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The article focuses on the condition of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was affected by Hurricane Katrina that forced it to cancel fall semester in the previous year. Nearly 90 percent of its 6,400 undergraduates returned to the university when it reopened in January 2006. There are several obstacles to the full recovery of the university. Despite a record 21,000 applications for this fall's freshman class, the university may end up falling some 200 short of its enrollment goal of 1,400 new students, which was already nearly 300 smaller than previous year's freshman class. Although most faculty members support the restructuring plan, some of those whose jobs are being eliminated are fighting it. Tulane's campus and its surrounding neighborhood are functioning again, but one third of the New Orleans is still deserted. The city is in varying stages of recovery. Changing the perception that the city is largely uninhabitable is especially important for Tulane, which draws about 80 percent of its students from outside Louisiana.

The author argues that U.S. higher education needs to adapt in order to offer online and hybrid classes that will meet the academic and financial needs of students. It is said that consensus between college administrators and faculty members is needed, along with more research on the effectiveness of online college classes.

Presents news briefs on higher education in the U.S. as of July 16, 2004. Information on a report released by the State Higher Education Executive Officers; Retirement of Ted Sanders, president of nonprofit organization Education Commission; Connection of Sami Al-Arian, a former computer science professor at the University of Florida, with terrorist group Islamic Jihad according to a federal affidavit released by the American Democracy Project.

Provides information on the undertakings of college professors and presidents in the U.S. as of April 2, 2004. Ronald A. Crutcher, president of Wheaton College in Massachusetts; Curtis J. Tompkins, president of Michigan Technological University; Larry L. Cockrum of the College of the Ozarks in Missouri; Jack M. Wilson of the University of Massachusetts.

Offers news briefs on issues relating to United States colleges and universities. Removal of Texas Southern University President James M. Douglas by the Board of Regents in Houston after extending his contract for two years; Reaction from University of Connecticut professors to a proposal by Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland that they teach one more course per year.

States that a state appeals court is reinstating an award for damages to two former professors of the University of California; The allegations against the institution of cheating the professors out of their patent royalties for magnetic-resonance-imaging technology; Details of the case.