Jim Barrett: Weakening UIUC

James Barrett, an Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Illinois and Urbana-Champaign, wrote a letter-to-the-editor of the local News-Gazette, “2 Faculty Members Have Weakened UI.” The two are Nick Burbules and Joyce Tolliver, both of whom were involved in the ‘off-server’ email conversations of ex-Chancellor Phyllis Wise. Barrett writes: administrators relied upon this ad hoc consultation…

"Pretendure" in Wisconsin

Chuck Rybak posted “UW Struggle: Scrap the Tenure File Edition” yesterday on his blog. It’s worth reading, especially since what is happening in Wisconsin could easily happen elsewhere–and probably will, soon. He writes: Tenure no longer exists in Wisconsin. We have entered the era of pretendure. The only moral thing to do, right now, is…

Alice Dreger's Letter of Resignation at Northwestern

Last month, AcademeBlog reported on the controversy involving Northwestern professor Alice Dreger and reprinted Dreger’s own blog about censorship of sexual content at Northwestern. Yesterday, Dreger resigned from Northwestern in protest. