July 10, 1996

Rutgers University's board of governors will vote today on a 6 percent tuition increase for the coming school year. The proposed $242 increase, which would bring tuition for state residents to $4,028, will cover salary increases, higher utility and regulatory costs and debt service on a new law school building, said Nancy Winterbauer, the school's vice president for university budgeting. Last month, Rutgers raised room and board charges by $200 a year.

For five years, Liberty Cable and Time Warner Inc. have waged a David-and-Goliath battle for cable-television customers in Manhattan. Now, David is taking on an even greater Goliath. The new owner of Liberty Cable, the RCN Corporation, plans to announce today that it will offer residential telephone service in New York City -- challenging the Nynex Corporation. Under the RCN brand name, the company also plans to offer expanded cable service and access to the Internet.

The campaign to oust Carol A. Gresser as president of the New York City Board of Education had been building for weeks. Chancellor Rudy Crew was angry because he felt Mrs. Gresser was meddling in his basic job of running the school system.

Five years after the state assumed control of Paterson's troubled school system, education officials say the district is not ready to operate on its own. State Education Commissioner Leo F. Klagholz plans to recommend to the state's Board of Education next month that the takeover be extended for at least a year, a department spokesman said yesterday. The district could have been freed from state control if at least 85 percent of its juniors and seniors passed the High School Proficiency Test and 75 percent of its eighth graders passed the Early Warning Test, said the spokesman, Rich Vespucci. Those goals have not been met, he said.

DOUG STERN'S deep-water running class doesn't look like much more than 26 heads bobbing on the water's surface. But below, the legs are moving, unhindered and graceful. During Monday night workouts in the pool at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the runners wear flotation belts while they jog, walk, sprint or hurdle in place for 45 minutes. It is hard work but easy on the joints.