With more than 30,000 students at nine campuses around the state, Baker College received $20.3 million last year in state-funded Michigan Tuition Grants, 38 percent of the financial aid program. Baker\'s graduation rate - 19.2 percent - lags behind all but one of the state\'s 27 other private colleges that reported the figures to the government. State Rep. Chris Kolb, D-Ann Arbor, says this cries out for answers. \"I think people would be very surprised one college is getting one-third of the money and graduating only one out of five students in a timely manner. We have done zero oversight of this program.\" Baker Chief Executive Officer F. James Cummins said last week it\'s misleading to judge the school on graduation rates because the college attracts many students with \"formidable hurdles to retention.\"

Mitch Ritter, vice president of Wayne State's Athletics Alumni Association, and Kathryn Clark, director of athletic development at WSU's Athletics Department, participated in an on-air interview April 16. They discussed the Doc Andrews Endowed Fund in Sports Information which honors the enthusiasm, courage and professionalism of the late Mark E. "Doc" Andrews, a well-known sportscaster and celebrity on "The Dick Purtan Show." The Wayne State Athletic Alumni Association initiated the fund which will be used to fund an intern in sports information, as well as upgraded sports information software and conference fees.

This electronic news bulletin for University of Michigan alumni carries an item mentioning Dean Frank Wu of the WSU Law School. In delivering the annual Nancy Cantor Distinguished Lecture at U-M, he said the pro vs. con debate on affirmative action should be transformed into a discussion of: "What do we do as institutions and individuals to make good our vision of democracy"?

Alan Frank, President of Post-Newsweek Stations, was the featured guest on \"Leaders on Leadership\", co-produced by the WSU School of Business Administration and Detroit Public Television. Frank spoke about leading a national group of major television stations to balance their individualized service to each local market, and to also advantage their network affiliations. He also discussed insights learned by observing Kathryn Graham\'s leadership of the organization. The studio audience of Wayne State SBA students asked insightful leadership questions. The program will air again on Wednesday, April 19th, at 5:30 pm.

Wayne State University College of Education Dean Paula Wood comments in a story about state officials wanting to fill the shortage of math and science instructors. They want to attract professionals in other industries who want to change careers, such as recently laid off auto engineers, and college students who may be pursuing careers in other professions. Wood says her college has smoothed the path for second-career students to come back. They combine the students\' previous bachelor\'s degree in math or science with additional classes they can take over the weekend, at night or online. Students can finish the program and get certified to teach in one to two years, school officials said. They are also working with the United Auto Workers and Ford Motor Co. to attract some of the employees who took a recent education buyout. \"We have found that for these high-need areas you have to have these alternative pathways,\" Wood said. \"A traditional program is just not going to work for them.\"

A front-page story discusses how state officials want to crack down on Michigan\'s colleges to ensure they are preparing future teachers to meet the state and nation\'s rising education standards. According to the story, until recently, Michigan didn\'t report the number of prospective teachers from each university who flunked certification exams, and it ignored a federal requirement to identify low-performing teacher colleges. Michael Flanagan, the state superintendent of public instruction, now plans by June to have a way to rate low-performing colleges and is developing a process to more thoroughly evaluate how well they prepare new teachers. State officials say the plans ultimately could mean taking away universities\' authority to certify teachers if, for example, they have too many graduates teaching in failing schools and too few passing certification exams. Flanagan also wants them to produce more instructors in subjects such as math and science, where the needs are greatest. At five of the state\'s colleges, fewer than 80 percent of first-time teacher candidates pass certification tests. Wayne State and University of Detroit officials said they are working to raise their scores, but part of the reason they are low is some students may take the tests before they are done with most of their coursework, and others suffer because they returned to college later in life. A sidebar includes a listing of Michigan colleges and universities and their passing rates on the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification for October 2001 through July 2004. Wayne State is included among the institutions.

Jessica Litman, a copyright law professor at Wayne State\'s Law School, commented about a lawsuit that will examine copyright and contracts law as they apply to music. Jim Diamond, the Detroit producer who recorded the first two White Stripes albums, has sued the band in U.S. District Court claiming he played a pivotal role in creating the band\'s signature sound but has never received his fair share of the millions of dollars the albums generated. The White Stripes say the lawsuit is baseless. Litman said it\'s far from a guaranteed victory. \"Unless he can show that all of them intended they would jointly be the authors and they would all have creative control, it\'s a tough case to win,\" she said.

Frank H. Wu, dean of Wayne State\'s Law School, comments about the character appearing on the new limited-edition shoe from Adidas-Salomon AG. The character is shown with buck teeth, a bowl haircut and slanted eyes, an image that has provoked a heated debate about the lines dividing racism, art and commerce. Wu says the images have an effect that cannot be ignored. \"The problem with this is not that it\'s done by bigots, because it\'s not,\" he said. \"It\'s also not that it offends people, because in many ways, that\'s what art is meant to do. The problem is that these images, even though crude and cliched, are powerful, almost indelible. They write the scripts that we expect others and we ourselves to follow. You can\'t read all that into a shoe, but it\'s part of a pattern.\"

Wayne State University basketball player Casey Banks is profiled in a story featuring photos of her performances. Gloria Bradley, head coach of the women's basketball team, says when she recruited Casey, she saw a post player that was a diamond in the rough. "The hardest thing was to find out what made her tick. It took us some time to figure it out, but we did. Casey can play both ends of the floor because she can rebound, get down the floor and finish at the other end," Bradley observes. Casey is nearing completion of a bachelor's degree in exercise science and says her degree will open the door to her as a physical education teacher, athletic trainer or physical therapist.

An article about Siena Heights University 's new president, Sister Mary Margaret Albert, mentions that she has an undergraduate degree from Wayne State University .

The state\'s higher education budget for 2007 totals about $1.8 billion, with state universities seeing about $1.5 billion of that. The largest sums go to the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University, with more than $800 million dedicated to those schools. That number is $200 million less than what was allocated just four years ago when the figure was just shy of $2 billion dollars. There are serious problems with the funding system, and the biggest one is structural said Michael Boulus, the executive director of the Presidents Council, State of the Universities of Michigan. \"Because higher education funding is based on Michigan\'s general budget,\" Boulus said, \"as long as we\'re competing with corrections and Medicaid, we\'re going to have this problem.\"

Peter Henning, Wayne State law professor and former federal prosecutor, comments about the IRS case against Peter Hendrickson, author of a book about how to avoid paying federal taxes. Hendrickson claims only government employees need to pay federal tax - an opinion that has been rejected by the federal courts. The Justice Department disagrees and has filed a civil suit against Hendrickson and his wife, Doreen, in U.S. District Court seeking a court order barring them from promoting what it considers to be the nation's No. 1 tax scheme and forcing them to return more than $20,000 in tax refunds. Henning says tax avoidance schemes can quickly gain legs. \"These tax scams spread like wildfire through the tax protester community. In a sense it\'s a bit like pulling weeds. You pull one out and another creative one pops up,\" Henning said.

A new, limited-edition shoe from Adidas-Salomon AG, part of the \"Yellow Series\" and decorated with the face of a character who has buck teeth, a bowl haircut and slanted eyes, has provoked a heated debate about the lines dividing racism, art and commerce. Frank H. Wu, dean of Wayne State University's Law School, says the images have an effect that cannot be ignored. \"The problem with this is not that it\'s done by bigots, because it\'s not,\" he said. \"It\'s also not that it offends people, because in many ways, that\'s what art is meant to do. The problem is that these images, even though crude and clichéd, are powerful, almost indelible. They write the scripts that we expect others and we ourselves to follow. You can\'t read all that into a shoe, but it\'s part of a pattern.

Frank Wu, dean of Wayne State's Law School, cautioned that the issue surrounding the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative is "far wider than a black and white one." Too often, he said, the issue is framed as one involving African-Americans. The initiative would outlaw the use of affirmative action in college admissions - and also affect hiring practices for every unit of local government in the state. The measure also prohibits the preferential admissions or hiring of women, as well as all other minority groups. And Michigan is becoming, as Dean Wu noted, an increasingly diverse society, with increasing numbers of Hispanic-Americans, Arab-Americans, and Asian-Americans. "We need to talk about what affirmative action is intended to address," he said. And what sort of society we want to have and how we get there."

Michael Coleman, general manager for WDET 101.9 FM, faces trial next month in Ann Arbor on felony embezzlement of less than $20,000. Coleman, 40, former deputy director of Michigan Public Media, was one of three former employees of the Ann Arbor-based operator of WUOM 91.7 FM charged with accepting airline tickets, Persian rugs, golf club memberships and more in return for underwriting announcements.

Student housing rates will increase next academic year at Michigan State University. Residence hall room-and-board rates will increase 5.25 percent for the 2006-07 fiscal year, based on action taken Thursday by the university's board of trustees. The annual cost for a student to live in a dorm will be $6,044 for a double room with 15 meals per week. Michigan State officials project the university still will have the lowest room-and-board rates in the Big Ten and among public universities in the state, even with the rate increase.

A profile story discusses the acting career of Wayne State alumnus Ernie Hudson, who also was a recent recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award. Hudson, a 1973 graduate of Wayne State with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater, became the resident playwright at Detroit's Concept East Theater while attending classes at WSU. He also established the Actors Ensemble Theater, where he and other black writers directed and appeared in their own works. Following graduation from WSU, Hudson was awarded a full scholarship to the master of fine arts program at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. Hudson believes he owes his success to Wayne State University. "I'm really honored anyone really remembered me at Wayne State. Once I got the word, I was honored to be remembered and that they're aware of my work," he says. Wayne State taught me discipline. I've worked professionally for 40 years as a result of the training I got at Wayne State…If it wasn't for Wayne State, I can't imagine what my life would've been like. I'm really indebted to them." A photo of Hudson is included.

The Wayne State University Orchestra and Symphonic Chorus will celebrate the birth of Mozart with an April 17 concert in Community Arts Auditorium. Wayne State Music is celebrating 87 years of artistic and academic excellence.

Wayne State University professor Michael Peterson commented about standardized testing and how effective the results are in determining a student's success. Peterson said that success is measured by looking at the whole student, not standardized test scores. \"We ought to be developing children as whole human beings, and while academic performance and learning is obviously critical, the partnering with families and other community resources are about growing human beings,\" Peterson said. He added that the purpose of the standardized movement is the belief system that the purpose of school is to create workers. \"If and in fact your role is to create workers, you really don\'t care if you are creating functionally healthy kids to become socially and emotionally healthy adults except as it contributes to whether or not they are going to be a good employee for you.

Wayne State University is noted as conducting a survey of 3,000 randomly selected Sterling Heights residents about topics such as trash pickup, the library, neighborhoods and quality of life. The survey's preliminary results were released at the council's strategic planning session in February. The final survey results will be reported later this month. Some city council members said the input from residents could play a role in how the city planned the proposed $141-million budget for 2006-07.