Disaster Capitalism for Higher Education: A Farewell to Ithaca College
BY SANDRA STEINGRABER The following column by Sandra Steingraber, distinguished scholar in residence in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences at Ithaca College, appeared in the March 3 edition of The Ithacan. For the past 18 years, I have served as our campus’ scholar in residence, recruited by a previous provost with a vision…
Language Learning and the Expansion of Identity
BY DEBORAH CAFIERO During the COVID-19 crisis, the pace of cuts to foreign language departments and programs, already brisk before the pandemic, has accelerated. The devaluation of language study is necessary, so the argument goes, to reduce costs and trim programs that elicit minimal student interest. Besides, English is becoming the lingua franca of the…
Online Education Doesn’t Have to Be This Way
BY JONATHAN PORITZ AND JONATHAN REES When we wrote about “Academic Freedom in Online Education” for the winter 2021 Academe released this month, we tried hard not to focus too much on the pandemic. While many faculty members have only come to online education because COVID-19 has made it unsafe to teach in any physical…
How My Students’ Grades Improved during the Pandemic
BY BILL BERGMAN The differences between first-year college students and seniors were more pronounced than ever during the fall semester. I had a firsthand glimpse while teaching both a first-year seminar and upper-level marketing classes on campus. While I could never really see the mask-covered faces of first-year students in my classes, their eyes sparkled…
The Struggle for the Soul of UVM
BY HELEN SCOTT During this year of crisis, faculty and staff have mustered all our strength and resolve to ensure that the University of Vermont continues to fulfill its central academic and public interest mission. But the university administration is undermining these efforts as they pursue a short-sighted and reckless restructuring plan, justified by an…
Gender Scholar Under Attack in Scotland
BY JOAN W. SCOTT Gender studies is under siege in many places and not just by authoritarian regimes in Poland, Hungary, and Brazil. Some universities looking to gain control over relatively autonomous programs are replacing feminist stalwarts with their own directors, whom they count on to adhere to corporate strategies of fund-raising and “outreach.” In…
Censorship By Zoom And Other Private Platforms
BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ACADEMIC SENATE’S UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM The following statement from the University of California faculty senate Committee on Academic Freedom was sent on December 23, 2020, unanimously endorsed by the Academic Council at its January 2021 meeting, and forwarded to the University of California provost on Feb. 4, 2021…
AAUP Penn: Penn faculty need a meaningful voice in university governance
BY AAUP-Penn The following column by the new University of Pennsylvania chapter of the AAUP, appeared in the Daily Pennsylvanian last week. We are proud to announce the formation of the University of Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP–Penn). As scholars and teachers of all ranks, we have come together because…
Top Ten Ways Tenure Benefits Students and All Iowans
BY LOIS COX AND KATHERINE TACHAU With the permission of the authors, we are reprinting this letter to the editor, published by Little Village four years after an earlier version had been published in the Cedar Rapids Gazette and the Daily Iowan. They sent their letter on behalf of the AAUP chapters at the University…