University

Responding to Seth Rosenfeld's May 10 Op-Ed article linking then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan's harsh condemnation of student protests in the 1960s to the eventual decline of the University of California system, reader Bruce Bates wrote in a letter published Tuesday that Rosenfeld "overlooks that this very radicalization has diminished the value of a UC education. " Bates continued: "In the 1950s, when the UC system was at its peak, students were 'well groomed and complacent' (to use Rosenfeld's words)

NEW YORK -- A Hofstra University student being held hostage during a home invasion was shot dead and her captor was also killed as police arrived at the scene of the break-in early Friday, just two days before commencement ceremonies at the college on Long Island. Police in Nassau County were investigating who fired the shots that killed the 21-year-old captive, who was a junior at the university, and her captor.  The horror began unfolding at about 2:20 a.m., according to Inspector Kenneth Lack of the Nassau County Police Department.

There are three things Rick Perry would like to do to the great public universities of Texas, but he can only remember two of them. That's a joke. You may remember that during a 2012 presidential debate, he started to list three departments of government he'd eliminate, and wound up forgetting one of them. But he remembered that he wanted to shut down the federal Education Department, and there are folks in Texas who suspect that some of his ideas for higher education in the Lone Star State may wind up accomplishing much the same thing to higher education there.

New Rutgers basketball Coach Eddie Jordan was brought in to lead the university out of the embarrassment of the Mike Rice scandal, but controversy continues after the school's athletic department's website inaccurately declared Jordan had earned a degree from the institution. It turns out, Jordan, who accrued 103 credit hours from 1973 to 1985, did not receive a degree in health and physical education in 1977 as it had been claimed, according to the Associated Press. The university's athletic communications office released a statement Friday, confirming the oversight, which was first reported by Deadspin . “While Rutgers was in error when it reported that Eddie Jordan had earned a degree from Rutgers University, neither Rutgers nor the NCAA requires a head coach to hold a baccalaureate degree,” wrote the school of Jordan, with whom they agreed to a five-year contract with $6.25-million in guaranteed money.

After a year of construction, Universal Orlando  has finally admitted that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will expand in 2014 with a detailed re-creation of London's Diagon Alley from the wildly popular series of books and movies. Photos: Top 10 Wizarding World of Harry Potter rides and attractions The highly anticipated expansion of the Wizarding World themed land at Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Fla., will see the introduction of a Gringotts Bank attraction in a second land at the adjacent Universal Studios Florida theme park.

Hey dinosaur fans: You're going to have to wait a bit longer to see some new creatures from the paleolithic era storm your theaters. Universal Pictures said Wednesday it has postponed its release date on "Jurassic Park 4," which had been set for June 2014. "Jurassic Park 4" is the second installment in the series to be made by someone other than Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two films. Production on the movie, which is being directed by Colin Trevorrow, the helmer of last year's indie hit "Safety Not Guaranteed," was supposed to begin this summer.

A collection of artwork by aboriginal Australian children that was given to Colgate University in 1966 is being voluntarily returned to Australia. The upstate New York school said Tuesday that it would transfer 119 pieces from the collection to Curtin University in Perth in Western Australia. Colgate said it obtained the art from alumnus Herbert Mayer, a New York businessman and collector. Mayer had purchased the works from Florence Rutter, a benefactor of Australia's Carrolup Native School and Settlement, where the art was created between 1945 and 1951.

The tattered dress Anne Hathawa y wore in her Oscar-winning performance as Fantine in "Les Miserables" recently went on display at Universal Studios Hollywood . It's among the wardrobe items featured at the theme park from three of five films nominated for 2013 Academy Awards for costume design. The pieces are being shown as part of the NBCUniversal Experience, which takes visitors on a behind-the-scenes tour of props and costumes at the amusement park. The display features the opera gown Keira Knightley wore in "Anna Karenina," which won the best costume award for Jacqueline Durran; more costumes from "Les Miserables," including the white gown worn by Cosette (Amanda Seyfried)

Austrian director Ulrich Seidl makes a habit of blurring boundaries: his documentaries include staged scenes, and his dramas feature nonprofessional actors who are sometimes playing versions of themselves. But there is little middle ground when it comes to the reception of his work. Writing in Artforum last year, John Waters declared: "Fassbinder died, so God gave us Ulrich Seidl. " Werner Herzog once said of Seidl's "Animal Love," a 1996 documentary about excessively devoted pet owners: "Never have I looked so directly into hell.

Deanna Durbin, the singing starlet with the bubbly personality and the jewel-tone voice whose enormously popular movies were widely credited with saving Universal Pictures from bankruptcy during the Depression, has died. She was 91. Her popularity peaked by her late teens and by her mid-20s Durbin had left Hollywood forever, made wealthy by her relatively brief career. She died in April in France, said family friend Bob Koster, the son of Henry Koster, who directed Durbin in films early in her career.