Terrorists had hijacked two passenger planes and flew them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. For the first terrifying minutes after the disaster, there was chaos, and no one really knew what was happening.

Shortly after the planes crashed into the buildings, the tall structures collapsed and were reduced to rubble. The force of the buildings falling down pushed some people out of their shoes. They walked around barefoot trying to get home and out of harm's way.

“They were far enough away that they didn't get injured, but the collapse of the buildings forced them forward and out of their shoes,” Fleming said. “When I saw people walking around covered in dust, it stuck in my mind that they didn't have on their shoes. That image was immensely sad because you got a sense when you see films of refugees from a war. These folks were walking quietly up the street trying to get where they needed to go.”

At the time of the attacks, Fleming was working on a doctorate degree and employed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was living in the West Village and working from home that day. She heard the loud crash after the first plane struck the north tower and the commotion.

“I lived on the fourth floor of a brownstone, and there were roofers working on the roof,” she said. “I went up on the roof, and the guys showed me that something crashed into one of the towers.”

Fleming went back to her apartment and turned on the television to find out what was happening. After she saw the second plane strike the south tower, she grabbed her camera and took a photo because it was such a strange sight. News reports were still sketchy on the details, and she told the roofers they needed to stop working and get inside.

“There was a whole lot of conjecture because no one knew what was happening,” she said. “After the second tower was struck, some people thought it was chemical warfare. Radio alerts were saying if you don't have to be outside, don't go.”

Later, she found out that terrorists had crashed two more planes. A third plane struck the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., and a fourth plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pa.

The next couple of days were difficult because she saw missing person signs posted everywhere. The experience of witnessing the events so closely encouraged Fleming to move back to South Carolina.

“I had wonderful friends in New York City, but no family,” she said. “The experience had an impact on me moving back to South Carolina to be near my family. I think most people feel a really strong pull for their family after a traumatic experience.”

Within a year, Fleming left New York City and took a job at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston. She worked at the museum for a few years and then was hired as the president at Converse.

If there was anything positive about that day and the tragic events she witnessed, Fleming said she was inspired by the resiliency of the human spirit. She saw people opening up their doors to strangers and helping them.

And, she still loves New York City and has visited many times since the attacks.

“I love it and remain very attached to New York City,” she said. “I am more compassionate and vulnerable having watched something like that happen. It helps us to understand that we are not invincible. The experience taught me you have to live your life and live it to the fullest.”

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By Beckie Supiano

Until recently, SAT scores played a major role in Furman University's merit-scholarship decisions. But for this fall's entering class, the university went in a new direction.

Like plenty of other colleges looking to enhance their reputations, Furman had spent a lot of money to recruit students with high standardized-test scores. But Furman was putting even more weight on test scores than it meant to, says Rod Smolla, who became the university's president in 2010. This was just one of several problems Mr. Smolla saw in how the university had been awarding merit aid.

Despite using a complex aid-awarding strategy, Mr. Smolla says, Furman had been overshooting its financial-aid budget for years. That complexity also meant "we'd lost our ability to effectively shape the class," he says. "It was impossible to say if we wanted to increase diversity, what would it cost?, or if we are interested in more students interested in music, what would it cost?, or if we are interested to help more impoverished families, what would it cost?"

It seemed to Mr. Smolla that only the consultant working with Furman really knew how aid was being awarded. It was like being on an airplane that only the computer knows how to fly, he says.

While spending heavily to compete with other colleges and universities that wanted the same high-scoring students, the university, its leaders thought, might be missing out on some great students who did not happen to have stellar scores. By paying a lot of attention to the SAT, Furman favored applicants who could afford test prep or were naturally good test-takers, Mr. Smolla says. In theory, test scores were supposed to count for only 15 or 20 percent of an applicant's merit ranking, he says. But, because the most competitive students had otherwise similar academic strengths, test scores took on more weight.

