Twitter, Salaita, and Goldrick-Rab
I have an essay about the Salaita case posted today at University World News. Salaita’s dismissal and the case of Sara Goldrick-Rab may lead some people to think that professors must never use Twitter, but I think that would be a mistake. Twitter doesn’t cause controversial statements. There’s nothing about 140 characters that makes people…
On Disclaimers
Yesterday John Wilson published a post on this blog “In Defense of Sara Goldrick-Rab,” which has been widely read (nearly 5,000 views as of this writing) and which generated considerable comment in response. One issue that emerged in the commentary was whether or not Goldrick-Rab should have accompanied her tweets with a disclaimer that she…
Expansive Teaching Versus the Assembly Line
In a comment on a post of mine yesterday, someone wrote: “Adequate teaching” of any subject (humanities and social sciences included) requires: – decent texts; – teachers who understand their subjects and can explain them to students in lectures, quiz sections and seminar discussions; – relevant homework assignments and reviews; and – being perceptive to…
“Je Tweet…!”
“My name is legion: for we are many.” Maybe that’s the faculty on Twitter these days. Including many who get themselves into ticklish situations—with no savior casting their devilish tweets into swine and herding them into oblivion in the sea. Yet they have sent themselves to Decapolis to publish, going home on their own. Maybe…
In Defense of Sara Goldrick-Rab
Sara Goldrick-Rab, a professor of educational policy and sociology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, is under fire for tweeting to some incoming freshman an article about the budget cuts and attacks on tenure at her institution. The campus College Republicans started a campaign denouncing her tweets as “disgusting and repulsive” and declared, “The…
A Poverty Fund Reborn at UNC, and Critics Want to Destroy It
Earlier this year, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Governors ordered the closing of the law school’s Poverty Center in an act of political retaliation against its outspoken director, Gene Nichol. The AAUP condemned the decision. This month, Nichol announced that Center would be replaced by the new North Carolina Poverty Research…
Why Support a University When You Can Subsidize Billionaires?
Wisconsin state senators struck a bipartisan deal yesterday and approved $250 million in public subsidies for a new arena for the National Basketball Association’s Milwaukee Bucks. The bill will now go to the state Assembly, where approval is likely. Just a few days ago, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed a state budget that includes cuts…
The paradox of the ‘under-performing professor’
From the article: “In all this talk of drivers, stretching, and comfort zones, did anyone stop to think of the psychological risk of treating professors as though they were computer processors with a limited life and inevitable disposability? I am not a professor, but many of my friends are. They are all passionate, creative, rewarding…
The AFT Questionnaire for Presidential Candidates: Hillary Clintons’ Responses
The American Federation of Teachers has officially endorsed Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee for president in 2016. But the AFT asked each of the candidates to respond to a questionnaire covering a wide range of topics, starting with K-12 public education but ranging far beyond that. Excerpted in this post are the responses of…