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☆ A New Sister Act: College Students Move Into a Convent
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Melissa Korn | Photographs Michelle Gustafson For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ASTON, Pa.—A group of students at Neumann University here spent an evening last month painting pumpkins, making s’mores and dancing to a DJ’s playlist. Their neighbors—a bunch of sisters, and not the sorority kind—joined in the fun. Call it a match made in heaven: Neumann wanted to increase campus housing for students. The Catholic Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia had extra space in their convent.

☆ Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Race in College Admissions
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Jess Bravin | Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The affirmative-action suits before the Supreme Court combine questions of race in American society and access to prestigious universities. WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court began hearing arguments Monday over whether colleges can consider race in admissions decisions, a practice the justices approved in 1978 and repeatedly reaffirmed but today’s more conservative majority agreed to review. The court first heard a case against the University of North Carolina, a state flagship, and later Monday will hear another involving a private Ivy League institution, Harvard College.

☆ Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Race in College Admissions
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Jess Bravin | Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The affirmative action suits before the Supreme Court combine questions of race in American society and access to prestigious universities. WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday over whether colleges can consider race in admissions decisions, a practice the justices approved in 1978 and repeatedly reaffirmed but today’s more conservative majority agreed to review. The court has scheduled separate cases beginning at 10 a.m., one against the University of North Carolina, a state flagship, followed by another involving a private Ivy League institution, Harvard College. Both suits were filed by Students for Fair Admissions, a group founded by conservative activist Edward Blum , who has brought several cases to the Supreme Court seeking to end practices that take race into account.

☆ After Record Year, University-Endowment Returns Drop Into Negative Territory
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Juliet Chung | Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Investment returns for university endowments have fallen back to earth after scoring their biggest gains in a generation the year before, reflecting a dramatically changed investment environment in which stocks, bonds and other assets have sold off sharply. The endowment of Washington University in St. Louis lost 10.6% in the fiscal year ended June 30 after notching a 65% gain the prior year, the school told The Wall Street Journal, shrinking its size to $13.3 billion. Other schools that have reported big swings in their multibillion-dollar endowments include Stanford University, which lost 4.2% after gaining 40.1% previously; Brown University, down 4.6% after posting a 51.5% increase; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, down 5.3% after rising 55.5%.

☆ Supreme Court to Revisit University Affirmative-Action Programs
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Jess Bravin | Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The University of North Carolina has said that narrow consideration of race is necessary to achieving a diverse student body. WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Monday on whether race can play a role when administrators decide who is admitted to many of the nation’s colleges and universities. The court will hear two separate cases, expected to yield two related rulings by July, involving a state flagship, the University of North Carolina, and a private Ivy League institution, Harvard College. Both say having a diverse student body is central to their educational mission, and that narrow consideration of race is necessary to achieving it.

☆ Developer Who Pleaded Guilty in College Admissions Scandal Dies by Suicide
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Melissa Korn | Jennifer Levitz | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Real-estate developer Robert Flaxman was among dozens of parents charged in the Varsity Blues investigation in 2019. Robert Flaxman , a Southern California real-estate developer who pleaded guilty to a federal fraud conspiracy charge for cheating to get his daughter into college, has died. Mr. Flaxman, 66 years old, died Oct. 20 by suicide, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner.

☆ Colleges Tap Outside Companies to Address Student Mental-Health Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The University of Kentucky signed a $1 million annual contract with Talkspace to give students a convenient therapy option. College students are increasingly seeking help when they are overwhelmed by academic assignments, drifting toward depression or in the throes of suicidal thoughts, school officials say. Schools buckling under the heavy demand for mental-health services now are finding help of their own, via virtual-counseling companies.

☆ Colleges Skirt Disclosure Requirements on Bank Partnerships, Report Finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Melissa Korn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau determined schools don’t publicize details about the money they make from the deals with banks. The U.S. Education Department has done little to police lucrative relationships between colleges and banks, allowing schools to sidestep disclosure requirements and potentially offer unnecessarily costly products to students, according to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report published Thursday. In its annual report to Congress on banking partnerships for institutions of higher education, the CFPB determined schools don’t publicize details about the money they make from the deals, and often promote accounts that aren’t in students’ best financial interest.

☆ 2 professional home organizers share how business has boomed in the last year thanks to tidying-up shows like Netflix's 'Get Organized'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-08 | by ( Shanna Goodman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Home organizing became popular earlier in the pandemic, partly thanks to shows like "Get Organized." Two people who recently started organizing businesses share how they've grown in the past year. In her first 12 months in business, Moore and her team of four — which she started hiring three months into her business — helped 80 clients and organized 237 spaces. "There are so many opportunities ahead, and professional organizing is as much a mental-health service as it is a residential service," Klug of Inspired Organizer said. No certifications are required to perform services as a professional organizer, but these professionals said organizing and business training could go a long way.

HermèsHermès was hit with a proposed class-action antitrust lawsuit on Tuesday over what litigants allege is an illegal requirement for Birkin hopefuls to purchase ancillary products from the brand. Susan Scafidi, the director at Fordham University's Fashion Law Institute, told BI it would be difficult for plaintiffs to prove that Hermès' has a "lockstep policy" on how much a customer should purchase to access a Birkin or how sales associates determine who gets a bag. Melissa K. Dagodag, an attorney specializing in business law, also told BI that the lawsuit would be difficult to prove. "Maybe Birkin bags will become less of a status symbol and more of an 'I'm a sucker' symbol, casting buyers in some kind of unintended dark light," Dagodag told BI. "In other words, there may never be a better time for an ordinary customer with thousands to spend on a bag to go shopping," Scafidi told BI.

Persons: Hermès, Birkin, Gross, he's, Susan Scafidi, Melissa K, Dagodag, Scafidi Organizations: Fordham University's Fashion Law, Lawyers

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