When Satire Becomes Anachronistic
Am I Feeling Frustrated? You Betcha
By 1970, almost everyone who had worked to create “programmed instruction” during the 1950s and 1960s had moved away from the idea of teaching machines as the centerpiece of education. These tools, they had realized, were only widely effective when in the hands of master craftspeople—that is, trained teachers who understood both the limits and…
One More Reason to Like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
I rarely post items to this site that don’t deal pretty directly with higher education, leaving such posts to my entertaining friend Marty Kich and others perhaps more worldly than I. But today I thought I might post something about the case of Rachel Dolezal, the NAACP leader from Spokane, Washington, who stepped down after…
Sweet Briar Faculty Speak Out
On March 3, President James Jones of Sweet Briar College shocked the small women’s college’s faculty and students by announcing that the school would close its doors on June 30. Seniors would be allowed to graduate, but all other students would be compelled to transfer elsewhere. Faculty members were provided vague promises of assistance, but…
U. of Illinois President on Censure: “No need to get out of jail.”
President Timothy Killeen is completing his first month as leader of the University of Illinois system. In remarks before the Urbana-Champaign faculty Senate Executive Committee, he was rather cavalier about the AAUP censure vote last Saturday. Unlike Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise, who stated in a conciliatory tone that removal of censure was important, President Killeen, according to…
The Problem with Tenure Isn’t Tenure Itself—Or a Lengthening List of Other Things Being Attributed to Tenure
On June 6, Tamar Lewis wrote an article for the New York Times titled “Colleges Re-Evaluate the Concept of Tenure.” I came across the article, however, in the Seattle Times, where it had been republished. The premise of the article is expressed succinctly in the teaser: “In an era of rapid change, long life spans,…
Scams of Immense Proportions
Almost a year ago, the following brief item, written by Daniel Wilco, appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Two men have been indicted on charges they defrauded Delta and Northwest Airlines of $22 million between 2004 and 2013. “Michael Yedor and Paul Anderson have been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and 96 counts of…
Administrative Staffing 1987-2011, A Statistical Profile by Institution, Part 8: California (Part 4)
The federal data that will be presented in this series of posts was analyzed by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting (NCIR) in collaboration with the American Institutes for Research. The NECIR story on the data and its implications, written by Jon Marcus, who is currently an editor at the Hechinger Report, is available…
Sen. Sherrod Brown: How Trade is Like a Baseball Game
For those of you who are not residents of Ohio and may be unfamiliar with Sherrod Brown’s record, he has been a staunch defender of the continuing value of collective bargaining rights and of public education. He was one of the few figures at the federal level who immediately denounced Senate Bill 5 for what…