Quick Takes | Higher education round-up: Sept. 21

Yale University

Family pursues negligence lawsuit

The family of a student who died in a 2003 car crash is moving forward with a lawsuit against Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, The Yale Daily News reported.

In 2003, the student, Nicholas Grass, was returning from a DKE event in New York City when the SUV in which he was riding with other fraternity brothers collided with a tractor-trailer.

Although the Connecticut Superior Court ruled in favor of DKE in 2009, the state Supreme Court held earlier this week that the Grass family is entitled to a jury trial.

Harvard University

Warren gets faculty support

Since last September, Harvard staff and faculty have donated more than $227,000 to Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren’s Massachusetts Senate campaign.

The Harvard Crimson reported this week that 267 employees at the university gave to Warren’s campaign from September 2011 through August 2012, compared to just 30 who have donated to her opponent — incumbent Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) — during that time.

A large amount of Warren’s support has come from the Law School.

University of North Carolina

Thorp to step down

Just five years after assuming the chancellorship at the University of North Carolina, Holden Thorp announced this week that he will step down from the position on June 30.

Thorp’s time at UNC has been largely defined by several prominent academic and athletic scandals.

The Daily Tar Heel reported that numerous UNC faculty members and students have asked Thorp to change his mind and keep his post at the school. So far, the newspaper said, he does not appear to be willing to do so.

Columbia University

Four sororities vie for spots on campus

Alpha Omicron Pi, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Zeta Tau Alpha sororities are all competing for two open spots on Columbia’s campus.

The four sororities each made their case for colonization to the school’s Panhellenic Council last week. Each described why they think their chapter would be a positive presence on Columbia’s campus.

According to The Columbia Spectator, members of Columbia’s four existing sororities will vote on the additions later this month, and a final decision will come Oct. 1

Brown University

Paxson discusses campus vision

Brown University President Christina Paxson, who took office July 1, addressed students, staff and faculty earlier this week at her first-ever Brown University Community Council meeting as the school’s president.

Paxson spent much of her time at the open meeting discussing a new strategic planning process on which she is currently working.

Paxson came to Brown after serving as dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

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