Colleges and Universities Books

In my view, this book serves two purposes:

1) Provides an understanding for how American research universities overtake the European universities in research since after World War II. This reflection should be read by both European and American scholars that are seriously concerned about the future of their respective higher education, as well as public policy makers and administrators. "Free market type", decentralized, and pluralistic competitions in research grants do produce the best research and researchers.

2) Provides an understanding of how reputational rankings of research universities came about and how that it is outdated and no longer reflecting today's reality. Instead, faculty productivity based on research grants received, published research, and peer approval, which are widely used in academia, should be the true yardstick to gauge the research universities.

Additionally, this book should be read by college students who intend to pursue a PhD degree. This book will aid them in selection of graduate programs and free them from the damaging and misleading rankings by reputation.

As a college admissions officer, I regularly have direct contact with prospective students. Consequently, I need to keep abreast of current issues, trends and my university's academic competition. The book by Graham and Diamond clearly illustrates American research universities without bias or pseudo-science. Moreover, it shows that the public research universities (most notably the University of California campuses) are not only giving the Ivy League schools a run for their money, they're surpassing them.

Hatfield and Rapson explore testosterone's parallel universes of sex and power with wit and humor, by way of an endearing heroine and a plot chock full of twists, turns, and surprises.

"Rosie" is lots of fun to read. Part romantic novel, part political drama, part academic story, it does lots of things but still hangs together. There's also a serious discussion of social issues (such as same-sex marriage) mixed with plenty of comedy, lush scenes of Hawaii and the South of France, and lots of knowledgable material about university life. But mostly I just thought it was a good story, well-told. It also has, among its leading characters, a conservative Republican from Texas running for President in the year 2000. Could that ever happen?

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.

E. Culpepper Clark's The Schoolhouse Door is a narrative account of how The University of Alabama was integrated. In this detailed book Clark tells the story of the University's integration in two distinct parts. Part one tells the story of Autherine Lucy's acceptance to the University and of her swift expulsion. Clark examines how the board of trustees was successful in keeping Lucy out of the university. Part two focuses on George Wallace's stand at Foster Auditorium in June 1963. Clark documents the forces behind-the-scenes that orchestrated this infamous event. One of the author's purposes in writing this book is to debunk the idea that the University of Alabama was helpful in its own integration. Clark argues that the university desegregated its students only after immense outside pressure forced the institution to stop segregation. In the book the reader will find information on the major and minor figures who contributed to the end of segregation at the University of Alabama. The Schoolhouse Door offers the reader sound descriptions of the events and of the people who were a part of, " ... how Tuscaloosa became the Appomattox of segregation" (xix).

E. Culpepper Clark is highly qualified to write on this particular topic. Clark is currently the Dean of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama. He has worked for the university in a number of different positions since 1971 and was the Executive Assistant to the President from 1990-1996.1 Wallace's stand at the schoolhouse door is an incredibly important piece of The University of Alabama's history. Furthermore, the integration of the university stands as a lasting symbol of federal vs. state authority. Clark sets the tone of this book in the introduction, " ... Alabama was a microcosm of the larger South, as ardently committed to white supremacy as Mississippi, but more vulnerable to change by virtue of its social and economic composition" (xii). Clark argues that the struggle for integration in Tuscaloosa was a relatively peaceful and a symbolic victory over Southern segregation.

The first part of The Schoolhouse Door examines how Oliver Cromwell Carmichael, the university's president, was caught in the middle of the battle for integration. Carmichael was essentially a non-factor in the university's road to integrate because he did what the board of trustees told him to do. The members of the board of trustees legally delayed integration as long as possible to avoid integration. In 1952 Pollie Myers and Autherine Lucy applied to the University of Alabama, but did not indicate that they were black. They were accepted and they even paid the five dollar deposit on their dormitories. Once the Office of Admissions found their mistake it was immediately taken to the president (at the time, President Gallalee) with hope that the situation could be averted. However, the girls were backed by the NAACP and would wait until the courts told them they could attend. This was the first step that led to integration at the University of Alabama.

