BY BOB NOWLAN One of the most egregious dimensions of outgoing University of Wisconsin system president Ray Cross’s May 7 “Blueprint for the University of Wisconsin System Beyond COVID-19”—which calls for a radical restructuring and effective elimination of the comprehensive dimension of the system’s eleven regional comprehensive universities, as well as an effective jettisoning of…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH AAUP-AFT Rutgers has posted this statement on its website: The Rutgers University administration has notified nearly all of its unions that it is taking the first steps toward implementing a fiscal emergency, thereby jeopardizing the futures of our 20,000-plus union members, their families, and communities throughout New Jersey. By declaring a…
BY JOHN MCNAY One of the truly frustrating things about working for reforms in higher education is to get our college and university administrators to put education first and not allow the resources of the institutions to get hijacked for other purposes. The inability to focus on the real problems is widespread and yet the…
BY JOHN STREAMAS I have been better treated by university police than by administrators. But then, as a biracial Asian immigrant, I could pass for white. Several students of color—mostly black students but some Latinx and a few Asian Pacific and indigenous students as well—have reported to me harassment by local police. Some black male…
BY HANK REICHMAN Calbright College, California’s totally online community college, a target of withering faculty criticism from its inception by former Gov. Jerry Brown, may be just a few steps from a well-deserved demise. Last week the California Legislature agreed on a state budget for 2020-21 that will eliminate all funding for the school. The…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following statement was issued June 5 by the Labor and Working Class History Association (LAWCHA). The Labor and Working-Class History Association condemns the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and all victims of racist police brutality, and we demand justice. We stand in solidarity with all who are…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following statement was issued on June 3 by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) stands in solidarity with communities around the world protesting racism, injustice, and inequality. While the ongoing demonstrations have been triggered by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis…
BY MARK S. JAMES This blog post originally appeared on the Molloy College AAUP chapter website. We are reposting it here with the author’s permission. Dear Colleagues, I am a black man in America. I grew up in a white family that didn’t want to talk about race. Yet race was everywhere. The dangers of…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Gene Smith is a Senior Vice President and Wolfe Foundation Endowed Athletics Director at The Ohio State University. Today, he released the following statement supporting the Black Lives Matter movement: Racism has been declared a public health crisis; hate has no place in civil society. Over the past decade, Buckeye student-athletes…
BY JOHN K. WILSON The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has released a Model Code of Student Conduct for colleges to adopt, and it’s a tremendous advance for student liberties on campus. All colleges should adopt this Model Code (with slight improvements, I believe). Too many colleges have vague and repressive provisions in…