The following is a message from Diana Vallera, president of P-Fac, the Part-Time Faculty union at Columbia College Chicago, and a member of the Illinois AAUP State Council: You are invited to join P-Fac and UIC as we kickoff our new Pursuit of Truth Campaign to build a coalition of Chicago colleges and universities. Pursuit of…
One of the most frustrating things about higher education (and the business world, too) is how failed CEOs get golden parachutes. At my institution, Illinois State University, everybody is still fuming that former president Tim Flanagan received a $480,000 golden parachute for being fired after a few months on the job. Although the trustees could…
John Leo at Minding the Campus discusses the issue of discriminatory policies by registered student organizations and claims, “religious groups should have absolute freedom in the process of picking their leaders.” Actually, he doesn’t really believe that, because that’s what I believe. The whole argument over religious student groups is the demand by some that…
At this morning’s 100th meeting of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the AAUP membership voted unanimously to censure Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) for denying tenure to John Boyle without adequate cause and in retaliation for his department’s involvement in criticizing the administration, violating academic freedom and due process. Illinois AAUP Committee A Chair…
Rep. Alan Grayson is well known as a progressive advocate in Congress, and a strong supporter of civil liberties. That makes the bill he just proposed even more appalling. On May 30, 2014, the very same day that Grayson passed an important amendment banning funding for prosecuting journalists for refusing to reveal their sources, Grayson introduced H.R. 4776, “To prohibit…
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) recently issued a new report on disinvitations, which claims that conservatives are almost three times as likely as those on the left to encounter attempts at disinvitation of a campus speaker since 2000 based on an analysis of 192 incidents. Trying to document all the disinvitation attempts…
So many stupid things are written about higher education that it’s refreshing when one man’s idiocy on the topic rises to new heights. I bring you Rick Karlgaard in Forbes: “In May 2014 several American universities and colleges appeared on the verge of French-like suicide. Student hissy fits at Brandeis, Haverford, Rutgers and Smith caused…
University of Oregon President Michael Gottfredson has signed a new policy protecting academic freedom, which is being called one of the best policies in the country for defending academic freedom. The passage of this policy also refutes the false notion that academic unions undermine policy-making by a faculty senate. In this case, the AAUP/AFT union president chaired…
Amherst College, which banned fraternities and sororities in 1984, has now taken this an alarming step further: starting July 1, any students participating in an unofficial fraternity or sorority will be punished, and could be expelled. A college has the right to ban fraternities only in the sense of refusing to recognize gender-biased exclusive social…
Christopher Kennedy, chair of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, has given an interview to a local newspaper in which he explains why he believes that adjunct instructor James Kilgore must be fired for his involvement in the 1970s radical group, the Symbionese Liberation Army. Kilgore served time in prison for possessing explosives and…