"The no-girls-allowed rule keeps women from accessing that power where they can conduct business and rise in professional development and create their own power networks, " said Veronica Arreola, assistant director of the Center for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

CNN: Augusta National a powerful holdout among men-only clubs

Ayers, now a distinguished professor of education and senior university scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was a co-founding member of the radical activist group the Weather Underground in 1969.

CNN: 3,000 professors sign to support William Ayers

Barry Chiswick of the University of Illinois at Chicago says high-tech foreign workers can depress wages in some industries.

NPR: Critics: High-Tech Visas Cheat U.S. Workers

Steve Jones, a professor of online culture and communications at the University of Illinois at Chicago, wondered whether all the mash-ups muddle the message.

NPR: Gay Marriage Equality Box Spreads On Social Media

Institutions involved include Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, SRI International, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Boston University, Burnham Institute, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the University of Chicago, and the Institute for Systems Biology.

FORBES: A Better Database