E-clips, Sept. 22-24

Full halls turn students away (The Oregon Daily Emerald):  Along with newfound independence, finance management and a college-level workload, some incoming freshmen may have to worry about finding a bed to sleep in. University residence halls are the fullest they've ever been, and if the housing department doesn't see a decline in residents this week, some freshmen may have to forgo the traditional first year experience and find an off-campus residence. Despite the Living Learning Center's grand opening last year, which provided living space for an additional 387 students, University Housing is currently accommodating approximately 3,600 residents - 100 more than it can comfortably manage, Associate Director of Housing Allen Gidley said.

Freshmen get new challenge (The Register-Guard): It's a plain and simple truth: People, by their nature, just don't like talking to people with whom they disagree, public policy expert and author Kathleen Hall Jamieson told several hundred incoming University of Oregon freshmen Sunday. Instead, they look for information that already confirms what they believe. They marry, befriend and associate with those who hold similar values, scrutinizing and dismissing opposing viewpoints as loony or extreme. And that, Jamieson said, is a big problem. "If you're all hunkered down in your like-minded community, reinforced by the media, are you more likely to think the (opposing) person over there is kind of nutty?" she asked. "Does it create an environment where we can come to a common good?" Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and author of "Unspun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation," challenged the new college students to make a list of where they stand on controversial topics such as Iraq, abortion and gun control. Their four years of education will have been successful, she told them, if they can look at that list at graduation, and at least have challenged some of those positions.

State Universities start academic year on budgeted boost (The Register-Guard):  More than 81,000 students are expected to pour into the state's seven university campuses for the start of classes today, beginning a school year in which the university system for the first time in almost a decade isn't fighting against a fiscal tide. They are joined by more than 350,000 full- and part-time community college students, who also are benefiting from some of the first statewide budget increases for higher education since the 2000 recession kicked in. ...The state budget allowed universities and community colleges to hold tuition to modest increases, about 3 percent for the seven OUS campuses. Statewide figures aren't yet available for community colleges, but Lane Community College increased tuition 5 percent, to $73 per credit from $69.50. At the University of Oregon, resident undergraduate tuition and fees are $6,186 per year, a 3.4 percent increase.

Oregon universities seek ways to prevent drop outs (Associated Press, Oregonian): As classes begin at Oregon public universities, higher education officials hope to reduce a dropout rate that likely will result in the loss of 2,200 of 10,400 incoming freshmen before their sophomore year. The percentage of freshmen who quit between fall 2005 and fall 2006 ranged from 31percent at Eastern Oregon University to 15 percent at the University of Oregon. After getting $142 million in new money from the Legislature, Oregon campus leaders say they are responding with initiatives to slow the steady drain of new students from state universities. Some of these efforts include boosting student support services such as tutoring and advising, giving students more opportunities to interact with faculty and intervening earlier when students are in trouble.