The complex nature of the university's integration is illuminated by Clark's telling of the story. On February 1SI 1956 Autherine Lucy was allowed to register, but Myers was denied because she became pregnant while unmarried. Lucy's acceptance to the university was, " ... three and a half years of costly and life-absorbing legal wrangling" (57). The board of trustees did not allow Lucy to have a room on campus, a decision which was contested by the NAACP. Lucy attended two days of classes in relative peace; however on the third day of classes a mob of students tormented Lucy and threatened her life. Lucy was expelled by the board of trustees because of the pressure placed on them by the mob. One student demonstrator said, "Well, we won. It took her four years and the Supreme Court to get her in, and it took us only four days to get rid of her" (80). Lucy was charged with conspiracy and was eventually expelled permanently. The NAACP lawyers could not win the battle in the courtroom for various reasons. It was not until 1989 that Lucy's expulsion was reversed and she was allowed to attend classes. The mob at The University of Alabama had won the first battle.

Clark's book is valuable because he places important emphasis on the behind-the scenes aspects of the situation. Most notably, Clark skillfully presents the tension between the board of trustees, the president, faculty, students, and politicians. The Schoolhouse Door successfully characterizes many people who were involved with the
university's integration. One particularly outstanding portrayal is that of James Jefferson Bennett, who was President Carmichael's top assistant. Bennett was involved in many situations in the book and actually drove the car that delivered Lucy from the mob. Clark portrays Bennett as skillful mediator who was instrumental at keeping the peace at Tuscaloosa. Bennett made the university run smoothly from the transition of the presidency from Oliver Charmichael to Frank Rose. Clark portrays Bennett as the voice of reason during many years prior to the desegregation at Tuscaloosa. The Schoolhouse Door is a work of considerable importance because Clark outlines the roles that "minor" people had in the integration of The University of Alabama.

The Schoolhouse Door is rather brief in the discussion of George Wallace's infamous stand at Foster Auditorium. Rather, the author looks at the forces that were behind the university's peaceful integration. During the course of this book Clark does an excellent job at building suspense in his description of the events leading up to the stand at the schoolhouse door. The amount of tension and uncertainty were paramount at _Tuscaloosa prior to Wallace's stand. General Graham, under the order of Robert Kennedy, was assigned the duty of removing Wallace from the steps. Thankfully, Wallace's camp informed the general that Wallace would go peacefully if given time to make a speech. Wallace briefly spoke about how the action by the federal government was, "a bitter pill for the members of the Alabama National Guard to swallow" (230). Wallace stepped aside and Jimmy Hood and Vivian Malone walked through the schoolhouse door and were met with, "a spattering of applause" (231). Although the battle against segregation lasted from 1956 to 1963 the University of Alabama was finally an institution that accepted students of any color.

One of the key themes of The Schoolhouse Door is the lack of violence that accompanied the university's integration. "For all its drama no one dies in this story" (ix). Violence had been avoided at The University of Alabama and there was no clear-cut winner of the battle. George Wallace was not successful in his stand, but gained popularity from the incident. Despite the fact that The University of Alabama was an integrated institution the feeling of white supremacy in the South was not lost. Clark says, "As a reenactment of Appomattox, the schoolhouse door fulfilled expectations federal, force-induced surrender followed by a settled conviction that the real cause, white supremacy, was not, indeed, could not, be lost" (239).

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, civil rights history.

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.

E. Culpepper Clark's The Schoolhouse Door is a narrative account of how The University of Alabama was integrated. In this detailed book Clark tells the story of the University's integration in two distinct parts. Part one tells the story of Autherine Lucy's acceptance to the University and of her swift expulsion. Clark examines how the board of trustees was successful in keeping Lucy out of the university. Part two focuses on George Wallace's stand at Foster Auditorium in June 1963. Clark documents the forces behind-the-scenes that orchestrated this infamous event. One of the author's purposes in writing this book is to debunk the idea that the University of Alabama was helpful in its own integration. Clark argues that the university desegregated its students only after immense outside pressure forced the institution to stop segregation. In the book the reader will find information on the major and minor figures who contributed to the end of segregation at the University of Alabama. The Schoolhouse Door offers the reader sound descriptions of the events and of the people who were a part of, " ... how Tuscaloosa became the Appomattox of segregation" (xix).

