rice University graduate student in 2010. (Associated Press) UGLY WORDS [Interim Band Director Will Keep Job at Delta State U. Despite Mocking Trans People]( Daniel Ennis, the new president of the Mississippi university, wrote in a campuswide email last week that the U.S. Constitution protects Steven Hugley’s free speech on his [now-deleted conservative podcast]( which also mocked women. In a separate email, Ennis said college policy prevented him from disciplining employees for private comments made before their hiring. (Mississippi Today/Open Media) PUBLISHING [Editors at Wiley-Published ‘Journal of Biogeography’ Resign en Masse]( Two-thirds of the journal’s associate editors have resigned in a dispute with the publisher over its high article-processing charges (up to $4,800) and its plan to make the journal open access, publish more articles, and automatically refer rejected papers to other Wiley journals. (Retraction Watch) TAKING FLIGHT [Florida State U. Board Approves Plan for Boosters to Buy Aircraft for Up to $9 Million]( Neither of the two airplanes would be big enough to transport teams to away games. Rather, the planes would enable the president, the provost, the athletics director, and coaches to travel for recruiting and other business purposes. (Tallahassee Democrat) HONORS [The Chronicle Announces Winner of Its 2023 Scholarship for Diversity in Media]( The winner is Jasper Smith, a senior journalism student at Howard University, in Washington, D.C., and editor in chief of The Hilltop, the campus’s student newspaper. She is also a digital-media intern at The Arizona Republic and an HBCU Student Journalism Network Fellow. The $10,000 award is presented to an undergraduate or graduate student in journalism. 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