LOOKING IN ON: HIGHER EDUCATION

By Charlotte Hsu (contact)

Monday, Oct. 29, 2007 | 7:07 a.m.

A blog filled with nasty complaints about former College of Southern Nevada President Richard Carpenter and other college officials remains blocked at CSN , though the Texas college where Carpenter now works made the site available late last week.

The North Harris Montgomery Community College District, where Carpenter is chancellor, had prevented access to the blog this month.

The decision to restore it came after Richard McDuffee of Montgomery County, Texas , filed a lawsuit against the Texas district, claiming it was violating his free speech rights by blocking the blog.

Eric Yollick, McDuffee's attorney, said McDuffee has withdrawn the lawsuit.

"I'm really happy the school did the right thing in the end," Yollick said.

North Harris Montgomery officials have not returned calls regarding the blog.

According to Texas media, a district official issued a statement last week saying the college's intention was never to "deny anyone's First Amendment rights."

CSN blocked the blog after determining it encouraged violence against one or more campus administrators.

Studying for the Nevada Bar Exam is a full-time job for many law school graduates.

Sarah Smith, who earned a degree from UNLV's William S. Boyd School of Law in May, spent eight hours a day , six or seven days a week , after graduation preparing for the test. Jacqueline Jeanney, last year's law school student body president, would hit the books at 9 in the morning and study until 11:30 p.m.

The work paid off.

The Nevada Board of Bar Examiners last week released bar exam scores from a summer testing, and Smith and Jeanney are among 74 of 87 UNLV law school graduates who passed the exam on the first try.

The passage rate is the highest in the law school's 10-year history.

For aspiring attorneys, passing the bar exam marks the true end of their law studies because the most intense preparation for the bar exam begins after graduation. And finishing the exam brings only more anxiety as test-takers await their scores.

In the days after graduation, Smith wrapped up "a lot of life issues," quitting a job and taking care of bills and doctors ' appointments so she could devote full days to studying for the bar.

She wrote essays and did about 50 multiple - choice practice questions each day before the test, finishing about 2,300 in all.

With the test behind her, " it does feel very good just to be able to essentially move on with your life," Smith said.

Smith is hunting for a law firm that's the right fit for her - one specializing in intellectual property and copyright law, or perhaps real estate law, she's thinking.

Jeanney is now a deputy district attorney for Clark County.

"I've pretty much known I wanted to be a lawyer since I was a child," she said. "My father is a lawyer as well as my cousins and my uncles. I spent all my childhood in and out of courtrooms."

UNLV's student newspaper had a friendly message this month for higher education officials looking for more money for schools.

The Rebel Yell's editorial staff published a short piece saying fee increases "may be a necessary evil."

"More money brings in better professors and creates better facilities," the editorial staff wrote. "With such an environment it is not unimaginable that some of the best and most promising high school graduates will begin to see our school as a viable option for the continuation of their education - rather than a last resort."

A student fee committee made up of student government representatives and university presidents is discussing fee increases for the 2009-2011 biennium, said Dan Klaich, executive vice chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Klaich, who sits on the committee on behalf of Chancellor Jim Rogers, expects the committee to bring a recommendation early next year to the higher education Board of Regents on what a "reasonable" increase would be .