E. Culpepper Clark is highly qualified to write on this particular topic. Clark is currently the Dean of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama. He has worked for the university in a number of different positions since 1971 and was the Executive Assistant to the President from 1990-1996.1 Wallace's stand at the schoolhouse door is an incredibly important piece of The University of Alabama's history. Furthermore, the integration of the university stands as a lasting symbol of federal vs. state authority. Clark sets the tone of this book in the introduction, " ... Alabama was a microcosm of the larger South, as ardently committed to white supremacy as Mississippi, but more vulnerable to change by virtue of its social and economic composition" (xii). Clark argues that the struggle for integration in Tuscaloosa was a relatively peaceful and a symbolic victory over Southern segregation.

The first part of The Schoolhouse Door examines how Oliver Cromwell Carmichael, the university's president, was caught in the middle of the battle for integration. Carmichael was essentially a non-factor in the university's road to integrate because he did what the board of trustees told him to do. The members of the board of trustees legally delayed integration as long as possible to avoid integration. In 1952 Pollie Myers and Autherine Lucy applied to the University of Alabama, but did not indicate that they were black. They were accepted and they even paid the five dollar deposit on their dormitories. Once the Office of Admissions found their mistake it was immediately taken to the president (at the time, President Gallalee) with hope that the situation could be averted. However, the girls were backed by the NAACP and would wait until the courts told them they could attend. This was the first step that led to integration at the University of Alabama.

The complex nature of the university's integration is illuminated by Clark's telling of the story. On February 1SI 1956 Autherine Lucy was allowed to register, but Myers was denied because she became pregnant while unmarried. Lucy's acceptance to the university was, " ... three and a half years of costly and life-absorbing legal wrangling" (57). The board of trustees did not allow Lucy to have a room on campus, a decision which was contested by the NAACP. Lucy attended two days of classes in relative peace; however on the third day of classes a mob of students tormented Lucy and threatened her life. Lucy was expelled by the board of trustees because of the pressure placed on them by the mob. One student demonstrator said, "Well, we won. It took her four years and the Supreme Court to get her in, and it took us only four days to get rid of her" (80). Lucy was charged with conspiracy and was eventually expelled permanently. The NAACP lawyers could not win the battle in the courtroom for various reasons. It was not until 1989 that Lucy's expulsion was reversed and she was allowed to attend classes. The mob at The University of Alabama had won the first battle.

Clark's book is valuable because he places important emphasis on the behind-the scenes aspects of the situation. Most notably, Clark skillfully presents the tension between the board of trustees, the president, faculty, students, and politicians. The Schoolhouse Door successfully characterizes many people who were involved with the
university's integration. One particularly outstanding portrayal is that of James Jefferson Bennett, who was President Carmichael's top assistant. Bennett was involved in many situations in the book and actually drove the car that delivered Lucy from the mob. Clark portrays Bennett as skillful mediator who was instrumental at keeping the peace at Tuscaloosa. Bennett made the university run smoothly from the transition of the presidency from Oliver Charmichael to Frank Rose. Clark portrays Bennett as the voice of reason during many years prior to the desegregation at Tuscaloosa. The Schoolhouse Door is a work of considerable importance because Clark outlines the roles that "minor" people had in the integration of The University of Alabama.

The Schoolhouse Door is rather brief in the discussion of George Wallace's infamous stand at Foster Auditorium. Rather, the author looks at the forces that were behind the university's peaceful integration. During the course of this book Clark does an excellent job at building suspense in his description of the events leading up to the stand at the schoolhouse door. The amount of tension and uncertainty were paramount at _Tuscaloosa prior to Wallace's stand. General Graham, under the order of Robert Kennedy, was assigned the duty of removing Wallace from the steps. Thankfully, Wallace's camp informed the general that Wallace would go peacefully if given time to make a speech. Wallace briefly spoke about how the action by the federal government was, "a bitter pill for the members of the Alabama National Guard to swallow" (230). Wallace stepped aside and Jimmy Hood and Vivian Malone walked through the schoolhouse door and were met with, "a spattering of applause" (231). Although the battle against segregation lasted from 1956 to 1963 the University of Alabama was finally an institution that accepted students of any color.

