POSTED BY MARTIN KICH What follows are the opening paragraphs of a news report for the Associated Press written by Matthew Barakat: Virginia’s largest public university granted the conservative Charles Koch Foundation a say in the hiring and firing of professors in exchange for millions of dollars in donations, according to newly released documents. The…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In Ohio, the AAUP was historically apolitical. Then, in 2011, Senate Bill 5 was passed, completely eliminating our collective-bargaining rights in the space of just a few weeks at the beginning of John Kasich’s first term as governor. At the state and chapter levels, we mobilized to support the referendum that…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In today’s Dayton Daily News, Max Filby’s article “Wright State Was Warned a Year Ago That More Cuts Were Needed” includes, as a sort of appendix, two timelines: WSU Total Reserves 2012: $162 million 2013: $140 million 2014: $135 million 2015: $109 million 2016: $64 million 2017: $31 million* *Projection from FY 2018 budget. WSU Budget…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Our extended and ongoing contract impasse and our even more extended and ongoing contract campaign have made us aware of many opportunities that we have missed to connect more effectively with our members, with constituencies within our university community, and with groups in the communities that our university serves. As a…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In a piece for the Undernews daily newsletter from the Progressive Review, Sam Smith recalls his activism in the 1960s and how the traumatic events of 1968 affected him and many activists like him. Near the end of the piece, he quotes from a piece that he wrote during that period:…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Several days ago, Sasha Ingber contributed an article to the Washington Post on how “Trump’s Presidency Has Prompted a New, Nationwide College Course on Why Democracies Collapse.” The course has been developed by Robert Balir, an assistant professor of political science at Brown University. A specialist in post-conflict security in Africa,…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This is a photo taken in 1937 in Prague of a mechanism called an “elevator desk”: In a period in which Varidesks have become very popular and the emphasis on ergonomic design has become commonplace, this photo may seem very anachronistic. But, I have to admit that I find something absolutely…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Writing for Inside Higher Ed, Scott Jaschik has reported on how an “Unusual Donor Agreement at UNLV Raises Questions about Fund-Raising and Governance”: Len Jessup is on his way out as president of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, after receiving unfavorable reviews from the system chancellor and clashing with…