Is Internet Use in Class Comparable to Texting while Driving?
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Writing for the website of Michigan Radio, an NPR station, Steve Carmody reports on a Michigan State study conducted by Prof. Susan Ravissa. In one of her lecture courses, 127 of the 507 enrolled students agreed to have their use of the Internet tracked during 15 of the 50-minute class periods.…
More on Higher Ed’s Haves and Have-Nots
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Writing for PBS News, Ben Markus of the Hechinger Report, highlights the uneven degree to which cuts in state subsidies to public colleges and universities have impacted the institutions that serve the highest numbers of economically disadvantaged, academically at risk, and non-White students. In the first half of the essay, Markus…
Global Survey of Academic Freedom Issues [Post 18 of a Series]
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This series covers the issues that surfaced in 2015. I had it done at the beginning of 2016, but I have been somewhat slow getting it posted. North Africa Terrorist attacks in Tunisia created considerable concern on Tunisian university campuses for several related reasons: some of the campuses are located close…
Audit of the Increased Cost of Attendance in Georgia
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Here is another Georgia-related item for today. In an article for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Christopher Quinn reports on a state auditor’s study of the rising costs to students attending Georgia’s public colleges and universities. What has been occurring in Georgia is very similar to what has been occurring elsewhere—even to the…
“Dreamers” Win Right to Pay In-State Tuition in Georgia
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In an article for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Jeremy Redmon reports on a judicial decision that “Dreamers” should pay in-state tuition while attending public colleges and universities in Georgia: Georgia residents who have received a special reprieve from deportation from the Obama administration may begin paying in-state tuition here under a…
Another Telling Report on the Increase in Contingent Faculty
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH What follows is a news release from the American Institutes for Research. It turns out (1) that hiring more adjunct and full-time non-tenure-eligible faculty has reduced instructional budgets but has not reduced institutional budgets and (2) that the reliance on contingent faculty has an inverse correlation with the compensation of tenure-eligible…
Lake Superior State U’s Annual List of “Banished” Words
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH LSSU’s 42nd annual “List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness” includes the following: You, Sir Focus Bête Noire Town Hall Meeting Post-Truth Guesstimate 831 Historic Manicured Echo Chamber On Fleek Bigly Ghost Dadbod Listicle “Get your dandruff up . . . ” Selfie Drone…
Five Ideas for Higher Ed Reform—in Forbes
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Writing for Forbes, Preston Cooper, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute who specializes in the economics of higher education offers “Five Higher Education Reform Ideas For The New Congress.” I have tried to select the key point of elaboration on each item: Put a Cap on Federal Student Loans: There is…
Law School Faculty Oppose Sessions Nomination
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Statement from Law School Faculty Opposing Nomination of Jeff Sessions for the Position of Attorney General Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only. The list below is updated regularly and is current as of 9pm PST 1/3/17. If you are a law professor and want to add your name to this statement, click…