The following statement signed by 22 scholarly associations was released on June 11. It is consistent with the position of a resolution passed unanimously by the AAUP’s annual membership meeting on June 13. The American system of higher education is the envy of the world. It’s not perfect; few things are. But at a time…
Chancellor Rebecca Blank of the University of Wisconsin-Madison shared the following message by email with faculty on June 9 ahead of an emergency meeting of the Faculty Senate. The message was also posted on a web page maintained by the University and devoted to budget issues. As we prepare to meet, I want to again…
A colleague at San Diego State University recently sent the following email message to other CSU faculty members. I thought it worth sharing more broadly. June 6 marked the anniversary of President Kennedy’s 1963 Commencement Address at San Diego State University (then San Diego State College). During the Commencement exercises, JFK was awarded an honorary…
The following is the text of a statement released yesterday by Chancellor Rebecca Blank of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It is encouraging that the Chancellor pledges consistency with AAUP policies. It remains to be seen, however, whether or not Wisconsin politicians will permit that. Chancellor Blank’s reference to AAUP should remind us of the…
The following statement was published yesterday (June 3) and as of this morning had acquired 361 signatures [UPDATE: As of the next morning (June 5) the number of signatories had climbed to 459. The additional names, however, have not been added to the list that follows the text of the statement]: We write as fortunate…
On Tuesday the Wisconsin State Journal published an op-ed piece by John Wiley, who was Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, from 2001 to 2008. Wiley pointed out that “In 1900, Wisconsin was one of only 14 research universities that came together to form the now prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU is now…
In a post yesterday entitled “The End of Tenure in Wisconsin?” I discussed proposals approved last week by the Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee that would remove tenure protections from statute, weaken shared governance, and modify layoff policies and procedures for faculty. While the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents will remain empowered to restore…