The Observer, September 7, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 2
Outside the Circle
Settlement in suit over SAT errors
In order to settle a class action filed on behalf of students who received incorrect SAT scores from the Oct. 2005 version of the SAT, the College Board and NCS Pearson have agreed to pay $2.85 million in damages.
The settlement was announced last week and will affect the 4400 students –or one percent of those who took the test that month– who filed the class action. Under the ruling, they will have two options. They can fill out a short paper to automatically receive $275, or they can fill out a much longer form if they believe their damages are greater and allow a retired judge to make a binding decision on how much they are entitled to receive.
In one of the most embarrassing blunders in SAT history, the College Board was largely criticized after the incident in Oct. 2005 for not being more forthright about safeguards the company planned to implement. For several weeks after the incident, the College Board and a New York State Senate committee argued about how much information the College Board should release about the errors.
Edna Johnson, a spokeswoman for the College Board, said that she knew of no circumstances in which test takers had experienced damages in excess of $275.
"This case is an important reminder that tests are imperfect products that should not be relied upon to make high-stakes judgments about students, teachers, or the quality of education," said Bob Schaeffer, a public education director of FairTest: National Center for Fair & Open Testing, a critic of the College Board and the SAT.
Momentum for gender neutrality
The movement to add gender identity to colleges' anti-bias policies is growing fast, especially in the Northeast and among elite universities, according to a recent report on the subject.
The GENIUS Index (for Gender Equality National Index for Universities and Schools) found that 147 colleges and universities have added gender identity and expression to their non-discrimination policies, 141 colleges and universities have created some gender neutral bathrooms, and 30 colleges and universities have created options for gender-neutral housing, in which the norm for roommates is not presumed to be someone of the same sex.
The numbers outlined in the report are largely the result of a movement of transgender students and supporters across the country. They claim that people who don't clearly fit into one gender or the other are at risk for discrimination.
The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, which advocates environments in which students and professionals are able "to learn, grow, and succeed – whether or not they meet expectations for masculinity and femininity," – conducted the study.
Brittney Hoffman, youth coordinator for the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, said that the issue should be framed as being about safety. "A lot of gender nonconforming youth experience harassment in choosing a restroom, and really suffer this sobering anxiety in making a decision about a bathroom that for the vast majority of the population is really simple," she said. "They have to ask, 'Which bathroom is going to be safest for me right now?"'
Hoffman also said that gay students, male-female couples, friends or siblings who want to live together, and other students can also benefit from the new policies.
Hazing charges against university officials dropped
The county prosecutor of New Jersey made an unprecedented announcement that two administrators at Rider University were among the five individuals indicted on hazing charges following the drinking death of a fraternity pledge in March.
"To the colleges in this state, and colleges nationally, it sends a clear message that there is culpability involved in the ingestion of alcoholic beverages on college campuses," said Mercer County's Joseph L. Bocchini. "Rider University is involved in this today, but it could have been any college or university across the United States."
Last week, however, a judge dismissed charges against the two administrators, Ada Badgley, the director of Greek Life, and Anthony Campbell, dean of students. The judge cited that there was no evidence to suggest either administrator was on campus for the fraternity's event or that they knew the event was going occur.
"[T]here is insufficient evidence to establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that either of the named individuals knowingly or recklessly organized, promoted, facilitated, or engaged in conduct which resulted in serious bodily injury to Gary DeVercelly and William Williams," according to the motion to dismiss.
Both students were hospitalized after the fraternity event on March 28. DeVercelly had a blood alcohol level of 0.426 and died on March 30. Hazing charges against other students are still pending.
The DeVercelly family is still considering future legal action against Rider and its officials. This year Rider is implementing new policies, including the prohibition of social events with alcohol at residence halls and Greek houses.
When threats are like spam
A number of returning professors and staff members were greeted with bomb threats as school began last week.
Bomb threats aren't necessarily unusual, especially at large universities, but school officials began to notice a trend across the country. At Princeton University, an e-mailed bomb threat was sent to an inbox of general inquiries on Sunday but wasn't found until Monday. At Oregon State University, 11 bomb threats arrived around the same time. And on Tuesday, American University's Washington College ofd Law received two e-mail threats.
Each threat was treated seriously – buildings were evacuated – but no bombs were found. The FBI is currently involved in the investigation of the bomb threats and is warning other universities to become alert for similar threats. The FBI thinks the bomb threats may be connected in some way. The messages "targeted campuses across the country," said Todd Simmons, director of news and communications services at Oregon State, "like spam e-mails."
At least seven universities had received threats between last Friday and Tuesday, including Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The bomb threats all shared some characteristics in common. Namely, none of the threats mentioned the schools by name or mentioned specific buildings, which suggest a lack of familiarity with the campuses.
Schools continue to work together with the FBI and IT departments to attempt to identify the e-mail sender(s).
