Founded in 1885, Goucher College is a private liberal arts college in Towson with 1,100 undergraduates and 900 graduate students. About 26 percent of the student body is Jewish, according to Hillel International. (Photo by Rob Coyle, via Flickr)

Goucher College makes changes, Art Spiegelman wins prize, Omarosa tapes the Kushners

Cuts at Goucher

In what Goucher College has dubbed an “academic revitalization,” the Towson liberal arts institution is eliminating a half-dozen programs in which students can major or minor — including in music, mathematics, physics, and elementary and special education, among others — as well as paths of study for arts, languages and religion. The combined majors and minors being eliminated include the above, plus religion and Russian studies. The college is also getting rid of its theater and studio art majors, and its minors or concentrations in book studies, German and Judaic studies, according to Baltimore Fishbowl. The announced changes will apply to students entering after the incoming freshman class, meaning those currently enrolled or set to enroll this fall in any of those programs can continue as they planned. But starting in 2019, those study options will be phased out. In a message posted on Goucher College’s website, president Jose Bowen said “it was a very difficult decision to reduce our number of majors,” but that it’s based on data for student demand and completion of majors, as well as course wait lists and under-enrollment.

Here’s the full list.

Read the complete story: Goucher College cutting nearly a dozen paths of study, including music, art and math programs

Also see: Lessons from Local Jewish University and College Presidents

Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has rejoined the top 100 of a prestigious ranking of the world’s academic institutions. (Wikimedia Commons)

2 Israeli universities ranked among world’s top 100

Two Israeli institutions were ranked among the world’s 100 top universities. The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem were 77th and 95th, respectively, out of 1,200 universities surveyed in the prestigious Shanghai Ranking of world universities that came out Aug. 14. The Technion moved up 16 places from its 2017 ranking and was listed as Israel’s top university for the third consecutive year, The Times of Israel reported. It was the seventh straight year the public university has ranked in the top 100. “We constantly measure ourselves and improve regardless of international rankings,” Technion President Peretz Lavie said, “but of course a high place in the Shanghai ranking is an exciting stamp of international recognition of the Technion’s excellence.” Hebrew University, which this year  is celebrating its centennial, returned to the top 100 after being knocked out for the first time last year since the rankings started 15 years ago. “The proof is in the pudding,” said Hebrew University’s president, Asher Cohen. “Hebrew University’s continued commitment to excellence and innovation has placed us among the world’s leading academic institutions for 14 years. That’s something we can all be proud of — staff, students and professors alike.” The ranking’s top 10 stayed the same as last year, The Times of Israel reported, with Harvard and Stanford at first and second followed by Britain’s Cambridge. –JTA

NYU professor suspended for harassing a student

The New York Times has chronicled a story involving two academics of Israeli heritage that reverses the narrative familiar in the #MeToo era. New York University suspended the prominent professor Avital Ronell, who teaches German and comparative literature, for the upcoming academic term after an investigation found that she sexually harassed a former graduate student. One of her students, Nimrod Reitman, complained that Ronell verbally and physically harassed him. Reitman, 34, alleges that Ronell, 66, tried kissing him and requiring him to share a bed with her starting in 2012. Reitman filed a Title IX complaint in 2017, two years after receiving his doctorate from the university. He is now a visiting fellow at Harvard. Ronell identifies as a lesbian and Reitman identifies as gay. She has denied harassing Reitman, and she invoked their sexual orientations and shared Israeli roots in a statement to The Times. “Our communications — which Reitman now claims constituted sexual harassment — were between two adults, a gay man and a queer woman, who share an Israeli heritage, as well as a penchant for florid and campy communications arising from our common academic backgrounds and sensibilities,” she said. “These communications were repeatedly invited, responded to and encouraged by him over a period of three years.” The university’s Title IX investigation found Ronell guilty of physical and verbal harassment, but not of other actions alleged by Reitman, including sexual assault, stalking and retaliation. —JTA

Omarosa Manigault Newman
Is former White House staff member Omarosa Manigault Newman another Eleanor Roosevelt? (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images, via JTA)

Omarosa claims she taped call with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner

Ousted Trump aide Omarosa Manigault Newman claims that she recorded a conversation with first daughter Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner, both of whom are top advisers to President Donald Trump. Politico reported that Omarosa, a former contestant on Trump’s “Apprentice” reality show, told friends that she had taped a call she received from the Jewish power couple after her firing by Chief of Staff John Kelly late last year in which they wished her well and denied knowing that she was slated for termination. According to Politico, the call may show that Kushner and Trump are out of the loop on personnel issues, possibly indicating waning influence in the West Wing. In February, Kushner had his security clearance downgraded from top secret to secret. He was among a number of White House staffers lacking permanent security clearance to have their status downgraded. – JTA

Also see: Do We Really Need Omarosa to Grasp the Obvious?

 

Penn Jillette says Trump made “racially insensitive” comments

Magician Penn Jillette, one half of the duo Penn &Teller, claims he heard President Donald Trump say “racially insensitive” remarks during his time appearing on the reality competition show, “The Celebrity Apprentice,” according to CNN. Jillette stopped short of confirming the details of Trump’s alleged comments, but his assertion comes at a time of renewed discussion about whether Trump purportedly said the N-word, a racial epithet, during production of the reality TV series. “He would say racially insensitive things that made me uncomfortable,” Jillette told Vulture in an interview. “I don’t think he ever said anything in that room like ‘African Americans are inferior’ or anything about rape or grabbing women, but of those two hours every other day in a room with him, every 10 minutes was fingernails on chalkboard.” Asked if tapes of Trump making those comments exist, Jillette said, “Yeah, I was in the room.” Jillette appeared on Seasons 5 and 6 of “The Celebrity Apprentice,” the latter of which was an all-star season and also featured Omarosa Manigault Newman.

Read more: Penn Jillette claims Trump said ‘racially insensitive’ comments during ‘Celebrity Apprentice’

Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman at Florence Gould Hall in New York, Feb. 19, 2015 in New York City. (Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images)

Art Spiegelman wins prestigious MacDowell award

Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the graph novel “Maus,” is set to become the first cartoonist to win the prestigious MacDowell Medal for culture and the arts. The recognition puts Spiegelman, the son of Polish Holocaust survivors, in the company of cultural icons such as painter Georgia O’Keeffe and surrealist filmmaker David Lynch. “Maus,” his semi-autobiographical graphic novel, tells the story of his father’s experiences during World War II as well as their strained relationship. He won the Pulitzer in 1992. Both “Maus” and its sequel were commercial and critical successes, and gave graphic novels — essentially, book-length comics — the prestige that had long eluded their authors. A longtime writer and illustrator, Spiegelman first gained prominence as a member of the underground comix scene in the 1970s. Spiegelman decided to accept the award thinking it could help break down cultural barriers for his fellow cartoonists. “We have no minister of culture in this country, so it falls to the private sector,” he said. “And art gives you a deeper look at what is going on around you. What’s recorded by artists helps us make [sense] of it all.” Spiegelman is also a recipient of a 2011 National Jewish Book Award, which he won for his book “MetaMaus: A Look Inside a Modern Classic, Maus.”

Read more: ‘Maus’ creator Art Spiegelman becomes first comics artist to win prestigious MacDowell award

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