Speech on Campus: Power Positions, Privilege, and Crisis
BY SUSAN E. RAMLO Academics and other university stakeholders are often unaware of their biases, privilege, and naivety regarding free speech issues on campus. An eighty-year-old research method called Q methodology (“Q”) revealed this in a continuation of my 2018 research.[i] Institution-A (the focus of this study) has been struggling with declining enrollment, financial troubles,…
The Board and Institutional Memory
BY ROBERT A. SCOTT The average tenure of college and university presidents has declined from 8.5 years in 2006 to 6.5 years in 2016. The average, of course, masks the longer length of service of those appointed earlier with those appointed more recently, who often face shortened terms. If boards do not manage the transition…
Grading in a Time of Crisis
BY NOAH ZATZ The following is reposted with permission from The Faculty Lounge. Noah Zatz is professor of law at the UCLA School of Law. The post is edited lightly from a letter to the UCLA administrative and faculty leadership, and posted on his Facebook page. I am of the firm and strong view that…
Revolts, Pandemics, and Regalia—a Brief History of Canceled Ceremonies
BY HENNING SCHROEDER In recent COVID-19 updates, the president’s office at the University of Minnesota announced that graduation ceremonies planned for May 2020 will need to be canceled, postponed, or “socially distant.” This is truly sad news for our students, their friends, their relatives, and the entire university community. Similar decisions are being made at…
Teaching Art Online under COVID-19
BY KAITLIN POMERANTZ The following is reposted with permission from Hyperallergic, “a forum for playful, serious, and radical perspectives on art in society.” Kaitlin Pomerantz is an artist and educator in Philadelphia. In the short story “Swim Team,” by Miranda July, the protagonist teaches a group of people in a land-locked town to swim without…
GMU’s Campaign for a Public Presidential Search
BY BETHANY LETIECQ, TIM GIBSON, AND BETSY DEMULDER This is the first in a series of three George Mason-AAUP Academe Blog posts on lessons learned from the presidential search campaign. Presidential searches conducted at public universities have become secretive processes that exclude most if not all forms of public vetting and engagement. Historically, finalists for…
COVID-19 and the Faculty Role in Decision-Making
BY RUDY FICHTENBAUM AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum issued the following statement today on the coronavirus (COVID-19). As we are learning, COVID-19 (the coronavirus) has the potential to present a serious challenge to the health and safety of our campus communities. At this time, campuses in Washington State, New York State, California, Nebraska, and elsewhere have…
UCSC, The Fate of Graduate Education, and the Future of the University
BY MICHAEL MERANZE The following is reposted from the Remaking the University blog. Michael Meranze is Professor of History at UCLA and a member of AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. The labor action that began with the grade strike in Santa Cruz and has now spread throughout the [U]niversity [of California] has…
“Good Faith” and Community College Consolidation
BY 36 COMMUNITY COLLEGE SUPPORTERS In December 2017, as the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) system office was preparing its “Students First” consolidation plan, the system’s Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) presented an extended critique of the proposal. It was not supportive, recommended other paths, and contained the following warning: “We believe that there is…