Today is the start of the Scholars at Risk 2016 Global Congress, “Universities in a Dangerous World: Defending Higher Education Communities and Values” at McGill University in Montreal. If you are not fortunate enough to be in Montreal in person with us, you can watch a livestream of all the events beginning today at 1pm…
BY JOHN K. WILSON The AAUP today issued a report on the University of Missouri, condemning the Board’s decision to fire Melissa Click. The full report is well worth reading, and I have previously argued in defense of Click, but I want to make a personal response to the Mizzou Board of Curator’s 10-page letter that it…
John Bambenek has been appointed to the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) by Gov. Bruce Rauner (but must still be approved by the Illinois Senate). Bambenek (an adjunct who teaches classes on cybersecurity at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is listed as the sole “representative of faculty” on the IBHE. Rauner wanted someone…
The American Studies Association is being sued by some of its members for a resolution supporting the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement. Kenneth L. Marcus, the president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law which is organizing the lawsuit, said: “People who join an academic association have a right to rely…
The two-day strike by non-tenure-track faculty at the University of Illinois seeking a contract continues today. Here is a letter that appeared in the local newspaper supporting the strike: By Susan G. Davis and Richard S. Laugesen Members of the Non-Tenure Faculty Coalition Local 6546 (the union for non-tenure-track faculty at the University of Illinois) voted…
Here’s a press release from the AFT/IFT/AAUP local 6546 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, representing the non-tenure-track faculty out on strike today and tomorrow: Hundreds of non-tenure track faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will walk out of their labs and classrooms for two days beginning Tuesday morning, April 19, to…
Here’s a roundup of AAUP events and other academic freedom and higher education-related conferences coming up this year. Feel free to add any events in the comments. Tomorrow is the Illinois AAUP Annual Meeting, Sat. April 16, 9:15am-4pm, Dominican University, Priory Campus, 7200 Division Street, River Forest, Illinois, featuring AAUP President Rudy Fichtenbaum, plus sessions…
JOHN K. WILSON The AAUP recently issued a draft report on “The History, Uses, and Abuses of Title IX” and requested comments that are due today, April 15 (send comments to titleIX@aaup.org). I’ve been putting off my response because I feared that I would have to write a lengthy critique. But it turns out the…
BY JOHN K. WILSON John McAdams of Marquette University has written a letter to President Lovell, refusing to go along with the administration’s demands. McAdam’s lengthy letter outlines why he objects to his suspension and dismissal on both procedural and substantive grounds. Unless Marquette backs down, it seems likely that the administration will refuse to let him…