Mr. Smolla compares the situation to giving an exam graded on a curve. Say the exam has five parts, each worth the same number of points. If students all perform very strongly in the first four sections, but have more varied scores on the fifth, then that last section will be the curve breaker. In Furman's scholarship policy, that curve breaker was the SAT.

'A Stronger, More Talented Class'

All that led Mr. Smolla to encourage his staff to find a different approach. The university's associate vice presidents for admission and financial aid, who have each been at Furman for about three years, set to work changing how merit scholarships were awarded. They came up with a new system that de-emphasized the SAT and allowed the university to stick to its budget.

Furman began to use new measures to find students who were hungry and passionate learners, and who had grit, says Brad Pochard, associate vice president for admission. The university paid more attention to letters of recommendation from counselors and teachers, and to admissions interviews. Furman made interviews available to all of its prospective students for the first time in this past cycle, Mr. Pochard says, and is considering requiring them in the future.

The result? Furman's average SAT score dropped about 25 points for this entering class compared with the year before, Mr. Pochard says, bringing it back in line with its average from several years ago.

Now Furman is looking at different markers of success it can track from year to year, like the numbers of valedictorians and student-body presidents, Mr. Pochard says. "From here on, we can argue we have a stronger, more talented class based on things we'll be able to measure."

It was also important to Furman that the incoming class was diverse, and the university did make some gains in gender balance, the percentage of students who are nonwhite, and the number of students from other countries, Mr. Pochard says.

The new approach to merit aid is not the only change Furman is making. Several years ago, the university started allowing students to submit other test scores, like those from AP exams, instead of an ACT or SAT score, Mr. Pochard says. But for the class it's recruiting for next fall, Furman will be entirely test optional. This move shows that the university really is serious about looking at students more holistically, Mr. Pochard says.

As for the finances, Furman came in under budget on its financial aid for the first time in years, while also bringing in a larger class. The university, which is no longer working with its consultant, has a new aid-awarding strategy that was designed by its own staff. The system has built-in checks to prevent overspending, says Forrest M. Stuart, associate vice president for financial aid. This, he says, will free up money for offering the students it recruits a better academic experience once they arrive on campus.

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During their first semester at Coker College, students this year will take a new required sequence designed to ease the transition from high school. But it’s not your typical orientation class.

Yes, it will involve advice on how to live independently, serve the community and engage with peers of differing opinions. But a major component of Coker College 101 compels students to do something they’re probably not used to being told to do: get fit.

All freshmen this year will take a mandatory “fitness assessment,” in which they will – among other things – receive their body mass index (BMI) score, which measures body fat; do a one-mile run/walk; and see how many push-ups and sit-ups they can do in a few minutes. If time permits, the students may also do curl-ups, trunk lifts, and beep tests, in which they run back and forth between two cones at increasingly quick speeds.

The timing is not coincidental. South Carolina this year climbed from number nine to number eight on the list of "Top Ten Fattest States." Last year, 32 percent were obese and an additional 35 percent of its residents were overweight, and these facts are not lost on Coker administrators.

When Coker President Robert L. Wyatt gave his inauguration speech in March 2010, he suggested it was time for the college to make some changes. “For more than a century now, Coker has prepared students for the next step in their lives,” Wyatt said. “Looking forward, Coker will greet students of a new century, and we must redefine what it means to prepare this generation.”

One way he wants to do that is by educating students on "fiscal and physical fitness" so they can live “long, happily and well.”

Noting the state’s obesity and diabetes rates, Wyatt said Coker must face the issue by teaching its students, faculty and staff how to lead healthy lives. In an e-mail exchange with Inside Higher Ed, Wyatt explained how his own experience shaped this mission: the president has lost 100 pounds since his own days as a college student. That seems to be one reason why people responded more to that part of his speech than any other.

Photo: Coker College

Coker President Robert L. Wyatt, who has lost 100 pounds since college and is a passionate advocate for healthy student living.

