Santorum’s Call for Campus Censors

Rick Santorum certainly knows how to pander to an audience. He’s running far to the right in Iowa for the Republican Presidential nomination, and so he goes after those darn librul professors: “Let’s look at colleges and universities,” he said. “They’ve become indoctrination centers for the left. Should we be subsidizing that?” He also criticized…

Teaching Under Attack: Call for Articles

Call for articles: transFORMATIONS The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy ANNOUNCES A SPECIAL ISSUE TEACHING UNDER ATTACK CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS The editors of Transformations seek articles (5,000-10,000 words) and media essays (overviews on books, film, video, performance, art, music, websites, etc. 3,000 to 5,000 words) and items for an occasional feature, “The Material Culture…

Limbaugh’s Class Warfare Vs. College Presidents

Rush Limbaugh normally hates class warfare. So it was a bit unusual today when he came out and denounced millionaires. Of course, Limbaugh only hates one particular kind of millionaire: college presidents. Limbaugh declared, the bottom line here is 36 college presidents make a million dollars a year or more. Where is Occupy Wall Street?…

An American Prophet in a Foreign Land

I haven’t read David Graeber’s new book, Debt, which is leading to him being praised as “a prophet of the Occupy Wall Street movement.” What’s most interesting to me is that today’s leading academic voice of the issues sparking the 99% Movement is an American who teaches in England. And that’s because Graeber was pushed…

Graduate Students Attempt to Revive “Comatose” NLRB, Demand a Decision on Union Recognition Case

By Jay Sosa Yesterday, graduate students from the University of Chicago handed a petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) based in Washington DC, asking that they rule on the case of the New York University (NYU) graduate employee union by December 31. Sound confusing? Welcome to NLRB-land, where the board that adjudicates labor…

Oral Arguments in Academic Freedom Case

A critical legal case affecting the academic freedom of professors will be argued on Thursday, December 8 before the 7th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals in Chicago. Loretta Capeheart is a professor of Justice Studies at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) who alleges that the administration retaliated against her for defending the rights of students protesting…

A Bad Idea for Student Loans

Glenn Reynolds has a remarkably bad idea for dealing with student loans: Student loans, if they are to continue, should be made dischargeable in bankruptcy after five years — but with the school that received the money on the hook for all or part of the unpaid balance. Up until now, the loan guarantees have…