One of the key themes of The Schoolhouse Door is the lack of violence that accompanied the university's integration. "For all its drama no one dies in this story" (ix). Violence had been avoided at The University of Alabama and there was no clear-cut winner of the battle. George Wallace was not successful in his stand, but gained popularity from the incident. Despite the fact that The University of Alabama was an integrated institution the feeling of white supremacy in the South was not lost. Clark says, "As a reenactment of Appomattox, the schoolhouse door fulfilled expectations federal, force-induced surrender followed by a settled conviction that the real cause, white supremacy, was not, indeed, could not, be lost" (239).

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, civil rights history.

This is a good book to have in your theater library (especially for black actors/thespians). There are some great contemporary pieces and monologues (especially for Black men). I have always been supportive of The Theodore Award winning plays. The characters are real and the language is rich. The writing is great. Most of the plays are short, so these plays would be good for a burgeoning African American theater company or ensemble to produce.

Since the early part of the 20th century, Chicago has been a national leader in the production of black theater. There are currently six black companies, and black productions are regularly featured at the three Tony Award-winning regional theater companies.

Theodore Ward (1902 - 1983) mentored and encouraged many aspiring dramatists in Chicago from 1968 until his death. To honor Ward, and to aid black playwrights in the development and production of scripts, Columbia College Chicago established the Theodore Ward Prize for African American Playwriting in 1985. Only full-length plays addressing the African American are considered, and the playwright must be of African American descent. Since one of the goals is to uncover and identify new works, scripts which have received professional production are not eligible.

This anthology of prize-winning plays is the first in a series to be published every three years. Compiled and edited by Chuck Smith (currently Resident Director at Chicago's Goodman Theater, and affiliated with the prize for fifteen years) it presents seven plays spanning nearly two decades, with diverse subject matter and treatments. Christopher Moore's "The Last Season" (First Prize 1987-88) immerses us in the final days of the Negro Leagues. The most recent offering, Shepsu Aakhu's "Kiwi Black" ( First Prize 2001-02) tells the story of adolescent son coming of age under the watchful eye of a tough-love father.

But my synopses can't possibly do these scripts justice. Highly recommended for any theater library!

I LOVE this book! Applying for College should be an exciting adventure, not a daunting task, and Seventeen's Guide to Getting Into College is the perfect jumping-off point. Reading this book will get you excited and prepare you for the best time of your life! Writer Jaye Fenderson doesn't miss a beat. Jaye has input every detail to help you start on your journey. Whether you're the first in your family heading to college, attending community college and hoping to transfer, or getting a full ride scholarship to Yale... this book is a must!

This book has extremely valuable information such as: putting together a thoughtful application, surviving the admission process, terrific tips on getting grants & loans, finding the perfect college to fit your needs, and very insightful, super fun quizzes! Ultimately this book will help you find, get accepted, and pay for the college of your choice!

Every teenage girl should own Seventeens Guide to Getting Into College. :)

Jaye Fenderson takes the overwhelming process of finding, applying to, deciding on, and financing a college education exactly what it should be for every girl - full of excitement, anticipation, and adventure! Back in my high school days, I don't recall having anything this comprehensive and easy to understand available at my fingertips. Her prompts for beginning a character sketch as a jumping-off point for writing essays are excellent and thought-provoking, and she encourages each girl to tell her own story instead of just writing what they think admissions officers want to hear. This book is chock full of fun quizzes, need-to-know test prep tips, financial aid advice, and generally makes the daunting admissions process seem not so scary. Reading this book is like having your questions answered by your own personal admissions officer - even some questions you may not have thought of yet! Jaye keeps it real and positive, even when discussing the possibility of getting a rejection letter, and gives solid advice about what you can do to help make your college dreams a reality. I would recommend this book as required reading for any girl thinking that she might like to pursue her education!

This is a carefully researched and elegantly written book on the relationship between sexuality and spirituality on US college campuses. It is pretty well known among scholars that high school kids are quite religious in the US. When they go to college they start turning away from the religions of their parents, often toward more generic spirituality. Why does this happen? Freitas thinks sexual experience might hold the key. In other words, as college students start experimenting sexually they push away from religion, since religion is in their view "anti-sex." That's the argument, or part of it. But at the heart of the book lie stories about these students. Kids at evangelical, Catholic, and secular schools struggling with faith and sexuality. It's brilliantly done. It's sad in many ways to see the binds that "hookup culture" put young people in. It's balanced in that there are things in here that will infuriate (and delight) conservatives and liberals alike. And it's timely. Makes me wonder what the next generation is in for heading off to college.

