BY HANK REICHMAN Most Californians believe the overall affordability of the state’s public colleges and universities is a big problem, while few say the same about the quality of education. These are among the key findings of a survey of public opinion on the state’s public higher education system released December 8 by the Public…
BY HANK REICHMAN The latest attempt to blacklist dissenting faculty members is the so-called “Professor Watchlist,” a project of a group called Turning Point USA founded by an ambitious twenty-something named Charlie Kirk. The group’s website says it seeks to “to expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students, promote anti-American values and…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN Last week the AAUP, the College Media Association, the National Coalition Against Censorship, and the Student Press Law Center issued a report on “Threats to the Independence of Student Media,” which cited multiple cases in which college and university administrations exerted pressure in attempts to control, edit, or censor student journalistic…
BY HANK REICHMAN Yesterday I posted to this blog “The Oakland Fire Tragedy and Higher Education,” in which I tried to describe some of the economic factors that have compelled so many young artists and others in the Bay Area to live in often illegally converted warehouses and similar spaces while authorities turned a blind…
BY HANK REICHMAN I first learned of the horrible fire that on Friday night destroyed a live-work warehouse in Oakland, California, claiming 36 lives, early the next morning when I turned on my smartphone. A bulletin informed me that nine had already been found dead at an electronic dance music (EDM) “rave” held in the…
BY HANK REICHMAN In the aftermath of the election there has been plenty of discussion, both among academics and in the media, of the role played by “identity” and especially race in the outcome. Mark Lilla’s much and deservedly criticized New York Times op-ed, “The End of Identity Politics,” got things going. Among the more…
BY HANK REICHMAN Back in August, the National Labor Relations Board ruled in the Columbia University case that student employees at private universities have the right to organize unions to bargain collectively over the terms of their employment. Within a week Columbia’s provost, historian John Coatsworth, responded with a letter to the campus community, which…
BY HANK REICHMAN Today, the AAUP, the College Media Association (CMA), the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) released a report, Threats to the Independence of Student Media, shining a light on threats to student media and faculty and staff advisers. The report reaffirms and expands upon basic principles…
BY HANK REICHMAN Music can be an indispensable solace, inspiration, and fortification. Over the past several weeks I’ve needed all three, and I suspect others have as well. So I’ve put together this playlist to help us through the next four years. Thirty songs out of many. (Sadly, for a good number of them you’ll…
BY HANK REICHMAN Leaders of California’s three systems of public higher education sent a joint letter to President-elect Donald Trump today urging him to allow students who are in the country illegally to continue their educations without fear of deportation. The letter, signed by University of California President Janet Napolitano, California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White and Eloy…