Two days ago I posted an item, Questioning Student Evaluations, which reported on two studies that call into doubt the utility of student evaluations of teaching as a mechanism for determining teacher effectiveness. In response, AAUP President Rudy Fichtenbaum, an economist, shared the following paper, adapted from an FAQ he prepared years ago for faculty…
Most colleges and universities are nearing the end of their fall terms. Hence it’s time not only for final examinations but also for collecting student evaluations of teaching (SET). Student ratings can be high-stakes. They’re used to evaluate teaching when faculty members are being considered for tenure or promotions. They’re also employed in decisions as…
Today’s New York Times has a terrific op-ed piece by Michael Mann, who directs the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University and is a member of AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. Mann writes about the efforts of Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who chairs the House Committee on Science, Space…
I just learned this morning via a report on Inside Higher Ed that Erika Christakis, the associate master of one of Yale University’s residential colleges, has decided to stop teaching at the university, in part because of the continuing controversy over an email message she sent about Halloween costumes. Although some students have demanded her…
Sometime between October 15-18, the office of Dr. Angelina Godoy, Director of the University of Washington (UW) Center for Human Rights, was broken into and her desktop computer and a hard drive containing sensitive information about a recent lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency were stolen. Godoy reported that the hard drive contained “about 90…
Today hundreds of faculty members from Connecticut State University (CSU) and their supporters rallied in Hartford outside a meeting of the Board of Regents of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities demanding that the regents abandon draconian contract proposals that would bring to Connecticut the kinds of anti-education and anti-union measures that failed Republican presidential…
Yesterday, even before the horrendous events in San Bernardino, physicians with Doctors for America, the National Physicians Alliance, Doctors Council, American Medical Women’s Association, American College of Preventive Medicine, The Committee of Interns and Residents, Physicians for the Prevention of Gun Violence, American Medical Student Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and Reps. David Price, Nita Lowey,…
Yesterday Marty Kich posted a piece, When a University President Becomes a Scold, that focused on the hypocrisy of Oklahoma Wesleyan President Everett Piper’s much-publicized screed against PC students and his widely quoted claim that his institution is “not a ‘safe place,’ but rather, a place to learn,” and that “This is not a day…
Last weekend I had the honor and privilege of attending the annual Council meeting of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) in Ottawa, where I spoke on academic freedom issues in the U.S. and the work of AAUP’s Committee A. Canadian law is far more favorable to higher education faculty collective bargaining rights than…
From Donald Trump at a campaign rally in New Hampshire: “You look at the kind of salaries paid to the heads of the colleges — it’s like they’re running a business, a real business.” Maybe this suggests something about this bullying blowhard’s appeal. For in just one sentence he manages to summarize two important truths…