A. Segregated

     Campus ethnic groups have successfully sought separate housing and dining facilities on many campuses since the 1960s. In recent years, the concept has come under attack. Kenneth B. Clark, professor emeritus at the City College of New York and a major figure in the Supreme Court's desegregation of public schools, argued that black, Native American and Latino dormitories violate the 1964 Federal Civil Rights Act, which forbids federal financial support to institutions that permit racially segregated facilities.
     Clark compared such segregation and its defense by some institutions such as Cornell University as akin to the "rationalizations that guardians of the Old South offered in defense of their racist traditions."
     In commenting on the resistance of Cornell to desegregate, Clark and Michael Meyers, the executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, wrote:
     "In accommodating the mindlessness of race-based campus housing in Ithaca and accepting the alibis for separatism, Cornell and the Board of Regents are accessories to a functional repeal of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education pronouncement that separate education is inherently unequal."
     What is the situation on your campus? Is there racially separate housing and are other facilities separated? Has there been a drive for such? Obtain the comments on this subject from a variety of perspectives: black, Native American and Latino students; university administrators; members of the faculty.

B. Books

     Publishers of college textbooks distribute examination copies to instructors who consider them for adoption. Some instructors sell these books to the online book sellers and to the campus bookstore, a practice publishers say is unethical.
     Mike Sullivan, the president of the Text and Academic Authors Association, says:

     Most college administrators do not want to discuss it; book vendors and college bookstores exploit it; and faculty who are doing it don't want to lose the money it generates.

     He said that he checked his textbooks and found that the vendors paid $36.75 to $44.75 for two recently published books and offered them for sale to students for $102.20. At Amazon.com, he found the comment line on one of his books: "Instructor's Edition, 7th. Same as student text except with ALL the answers."
     Does your campus bookstore buy and then sell complimentary copies of textbooks? What do faculty members think of the practice? Some university administrations forbid the practice of selling such books. What's the policy of your school? Do faculty members consider it unethical to sell complimentary copies? What do they do with those they receive and do not want to adopt or keep on their shelves?

C. Plagiarism

     Internet plagiarism is reported to be increasing. Some faculty members say students do not understand there is a line separating research on the Internet from copying material. A faculty member at Rutgers University says, "Students haven't a clue about what constitutes plagiarism."
     Does your school, and do any faculty members, spell out in any detail what constitutes plagiarism? In the opinion of faculty members, how serious is plagiarism on the campus?