The Delaware County Daily Times (PA)

Planned Parenthood backers decry decision to cut funding

By John Kopp

March 4, 2011

SPRINGFIELD - Leah Gallant stood near the intersection of Sproul and State roads Thursday afternoon, holding a poster that urged drivers to honk if they "stood for Planned Parenthood."

Every few vehicles that zoomed down the road gave a brief toot at Gallant and her fellow Planned Parenthood supporters, who donned pink T-shirts and hoisted similar signs outside the Springfield office of U.S Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-7, of Upper Darby.

The group assembled to protest Meehan's vote to cut all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, a women's health services clinic.

According to government statistics, Planned Parenthood received $16.9 million in federal funds in 2009.

The funding cut was passed last month by the Republican-led House as an amendment to a spending bill.

The bill still must be passed by the Senate and signed by President Obama before funding can be cut.

Thus, the protesters, which included employees of Planned Parenthood and members of Swarthmore College Feminists, took to the streets to voice their concern.

After demonstrating during the lunch hour, they entered Meehan's office and delivered petitions supporting Planned Parenthood. Those petitions featured 2,019 signatures of constituents.

"I feel like women's rights are always under attack for some reason or another," said Gallant, a member of the Swarthmore College Feminists. "Planned Parenthood is made to look like abortion is the main service, but there are also a lot of other extremely important services it provides, such as birth control and cancer screening - things I think people on all sides of the abortion issue can agree are important for the health of women and for the health of the entire population."...

Knoxville News Sentinel (TN)

New education chief mum on union issue - Haslam appoints Teach for America executive Huffman

By Richard Locker

March 4, 2011

NASHVILLE - The state's new education commissioner - like his boss, Gov. Bill Haslam - declined to weigh in Thursday on the most controversial education issue facing the state in decades: whether to outlaw collective bargaining by teachers.

Haslam on Thursday named Kevin Huffman, 40, as commissioner of the state Department of Education, replacing interim Commissioner Patrick Smith, a holdover from Gov. Phil Bredesen's administration. Huffman is a lawyer-turned-teacher who worked in the classroom for two years before becoming an executive at Teach for America, a national organization that recruits recent college graduates and young professionals to teach. Tennessee teachers plan to rally at the state Capitol on Saturday in opposition to legislation prohibiting collective bargaining between local teachers associations and local school boards. The bill won Senate Education Committee approval and has brought teachers to the Capitol's hallways weekly in protest.

... Huffman, a graduate of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and New York University School of Law, is also the ex-husband of former Washington, D.C., schools leader Michelle Rhee, who received national attention for her reform efforts in that city.

Business Wire

Janus Hires George Maris to Manage Janus Worldwide Fund;
13-year veteran has a strong long-term track record managing U.S. and international equity strategies

March 3, 2011

Janus Capital Group Inc. (NYSE: JNS) today announced the appointment of George Maris as portfolio manager for Janus Worldwide Fund and related strategies, effective March 14, 2011. Maris joins Janus from Northern Trust where he managed both retail mutual funds and institutional assets. He will report directly to Janus Co-CIO Jonathan Coleman. According to Coleman, Maris' diverse background and experience is a perfect match for Janus Worldwide Fund.

"During his investment career, George has successfully managed money in a variety of disciplines and experienced a wide range of market conditions," said Coleman. "Given his stock-picking acumen and overall investment philosophy, George will fit in well with the investment culture we have at Janus. He will be a great addition to our already strong global investment team."

...Maris received his bachelor of arts degree in economics from Swarthmore College. He also earned an MBA from the University of Chicago and a Juris Doctorate from The University of Illinois. Maris holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

..."Joining the highly talented professionals at Janus is an honor. I believe my experience and our shared approach to bottom-up stock picking will add to Janus' strong global platform," said Maris. "Most especially, I look forward to the challenge of generating superior performance for our clients and shareholders."

States News Service

President Obama Names Three to the United States District Court

March 2, 2011

Today, President Obama nominated Nannette Jolivette Brown, Wilma Antoinette Lewis, and Nancy Torresen to United States District Court judgeships.  ...

Wilma Antoinette Lewis: Nominee for the District Court of the Virgin Islands

Wilma Antoinette Lewis is the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the United States Department of the Interior, a position she has held since 2009. Prior to this appointment, she served briefly as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Interior. She previously served as the Departments Associate Solicitor for General Law from 1993 to 1995 and Inspector General from 1995 to 1998. From 2007 to 2008, Lewis was the Managing Associate General Counsel for Litigation at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Lewis served as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1998 to 2001, having previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney from 1986 to 1993, during which time she was Assistant Chief of the Civil Division from 1989 to 1993 and Deputy Chief of the Civil Division in 1993. Lewis also has significant experience in private practice, first as an associate at Steptoe and Johnson LLP from 1981 to 1986 and later as a partner at Crowell and Moring LLP from 2001 to 2007. Lewis received her J.D. in 1981 from Harvard Law School and her B.A. with distinction in 1978 from Swarthmore College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  ...

Inside Higher Ed

New Presidents or Provosts: College of Saint Mary Magdalen, Colorado Northwestern CC, Cooper Union, Ohio Northern U., Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, Swarthmore College, U. of Cumbria

By Doug Lederman

February 25, 2011

...Thomas Stephenson, James H. Hammons Professor of Chemistry at Swarthmore College, in Pennsylvania, has been named provost there.  ...

The Wall Street Journal

What to Do as Colleges Cut Back on Financial Aid

By Jane J. Kim

February 23, 2011

Amid greater financial pressures, colleges are scaling back their financial-aid packages to students in ways that are likely to give wealthier families an admissions edge.

Some colleges, such as Williams College, Middlebury College and Wake Forest University, are no longer "need blind" when it comes to admitting international or wait-listed students. Some of these schools and others have recently dropped out of the so-called 568 Presidents' Group--a group of private colleges that agree, among other things, to be need-blind in their admissions of all U.S. students. Still other elite institutions, including Stanford University, Yale University and Dartmouth College, that still have a need-blind admissions policy in place for all U.S. students have adjusted their aid formulas in ways that are raising costs for affluent families.

Not all schools are cutting back. After meeting with its board of managers last week, Swarthmore College decided to maintain its "loan-free awards" program for all students enrolled in the coming academic year, as well as its need-blind admission standards for all U.S. students, says Laura Talbot, director of financial aid.

But with college endowments not yet fully recovered from the recession and a greater number of needier students, schools are starting to rein in their generosity.

The changes mean that before applying for aid, students who think they might be borderline cases should ask the college if they have a need-blind admissions policy and if that policy also applies to all students. ...