When Demonstrations of Political Conformity and Loyalty Oaths Are Requirements for a University Degree

According to a recent article in University World News, Global Edition, “China has stepped up pressure on ethnic minority students and lecturers in the restive northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, insisting that students must pass a test of political views and declare their allegiance to the Chinese state in order to graduate.” Near the end…

You Cannot Seek Refuge in the Defense That Guilt by Association Is a Logical Fallacy When You Have invited the Association

In a previous post, “Louie Gohmert and Ted Nugent Proud to Be Ignoramuses” [https://academeblog.org/2013/08/07/louie-gohmert-and-ted-nugent-proud-to-be-ignoramuses/], I surveyed the ridiculously stupid pronouncements that have come out of their mouths. There was a Texas connection at that time because Nugent had attracted a crowd of admirers at a Texas gun show who seemed to be competing with him…

Academic Freedom Issues in South Carolina

South Carolina lawmakers have reduced the allocations to the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina Upstate because the lawmakers object to the inclusion of several “gay-themed” books in the institutions’ common required readings for their first-year students. The College of Charleston was docked $52,000, the amount spent on copies of Fun Home,…

The AFL-CIO Executive Council's Statement on Accessibility in Higher Education

February 18, 2014 At the 2013 convention in Los Angeles, the AFL-CIO reaffirmed its historical commitment to increasing access to post-secondary education and alleviating the financial burden that now too often is part of that education. Accordingly, we call on federal and state policymakers to make post-secondary training and education more accessible by ending the…

Issues with Program Review and the Role of Faculty in Shared Governance at the University of Akron

I present the article that follows this introduction, which is taken from the newsletter of the AAUP chapter at the University of Akron, because what is occurring there now is certainly occurring elsewhere and would seem to be of considerable broader interest. The political endorsements of increasing enrollments in STEM programs and the resulting allocation…

Cat and Dogs

Readers of this blog who know Cat Warren from her work as editor of Academe from 2010 to 2012 probably don’t know that, when she wasn’t teaching classes at North Carolina State University or editing the magazine, she could often be found looking for bodies in the North Carolina woods. Solo, Cat’s German shepherd, had…

“Right to Work,” by the Numbers: Part 8: GDP in Urban and Rural America

Business Insider has published a map that graphically illustrates the reality that 50% of the U.S. GDP is generated in just 22 urban areas—Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis/St.Paul, Denver, Seattle, Portland, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Miami:

Employment Patterns in Higher Education, 2004-2012, a State by State Survey: Part 1, Alabama

This series will review the employment data for U.S. colleges and universities from 2004 to 2012. That data has been measured against enrollment, by the percentage increase in each category per 1,000 students at the institution. The five categories are: full-time faculty, part-time faculty, upper administration, professional staff, and non-professional staff (with the last three…