SICK CHILD CARE: The University of Michigan is offering its employees a new option for getting to work when their children are sick. A pilot program offered through June 30 allows faculty and staff to have their kids cared for at home when they are too sick to be in daycare or school but not sick enough for the hospital. The university is contracting with Friends Who Care, a service that employs staff trained in child development and CPR. The in-home care will be provided at a rate of $4 per hour, and employees can use it for up to 16 hours until the end of June.

KENTUCKY PROTEST: Professors at the University of Kentucky aren't thrilled by the prospect of a new basket-ball arena. More than 340 of them—about 20 percent—signed a petition opposing the construction of such an arena. The university currently rents an arena from the city of Lexington. The professors also oppose the university's paying for the installation of luxury boxes in the facility it now rents.

INTELLECTUAL COMMUNITY: The Faculty Senate at the University of Virginia has appointed a task force to respond to the president's charge that the university's intellectual community needs to be improved. The task force has now given its report, and recommends three things: (1) the creation of a Faculty Senate Speaker Series specifically designed to cut across disciplinary lines and engage faculty members from all schools at the university, (2) the creation of indoor and outdoor spaces, called "common grounds," where faculty and students can meet and exchange ideas in a relaxed manner, and (3) the creation of a Faculty Center as a magnet for activities and programs.

NEW ARENA: The University of Wisconsin has opened a new sports arena, after a rush-rush schedule that brought the building from start to finish in 20 months, four to six months faster than comparable projects. The building will be home to the university's men's and women's basketball and hockey teams, but will also be used for concerts and university functions, including commencement.

REACHING OUT: The University of Arizona has joined in an outreach project to encourage kids from one of Tucson's roughest neighborhoods to go to college. The UA will provide tuition waivers and the local Rotary Club will kick in funds for books and living expenses for any current third grade students at a school in the neighborhood who graduate from high school and want to go on to college. The University's early outreach programs—Academic Preparation for Excellence and Math, Engineering and Science Achievement will provide academic enrichment programs at the school, and Rotary Club members have pledged to serve as mentors.

K-16 COALITION: The Coordinating Board for Higher Education, the State Board of Education and the University of Missouri Board of Curators have formed the Missouri K-16 coalition, a new partnership in support of high educational standards for all students. Coalition members will consider ways to better serve students, create a more comprehensive and coordinated educational system and raise expectations and performance levels of all students from kindergarten through the baccalaureate degree. The sponsors have asked 22 prominent Missourians from the public and private sectors to serve as members of the coaliton.

MINNESOTA LAWSUIT: Five students sued the University of Minnesota system, challenging its allocation of required student fees to campus organizations whose purposes the students oppose. The students maintain they would not contribute money to some of the campus orgnizations if they were not required to pay the fee. They specifically object to University Young Women, the Queer Student Cultural Center and LaRaza Student Cultural Center as groups "that embrace the abortion movement, champion the homosexual lifestyle and support the communist regime in Cuba." ¶