VOL. 23, NO. 16	FEBRUARY 27, 1998

mong the many prominent stories on Columbia in the print and electronic media recently:

• Eric Kandel, the Columbia biologist who has pioneered much of the research on the molecular basis of memory, was featured in a major article in the Feb. 15 issue of The New York Times Magazine. The article questions how enhanced memory retention might end up being a societal problem.

• President George Rupp was interviewed by CNBC on university endowments by Barbara Monaco. He said that Columbia has realized a return on its investments in the mid-20 percent range, enabling the University Trustees to allow the University to increase spending somewhat. “We can invest in financial aid, better faculty salaries, in the computing and library infrastructure, student services and maybe, most importantly, it gives us the opportunity to continue to moderate the rate of increase in tuition, which is, after all, our largest source of revenue.”

• Barnard professor of religion Randall Balmer was quoted in a Feb. 20 New York Times story about Promise Keepers, the Christian male evangelical group that announced its plans to lay off its entire office staff. He said that the group is losing steam as it becomes widely known and seems to be moving closer to the mainstream. “You have this kind of burst of energy and emotion, and then it dissipates.”

• The New York Times, in a Feb. 18 story, reported that at Princeton and other peer institutions, grade inflation lives. The story also reported that Columbia and Dartmouth have sought to place their grades in context by including on college transcripts information about a course, such as the percentage of As and enrollment, alongside a student’s grade in a given class.

• A conference on the Dreyfus affair held at Columbia Feb. 12–13 received substantial coverage in the media, including a Feb. 17 New York Times column by Clyde Haberman on an interview at the conference of Simone Perl, Dreyfus’ granddaughter, and a one-page spread in France-Amerique, the international edition of Figaro, pictured above.