Opposition in a Democracy and in a Union

Today’s New York Times includes an editorial entitled “A Teachout Moment: Gov. Cuomo Should Welcome Zephyr Teachout.” Cuomo’s campaign has been trying to remove his challenger from the Democratic primary. Cuomo, with money and incumbency, will clearly win but, as the Times says: he should not dismiss Ms. Teachout and her growing number of followers as irritants. Her criticisms are mostly…

Bérubé on Salaita

The following is the text of a letter sent to University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Chancellor Phyllis Wise by Michael Bérubé regarding the university’s apparent decision to revoke a job offer to Professor Steven Salaita.  Michael Bérubé is Edwin Earl Sparks Professor of Literature at Pennsylvania State University, a former president of the Modern Language…

AAUP Officers' Statement on Case of Steven Salaita

Today, Rudy Fichtenbaum, AAUP president, and Hank Reichman, first vice-president and chair of the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, issued the statement below. Statement on the Case of Professor Steven G. Salaita We have read with concern yesterday’s report on insidehighered.com that the University of Illinois has apparently withdrawn a job offer…

Doctoring Tenure

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has written a five-page letter to the AAUP (pdf), which is considering an investigation of the institution because it revoked tenure and then dismissed two professors under its new system of re-evaluating faculty every seven years. The letter asks over 30 questions to the AAUP about its procedures…

The Rise and Decline of Faculty Governance

Today’s Inside Higher Ed features an article about shared governance that focuses on a new book by Larry G. Gerber, Professor Emeritus of History at Auburn University, entitled The Rise and Decline of Faculty Governance: Professionalization and the Modern American University. Gerber is a talented and distinguished historian and a longtime AAUP activist and leader,…

Hundreds of University of Illinois Educators Form Union

The following is the text of a press release issued this morning and posted on the AAUP’s web site: For Immediate Release July 9, 2014 Contacts: Howard Bunsis, chair AAUP-CBC or Aviva F. Bowen, Director of Communications, IFT Non-tenure track faculty in Champaign-Urbana join national movement to improve university working conditions and student success CHAMPAIGN –…

The Pursuit of Truth, a New Chicago Coalition

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…

The Looming Crisis in Higher Education

The “real problem” behind the exploitation of adjunct faculty is quite obvious: universities have continued to produce a reasonable number of Ph.D.’s but no longer are willing to hire a reasonable number of them into full-time, never mind tenure-track, positions. This situation will change when enrollment in graduate programs starts to contract, and even to…