A tear in a green paper folder reveals the words "final thoughts" typed in black on white paper

Put Democracy in the Lecture

BY MATTHEW BOEDY You may remember several years ago a phenomenon called “the last lecture.”  It began with the heartbreaking story of Randy Pausch, who was a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. He was diagnosed with cancer and literally gave his last lecture in September 2007. That became a book in 2008…

Crowded school hallway

Put Democracy in The Community

By MATTHEW BOEDY Last month I encouraged faculty to put democracy on the syllabus.  In that post, I wrote: “No one is coming to save us. We all have to do this together.” To further that call, I urge faculty now to put democracy in the community.  AAUP unions and advocacy conferences do a lot…

Put Democracy on the Syllabus

BY MATTHEW BOEDY It’s that time of year again for professors across the nation. End of the semester review. What worked well? What didn’t? What can or should I change next time? And how might I make it all more relevant? This run-of-the-mill academic action should take on much more importance if you look up…

Cardboard protest sign with "Amplify your voice" and a black arrow pointing down written on it

Doing the Work Only We Can Do

BY MATTHEW BOEDY I was asked by our state’s largest newspaper here in Georgia to write a column offering some priorities for higher education as lawmakers return in January for our annual legislative session. You can likely guess my priorities. Bigger budgets, better salary, and stopping culture war attacks on higher education.  But those priorities…

survey

A Tale of Two Surveys

BY MATTHEW BOEDY Two recent major surveys on public opinion about higher education offer differing details but the same dark picture of public opinion about higher education.  They also offer the same roadmap for faculty advocacy to reverse that dangerous trend.  First, there was a Chronicle of Higher Education survey in early September. The Chronicle…