“I was amazed by folks who knew my personal story of weight loss (and the struggles required to maintain it) and was reminded once again of how important it is to help all of our Coker community understand not only the importance of wellness but the tools and techniques that will help them to achieve this state of wellness,” Wyatt said. “My past serves to remind me of the challenges students face when growing up in a culture that presents them with daily temptations and distractions that may lead to unhealthy choices.”

(Brandon Fain, Coker’s intramurals and wellness coordinator, recalled in an interview how, in one freshman class last year, he held up a chicken nugget in one hand and a whole, cooked piece of the bird in another. One student could identify the former but not the latter. “There’s no such thing as the freshman 15 anymore,” Fain said. “It’s the freshman 25.”)

The ambition articulated in Wyatt’s speech laid the groundwork for a number of efforts now under way in student affairs, the fitness assessments among them. “The programs that we had been offering at the time were not really a whole lot,” Dean of Students Jason Umfress said. Oftentimes there were no healthy options in the dining halls, with high-calorie and fatty fried foods making up the bulk of the offerings, and while there were intramural sports, the staff was spread thin and participation was low.

While the fitness assessments will debut this year, Coker has already broadened its opportunities for healthy living. Students are guaranteed a nutritious plate option at every meal – on a given day, it might include a baked protein like fish, steamed vegetables, a side salad and an apple – and foods are accompanied by nutrition facts. Participation in intramural sports and wellness programs, like Zumba – classes in the dark with lasers and glow sticks are particularly popular – and kickboxing classes, or discussions with a dietician and strength training plans, meanwhile, skyrocketed from about 25 to 320 between fall 2010 and May of this year; that's about 30 percent of the 1,100 students who attend Coker. (All these options fall under what the college calls the COBRAFIT program.) As part of Coker College 101, students will be required to participate in at least four of these activities.

“As we looked at what the institution’s response was to [the obesity epidemic], we were ashamed that we didn’t really have one,” Umfress said. “Pulling something together like the COBRAFIT program was just natural, I think, to us. To do our part to help solve that problem.”

Margaret McCoy, who graduated last year after studying fitness programming, played Division II soccer at Coker, so she didn’t have as much time as she would have liked to participate in COBRAFIT activities. But she noticed that people of all fitness levels took part. “I think everybody was very driven,” McCoy said. “People wanting to get fit, that weren’t already, had the ability to do that and do it for free. And I think they really, really enjoyed that.”

Wyatt described similar feedback he got from one student, calling it generally representative of the student body: some students were nervous at first to have a curriculum including fitness, but seeing immediate results from personal goals is rewarding – and the activities are fun.

But during the course of all this, it’s been important to staff to not make students feel threatened or judged. That’s why its intramural options include activities such as inner tubing and yoga – they’re less competitive than, say, basketball or flag football. At one point officials considered installing scales in the dorms or setting up weigh stations elsewhere on campus, but, with eating disorders becoming an ever-increasing health issue among students, they nixed that idea. “We’re not exactly sold on the fact that that would bring more benefit than it would harm,” Umfress said. “We’re sensitive to the fact that we do have students who have body image problems.”

McCoy sympathized with students who might feel bombarded or singled out, but said it’s good that the university is requiring the entire freshman class to take the fitness assessment. “From a woman’s standpoint, some people might not have been brought up thinking that weight should be an issue, or that they’re unhealthy,” she said. “I think [assessments are] a great idea. I do feel, though, that maybe some people might be offended.”

The Fallout at Lincoln

One institution learned that the hard way.

In 2009, Lincoln University, a historically black institution in Pennsylvania, came under fire for its requirement that students either have a BMI score under 30 or take a one-semester “Fitness for Life” class that, like the course at Coker, mixed exercise, nutritional instruction and education on the health risks of obesity. But the university modified the requirement following the considerable outcry at widespread news that it threatened 25 students’ graduation eligibility.

The well-meaning effort (50 percent of black women age 20 or older are obese) and subsequent “international furor” (critics accused the university of racial abuse) were recounted in a spring article in the American Journal of Health Sciences by James L. DeBoy, chair of Lincoln’s Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department, and Sally B. Monsilovich, an associate professor in the department. They stood by the ends – if not entirely the means – of the program.

