The threat from fire, on and off campus, is very real. The nonprofit Center for Campus Fire Safety estimates that at least 78 students died in housing while at school in a recent five year period. These tragic losses come from the more than 1,700 fires reported annually in college residence halls, classrooms, academic buildings, and fraternity and sorority houses, according to the National Fire Protection Association. In the years since the tragic Seton Hall University (NJ) fire that killed three students and injured 58 in January 2000, what have we developed to make college students safer from fires?

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, colleges and universities around the nation have begun to rethink their policies on public safety and their access to firearms. Consider some of the responses to date.

How can researchers explore science using equipment, tools or procedures covered by patents? Who owns the tools of discovery, the campus or the researcher? And who should benefit from the discoveries? This month a series of cases related to patents and college research.