Oregon's “Pay It Forward” Plan Is Making Its Way through the U.S. House
This past year, the Oregon state legislature passed into law the “Pay It Forward, Pay It Back” plan intended to lessen the burden of student debt. The plan calls for the tuition of college students who would otherwise have had to take out student loans to be covered out of a designated state fund. The…
From the Picket Lines at UIC
The following report comes from Howard Bunsis, Chair of the AAUP Collective Bargaining Congress: There was an enormous turnout of faculty at UIC today, as picketing took place all over the sprawling campus, and everyone congregated for two large rallies. We had support from students, other unions on campus, as well as local activists, and…
Support the UIC Strikers
As one who participated in the organizing campaign at the University of Illinois at Chicago two years ago, I have followed the negotiations for the past 18 months with increasing distress. The administration has been recalcitrant and has drawn out the bargaining process unnecessarily. The union’s demands appear to be reasonable, especially with regard to…
U of I Chicago Faculty on Strike Today
UIC faculty are holding a two-day strike on Feb. 18 and 19 to protest the failure of the administration to negotiate in good faith for more than 18 months. Today, Feb. 18, there are rallies planned at 10am and 12:30pm, in addition to picketing and demonstrations. There has been news coverage in the Chicago Reader, Chicago…
Let’s All Go MOOC Ourselves: Some Suggestive Reflections on Technology and Education
I have found Walter Breau’s post, “Big Bang Disruption,” to be extremely thought-provoking. That said, neither I nor anyone else should hold him in any way responsible for anything that follows in this post (or, for that matter, anything that has preceded this paragraph in this post). If one compares the life cycles of gadgets…
Aren't More Administrators Needed to Meet Increased Federal Regulatory Requirements?
The title of this post is another one of those entrenched but hackneyed questions that obscures the real issues in higher education. The often-heard claim that federal mandates have necessitated the proliferation of administrators makes little sense on several levels. First, and most basically, why should keeping data, etc., on what are essentially secondary, if…
The Questions That We Ask Determine the Answers That We Get
When I was entering graduate school in 1978, there were 29 new Ph.D.’s for every tenure-track job opening in English. It was the period in which anecdotes about Ph.D.’s driving taxi cabs became commonplace. I didn’t know that information at the time, but it became very apparent as I made my way through the Masters…
Show Me the Money: Higher Education and the Workforce
Writing for the Associated Press, Hope Yen reported recently that the earnings gap between young adults with and without bachelor’s degrees has stretched to its widest level in nearly half a century. She suggested that it is a sign of the growing value of a college education despite rising tuition costs. Citing Pew Research Center…
Big Bang Disruption
The latest book from Larry Downes and Paul Nunes, Big Bang Disruption, published in January by Portfolio/Penguin, outlines how the risks associated with Clayton Christensen’s theory on disruptive innovation have intensified due to the effects of the internet and rapid technological change. Instead of established industries having years to respond, or at least trying to…