“[Faculty] had routinely witnessed many students, initially skeptical and resistant to the intervention, change their attitudes and behaviors regarding physical activity and the progress that these students could, and did, make in achieving a healthier lifestyle,” they wrote. “When we identify any factor that we believe to be detrimental to a person’s well-being, we must substantiate those adverse effects and provide resources for addressing them. Will that notification be uncomfortable, awkward, or unsettling for both student and educator? Probably. However, to deny its existence or to minimize its impact is a dereliction of duty.”

Now, all students must take a “Dimensions of Wellness” class. After a series of health risk appraisals that address fitness, nutrition, alcohol and drugs and other topics, faculty may recommend that a student enroll in Fitness for Life. But opting out won’t threaten a student’s ability to graduate. DeBoy said that only about 20 to 25 percent of students thus far have followed through on their plans to enroll in the second class, but noted that first-year students have six to seven semesters to do so.

Coker's program is similar in some ways. Once the students get their test results back, Fain will break down the results and help the students analyze them. The goal is to educate the students on what the results mean in the big picture of a healthy life, not to make the students feel fat or unfit. The students are not required to follow up on their health assessments in any way, but, if they do decide they want to lose some weight or start eating better, they can pay a visit to Fain, who is also residence life coordinator.

Fain will work with those students to develop personal exercise or nutrition plans, as he did with one female student last year who decided she wanted to lose 17 pounds. She only lost 15 – but she wasn’t disappointed.

Fain hasn’t forgotten about faculty and staff, either – they’re welcome to participate in “COBRAFIT Plus” activities like walking clubs, fitness classes or intramural sports. Or, if they really want to take it to the next level, they can join in on the “Biggest Loser” competition Fain is planning. But again, it won’t all be about weight – contestants will also focus on building endurance, speed and strength.

“If they get discouraged right off the bat, they’ll quit,” Fain said. “And we don’t want them to quit.”

-Allie Grasgreen

ANDERSON, SC – The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS-COC), the regional accrediting body for colleges and universities in The South, has granted Anderson University status as a “Level V” institution, opening the door to doctoral programs at AU. The vote came during the Commission’s Board of Trustees meeting Thursday in Charlotte.

Anderson was previously approved as a Level III master’s degree granting institution.

Anderson will initiate its first doctoral program this fall with a new Doctor of Ministry degree.  The University will consider other programs as a part of its annual update to its strategic plan called Vision 2014.

Today’s announcement comes during a period of rapid program and enrollment expansion at Anderson, which announced its first graduate degree program in 2005 and now has substantial graduate programs in Business, Education, Ministry, Criminal Justice and a recently announced program in Music Education.  Since 2002, the University’s enrollment has grown 56%, from 1,600 to over 2,500 in eight years, of which approximately 200 are graduate students.

“We are delighted that the Commission on Colleges has approved our application for Level V status.  The Commission rightly has rigorous standards and I am pleased to be able to say that we have met them,” said Dr. Evans P. Whitaker, Anderson University president. 

“Our initial program will give us the opportunity to establish a solid foundation for doctoral level work.  The University’s motivation for level change is to serve our students and the region by adding doctoral studies to our degree offerings.  It is probable that we will seek to develop additional doctoral programs that make sense for a comprehensive university.  As a faith-based institution, ministry is a symbolic place for us to begin, but in time and in response to needs, we are open to considering doctoral programs in other professional disciplines,” Whitaker added.

 Anderson University is a comprehensive university affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention offering bachelors and masters degrees. Anderson is ranked in the Top Tier (top 21) of colleges and universities in the South, and one of 68 “Up and Coming” schools to watch in America,” by U. S. News & World Report. It is the #1 “Up and Coming” school in The South according to that publication.  Anderson has also been named one of “Americas 100 Best College Buys,” Located in The Upstate region of South Carolina near the foothills of the Appalachians, Anderson University features a rigorous education in a supportive Christian environment.

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