We Need YOU to Complete Our Survey!

BY KELLY HAND Two weeks ago, we asked Academe Blog readers to share their thoughts about the blog by completing a short survey. We know from our stats that thousands of you are reading the blog each week, but we want to know more about you and your interests. Thanks to all of you who completed the…

Please Share Your Thoughts about Academe Blog!

BY KELLY HAND Academe Blog, an extension of the AAUP’s Academe magazine, was launched in 2011 and now has over 10,000 subscribers. With a prolific group of regular and guest bloggers, the blog has grown each year in popularity, attracting over a half million views in 2015 and over 185,000 views just two months into…

New February 15 Deadline for Journal

BY KELLY HAND It’s not too late to submit a paper for the AAUP’s 2016 Journal of Academic Freedom. In the slushy aftermath of the major East Coast snowstorm that caused closures and delays for the AAUP’s national office and many higher education institutions, the deadline for submissions to Volume 7 of the Journal for…

Media Coverage of the Salaita Controversy

BY KELLY HAND In his article “Steven Salaita, the Media, and the Struggle for Academic Freedom” in the January-February 2016 issue of Academe, Peter N. Kirstein writes about media coverage of the controversy surrounding Steven Salaita’s dismissal by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The issue’s special focus on media and the faculty was inspired…

Education and Ethics

BY KELLY HAND Two articles in the new January-February 2016 issue of Academe urge faculty to consider their ethical obligations within and beyond their academic communities. In her article, “Liberal Arts in the Modern University,” Lorna Fitzsimmons discusses the liberal arts as an antidote for social change and fragmentation. Offering the example of identity theft…

Overcoming Unconscious Bias on Campus

  Protests by and on behalf of students of color on campuses such as Yale University and the University of Missouri have highlighted the need for greater diversity among faculty. While some colleges and universities, including Yale, have committed millions of dollars to diversity initiatives, the obstacles to recruiting and retaining faculty from historically underrepresented…

The Importance of Community Colleges and Their Faculty

In his article in the November-December issue of Academe, “Community Colleges in the AAUP,” Paul Davis turns our attention to the evolving role of community colleges. Having taught for almost thirty years at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, he has seen dramatic changes in the student population and in policy makers’ expectations of how community colleges…

A Changing Landscape for Unionization at Private Institutions?

In her article in the November-December Academe, “Improving the Legal Landscape for Unionization at Private Colleges and Universities,” AAUP general counsel Risa L. Lieberwitz considers the legacy of the US Supreme Court’s 1980 decision in NLRB v. Yeshiva University. Because it held that faculty members’ autonomy and involvement in decision-making puts them in the category…

The Liberal Arts and Triangular Citizenship

This is a guest post by Jeffrey Scheuer, the author of two books on media and politics and a work in progress about critical thinking and liberal education. His website is at http://www.jscheuer.com. Given the obvious importance of STEM learning and vocational education, why should anyone bother to study the liberal arts? The argument, as I suggest…