This is an excellent ( at times appalling - at times hopeful) book. I don't usually find sociology books that I can't put down, but I read through this one in short order. What the author does quite brilliantly is weave her study of college students and how they integrate faith/religion and sex, around the personal stories of the students that she interviews. If you are a parent (like me) it is disheartening to see the influences that kids come under when they go away to college, and the soul-destroying nature of casual "hook-ups" with people one may or may not know well.

The book is hopeful (to my way of thinking) in that it is almost exclusively the evangelicals (I am one) who believe that there is a connection between spirituality and sex, and that it is important. While it is no surprise that virtually everyone struggles with how far to go physically before marriage, it is nice to see that evangelicals are generally trying to follow what they believe God desires in regards to dating and marriage.

This book is a balanced, scientifically supported account of a very real problem of sexual harassment on college campuses. It has set the national standard for policies based on its accuracy and fairness. It has helped my campus understand how a professor who seemed to have a second wife could actually be abusing dozens of students and demanding sex from them. This is one instance where knowledge is power and wisdom.

This book is very well written with real life situations. It can assist students, universities and hopefully educators that abuse the ivory power.

It enlightened me to understand that what happened to me was not my fault because when someone masterfully manipulates individuals with the abuse of power at the mercy of vulnerable people and the organization they work for it is not nice. The world does have evil people in it, but it is not the act that is sinful. It is the lie and not owning up to the behaviors verbal and nonverbal that are the true unjustice to themselves as human beings.

Overall, the book is excellent as well as other books on similar topics. I hope that future editions will be published to assist in the awareness to the fact that this does exist in Higher Education.

Students today at LSU call the Pete Maravich Assembly Center the P-MAC. I can't stand to hear that. If they read this book, they might give the building the devotion it deserves. "Shooting the Pistol" is a clever name and the cover of this book and its design are also clever. I was expecting only pictures, but was amazed at the amount of copy that went along with the games corresponding to the photos. Pete is shown in all kinds of situations and the descriptions are amazing. This will make a great Father's Day gift.

This is an excellent recounting of Pete Maravich's playing days at LSU from the perspective of a court side photographer/journalist. Well written with wonderful pictures. A must have for basketball and sports history fans!

I Love this book!
As a high school counselor, I recommended this to many of my seniors. Their parents where very thankful. It is a thorough treatment of the college admissions process. My favorite part is in the financial aid section, where they discuss good award letters, vs poor award letters.
Each chapter ends with a to do list, as well as many online resources. The workbook style gives students a much needed organizational piece to keep track of everything in one location.

One of the most complete books on the subject I've found yet. Very complete and detailed information, especially on financial aid, written with common sense and information I could understand and use. By following the financial aid information, we ended up with an excellent financial aid package.

Long before the civil rights movements of the 1950s, black industrial workers in the 1930s and '40s set the stage in the South for social change movements. Labor organizers, wary of the racially-exclusive AFL, began organizing for the CIO, with significant support from the organization. Their participation in union politics, elections and organizing "profoundly unsettled the segregation system."

It also confronted trade unions with whether they were concerned simply with wages and working conditions or with larger social goals. While civil rights movements of the era were wholly defeated, the success of the CIO in the 1940s arose largely from the civil rights organizing, and they laid the groundwork for the movements of the '50s and '60s. For instance, racial segregation under local political boss Edward H. Crump extinguished many civil rights for working-class whites as well as blacks, and organizing for civil rights and labor rights became intertwined.

Michael Honey does a fantastic job in explaining the CIO's contribution to the Struggle for Civil Rights. The Left-Led CIO Unions, most of all FTA Local 19, prepared a cadre of African-American working class leaders in Memphis, who were, in fact, the precursors to those of the 1960s. A must for anyone interested in the study of the Labor role in Civil Rights History in Memphis and the South in the 1930s-1950s.

Can't understand how this country works if you don't see how racism has been used, especially to divide workers. Honey writes about a pivotal time in American history when the working class was organizing and had the potential to transform the South for workers and African-Americans. The lessons are no less true today. A must read for organizers of any persuasion.