Midwest AAUP Coalition’s “Call for Racial Justice on Campus”
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH What follows is a group statement from this coalition of AAUP chapters. As educators committed to the public good, we recognize our responsibility—on campus and off—to advocate for students and fellow workers made even more vulnerable during the pandemic. The global pandemic is aggravating deep, endemic inequities and racial disparities, including…
Intercollegiate Athletics: The Coming Financial Reckoning
BY MARTIN KICH Part 1 To stave off some of the assumptions and accusations that my previous posts on intercollegiate athletics have provoked, I want to make clear that for five decades, I have been an avid fan of college basketball and, although somewhat less enthused about college football, I have tuned into the games…
Akron Represents a Crisis. It Is Not an Anomaly.
BY MARTIN KICH The current situation at the University of Akron is extreme but nonetheless illustrative of the situations developing at many of our college and university campuses across the state of Ohio and the nation. At Akron, the administration and Board are attempting to use a force majeure clause in the faculty contract to…
Midwest AAUP Coalition’s Video Press Conference on Re-Opening
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The following video press conference featured faculty members from AAUP chapters in the Midwest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL3NIwdQDsk&feature=youtu.be. This coalition of AAUP chapter’s has a website at https://midwestaaupdocs.wordpress.com/about/. That website prominently includes the following statement on “Protecting Lives, Promoting Education: Principles for Reopening Campuses”: We are a coalition of American Association of University Professors…
University of Dayton Solidarity Can Use Our Support
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Several weeks ago, Tom Rooney, the treasurer of the Wright State chapter, spoke at an event inaugurating the UD Solidarity effort at the University of Dayton, which is focused on insuring that the university carefully weighs the pros and cons of re-opening. Tom made the following remarks: As I stand before…
Please Take Just a Moment to Support Our Colleagues at the University of Akron
POSTED BY MARTY KICH On July 15, the University of Akron Board of Trustees, at the recommendation of President Gary Miller, terminated the employment of ninety-seven full-time faculty members. When factoring in retirements, this results in the loss of over one hundred faculty. The Board and President must rescind this decision or resign their positions.…
Rally for University of Akron Faculty—Wednesday, July 15, at Noon
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH All hands on deck! Join us for a rally and press conference before the University of Akron Board of Trustees meeting. Our event is: WEDNESDAY, JULY 15th @ NOON. We’ll meet at the Buchtel Hall steps for the press conference, which will feature Pam Schulze, President of Akron-AAUP. Additional speakers are…
Doubletalk on Top of Doubletalk
BY MARTIN KICH During the lengthy contract impasse that led up to our three-week strike in winter of 2019, our administration made many draconian proposals. That their proposed gutting of the retrenchment article of our contract was the most draconian is evidenced by their removing that one article from the contract that they imposed, provoking…
Putting the Scope of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Perspective
BY MARTIN KICH Despite the considerable efforts to personalize the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, the politicization of the pandemic has resulted in endless arguments over what all sorts of moving numbers mean. I think that putting the current numbers in some broader perspective could help to show why much of the other noise about…