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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

AROUND THE NATION

Government policies may curtial academic freedom

(U-WIRE) ITHACA, N.Y.- Recent increases in government regulation have some university officials worried that terrorism will soon claim another casualty – academic freedom.

The U.S. Patriot Act has created, in addition to the already existing categories of classified and unclassified information, a new category of “sensitive” information. This last category could potentially include many aspects of college research and is proving to be ambiguous terrain for institutions that hold a tradition of academic openness as one of its guiding principles.

The concern is that “sensitive” research may have to be reviewed before publication due to a policy of censorship called prior restraint.

“The fear is that the cloak of national security could be used inappropriately,” said Stephen Johnson, director of government affairs at Cornell. “For instance, maybe an agency wants to prevent something from being published because the findings do not reflect favorably on that agency or perhaps some bureaucrat might act in his or her best interest rather than in the best interest of the nation.”

-Cornell Daily Sun (Cornell U.)

Freshman not studying, study says

(U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES- This year’s freshman class studied less in high school than any class in at least 37 years, a new UCLA study says.

According to a survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, a record-high number of students spent fewer than six hours doing homework their senior year of high school, with 15.9 percent of students reporting they studied less than one hour per week.

Despite not studying as much, more than 45 percent of entering freshmen at four-year colleges and universities in 2002 reported earning an “A” average in high school.

Students are more informed about what it takes to get an A., which sometimes means contesting grades with teachers or having parents speak with teachers about students’ grades in high school, said Linda Sax, a UCLA education professor, who directed the survey. There is an increase in focus on actual grades, paired with a decrease in focus on good study habits to earn those grades,

-Daily Bruin (U. California-Los Angeles)

Government financial aid may face cuts

(U-WIRE) LOS ANGLES- A new federal budget bill has many higher-education institutions across the country on edge.

The new bill proposes cuts to grants, low-interest federal loans, work-study and other need-based financial aid programs

The bill proposes a 2.9 percent across-the-board cut to all the programs financed by the bill. College work-study would decrease by $29 million. Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, which supplement Pell Grants, would be cut by $21 million. And Perkins Loans, a low-interest loan for students from low-income families, would be cut by $5 million, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

If signed into law, the bill would affect incoming students, but would not affect current students who send in their financial aid application on time.

-Daily Trojan (U. Southern California)

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