Phyllis Wise, former chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, issued a statement claiming the board of trustees of the University of Illinois reneged on a promise to pony up $400,000 upon her resignation that took effect on August 12. She claims the $400,000 that she had negotiated with new President Timothy Killeen, was…
Close to my house in Tambaong, Togo–where I was a Peace Corps Volunteer 25 years ago–was the remains of a large fish pond, a development project of the past. Nobody I knew could even identify the Non-Governmental Organization that had built it–nor could anyone remember having eaten fish from it. West Africa is littered with…
For 16 years, Colleen M. Kelly has led the National Treasury Employees Union, the second largest union representing federal employees. This week, Tony Reardon was elected to succeed her, receiving 86% of the vote against three opponents. Here are Reardon’s answers to two of the four questions posed by the Washington Post to all four…
By Andrew Scheinman I only this morning came across the gloss UIUC has put on its “supplemental” emails release in the Salaita Affair, the College of Medicine (COM), and the Kilgore matter. Specifically, UIUC had this to say on August 7 about the release of these “supplemental” emails: Today the University is publicly releasing emails…
Writing for the Progressive Breakfast feature on the website of the Campaign for America’s Future, Dave Johnson asks, “Are Unions an ‘Us’ or a ‘Them’?” The article is in response to a ballot initiative in California that would require voter approval for any increase in compensation or benefits for the state’s public employees. _________________________ Public-employee…
This is the opening of an article written by Karen Farkas for Celevland.com: “AKRON, Ohio – A $556.40 olive jar in University of Akron President Scott Scarborough’s bedroom has become the flashpoint for those upset at the cost of renovations to the president’s home at a time when 161 employees lost their jobs. The jar, listed among…
This will be the first in a series of posts taken from the blog of the AAUP chapter at the University of Akron [http://akronaaup.org/blog/]. That blog provides a chronicle of the changes that have been occurring with often startling rapidity at the university in the wake of a change in institutional leadership. This sort of…
This afternoon, the University of Illinois trustees’ Executive Committee voted to reject Phyllis Wise’s negotiated settlement and $400,000 payout to resign last week, effective today. The Executive Committee is made up of Chair Ed McMillan and trustees Karen Hasara and James Montgomery (the lone trustee who changed his mind about Salaita and voted against dismissing him). All…
David Palumbo-Liu, a professor at Stanford University and one of the most insightful commentators on issues related to education that I know of, ends an article posted yesterday on The Nation website, “Steven Salaita, Professor Fired for ‘Uncivil’ Tweets, Vindicated in Federal Court,” with this admonition: As we see the case against the university gathering…