Richard Vedder argued at Forbes.com that in higher education, “the most invidious single violation of basic concepts of free expression of ideas is the attack on the Koch brothers, Charles and David.” This claim is absurd, since no one has sought to censor the Koch Brothers, and because their foundation has sought to limit academic…
Bobby Jindal is seeking the 2016 GOP presidential nomination; so Louisiana’s public colleges and universities may have to absorb $380 million in cuts and as many as nine institutions might be closed. In this last election cycle, much attention was paid to the disastrous effects of Sam Brownback’s “tax reforms” in Kansas. Everyone likes paying…
BY LARRY G. GERBER This is a guest post by Larry G. Gerber, a contributor to the recent January-February issue of Academe. Gerber is professor emeritus of history at Auburn University. He is the author of several books, including most recently The Rise and Decline of Faculty Governance: Professionalization and the Modern American University (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014). Gerber is a…
By Nancy Long Two surveys currently under way offer faculty a chance to support proposed exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s provisions that control access to copyrighted work. Please take a few moments to weigh in on what kinds of material you need to access in order to create your work. The UCI Intellectual Property,…
BY MARY GRAY This is a guest post by Mary Gray, a contributor to the January-February issue of Academe. Gray is professor of mathematics and statistics at American University. Her research interests include statistics and the law, survey sampling, economic equity, international development and education, and the history of mathematics. Founding president of the Association for Women in Mathematics, she is a long-time human rights and social justice…
We have written a great deal about the conditions under which grants from the Koch Foundation are offered and received, in particular the strings attached to those grants that fund faculty positions. But we have not looked at the actual grant agreements; so I think that the following agreement between the Koch Foundation and the…
Here is another opinion piece from a member of the Progress Coalition at Florida State University, a group with a diverse membership that has been protesting the increasing influence of the Koch Foundation within the university. A somewhat shorter version of this op-ed has appeared in the Tallahassee Democrat [http://www.tallahassee.com/story/opinion/2015/01/10/lakey-koch-funded-positions-raise-serious-concerns/21575141/]. The author of the piece…
The University of Illinois Board of Trustees today announced that it will never reconsider the dismissal of Steven Salaita, and it will not listen to any faculty committee about Salaita’s qualifications: “That decision is final.” According to the trustees, “The decision concerning Dr. Salaita was not reached hastily. Nor was it the result of external…
BY AAUP STAFF In the January–February 2015 Academe issue, Robert O’Neil explores the AAUP’s foray into the federal courts over the last century and the resulting impact the Association has had in shaping the law of higher education. In his article, “The AAUP in the Courts,” O’Neil demonstrates the major role the AAUP has played…
BY AAUP STAFF In her January–February 2015 Academe article, “Investigative Procedures in Academic Freedom and Tenure Cases,” Debra Nails describes the AAUP’s procedures for academic freedom and tenure investigations, in which dedicated member-volunteers work closely with staff to produce widely respected reports that treat serious violations of the AAUP’s principles and standards. Using her own…