MORE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY CORRUPTION

One of the nation's largest health care universities, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, agreed on Thursday to give a federal monitor sweeping oversight of its finances and management to avoid criminal prosecution for fraud. The United States attorney for New Jersey, Christopher J. Christie, said his investigation found that the university had defrauded the federal and state governments of at least $4.9 million in a scheme that involved the "purposeful overbilling of Medicaid." Senior administrators at the university were aware of the fraudulent billing for years, he said, yet allowed it to continue until November 2004.

The university's trustees voted to accept the federal monitor on Thursday after Mr. Christie warned them last week that he had enough evidence to prosecute the university. Such a move would have made it ineligible to receive federal money and would have effectively shut it down.

Patients made more than two million visits to the New Jersey university's health care facilities and faculty members' practices around the state last year, according to the university.

The agreement, which Justice Department officials say is the first instance of a federal monitor's being installed to oversee a public university, does not prevent Mr. Christie from prosecuting university officials responsible for the double-billing or other misdeeds, and he warned the trustees last week that indictments were expected, people who were in the meeting said. The university's action comes as Mr. Christie continues to investigate allegations of widespread cronyism and insider deals that have exposed the institution's political underside.

Federal prosecutors are investigating allegations that university officials padded the payroll with patronage employees, curried favor by making contributions to elected officials and politically connected charities, doled out hundreds of millions of dollars in no-bid contracts, some for which no work appears to have been done, and awarded huge salaries and bonuses to top officials.

Mr. Christie said that he hoped the agreement would help President John J. Petillo overhaul the university's management and fiscal practices, and restore the image of an institution that is now widely viewed as a monument to New Jersey's nefarious political culture. But he acknowledged that the scope and severity of the university's questionable practices meant that the investigation was likely to intensify in the coming months. Dr. Petillo has said he welcomes the monitor so the institution can move forward. And Mr. Christie said he intended to help the university turn the page on its scandal. "But it's a big page, so it's going to take a while," he said.

The agreement, which went into effect immediately on Thursday, is likely to cause little disruption to the patients treated at the university's hospitals, or to its 4,500 students or 11,000 full-time faculty and staff members. In a meeting with more than 100 faculty members and managers on Wednesday, Mr. Christie assured them that the monitor would oversee only the institution's finances and leave the academic and medical decisions in the hands of educators and doctors.

But the move to install a federal monitor has already bought changes: Last week, two days after Mr. Christie confronted the board of trustees, the university's chief counsel and two compliance officers were pressured to resign. When he begins his duties as monitor next week, Herbert J. Stern, a former United States attorney, will have far-reaching influence to shape the way the university conducts business. He will have access to financial documents, background information about vendors and companies that bid for university contracts, and the power to make recommendations to the board regarding the hiring or firing of senior management.

But his most powerful tool will be the shadow of the United States attorney, who could move forward with the criminal complaint he filed in federal district court on Thursday if the university balks at overhauling its operations. Mr. Stern will send a written assessment of the institution's progress to Mr. Christie every three months. One crucial appointment will be to fill a new position of chief compliance officer, which the university agreed to create as part of its agreement with prosecutors.

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TENNESSEE DITHERS ABOUT BULLYING

No one has to define bullying forAndy Giron. The Metro fifth-grader said he and nearly everyone he knows at Bailey Middle School have seen bullying, endured it or done it themselves. "It's when somebody with more power hurts somebody with less power over and over again, purposefully," said Andy, 11, who can read about Metro's policy against intimidation and bullying in the system's 2005-06 student handbook. "They enjoy it."

Andy, his parents and teachers and those in many area school districts have a guide if they need it, but school districts in Sumner and Maury counties are tinkering with language in their anti-bullying policies this week. They are scrambling to meet a state-imposed deadline of Jan. 1. A state law introduced by state Sen. Diane Black, R-Hendersonville, passed earlier this year and pushes systems to improve school safety by defining "bullying" and stepping up efforts to combat it and give students, staff and parents clear information about how to report it.

A spot check of Metro and 12 surrounding districts shows that nearly all have already revised their existing policies or adopted new ones in order to comply with the rule. "It's always been intimidation to us. It's something that we've always been sensitive to, whether it's called by that name, bullying, or not," said Steve Doremus, spokesman for Sumner County schools, which weaved anti-bullying language into an existing policy. "The language of the new legislation means that we'll have a specific label. It will definitely increase awareness because some of the things that were bullying in the past will definitely be called that in the future."

Some systems provide specific examples of bullying in the revised policies, defining it narrowly or linking it broadly with activities ranging from sexual harassment to hazing and intimidation. Metro, for example, defines bullying as "conduct such as drawing inappropriate, unwelcome or cruel cartoons or caricatures, making cruel or inappropriate jokes, or any conduct that could be considered verbal or physical abuse."

"It's horrible. They push you, push you around," said Jakkia Buchanan, 11, a sixth-grader at Bailey Middle, who added that schools need to punish bullies. "They make other people cry, fall down." Hani Mohamed, 14, an eighth-grader at Bailey, stays clear of bullies. "Some kids bully other kids to look good," she said. "I just don't really say anything. I just get out of their way."

As part of the new policies, each school is supposed to do a better job of letting students know whom to talk to — and what they can expect in terms of a response — if they report bullying. "Sometimes you're scared, like you can't really go tell a teacher," said Sarah Vaughn, a fifth-grader at Bailey, who has known people who were bullied. "You have to speak up to help others. If you were in that position, you'd want somebody to help you."

Students, too, recognize that words on paper won't stop bullies unless schools back them up with tougher action against students who intimidate others. "Most students, when they're in trouble — like they get suspended — they don't care because they don't care about their life. They're happy they're not in school," said Umeka Thomas, a seventh-grader at Bailey Middle. "You got to talk to them because they have low self-esteem."

Carol Snow, who recently started the peer mediation program at Bailey Middle School, talks to students about controlling their anger and trusting adults, but the students play a critical role in doing away with bullying in schools, she said. "A lot of it happens because they don't talk about it and it builds up. It's a serious issue," said Snow, a specialist with the Students Taking A Right Stand, or STARS, program. "I'm trying to teach the kids the difference between snitching and reporting. I tell them school is a safe place, adults are there to supervise you, and you need to report it until something is done."

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"

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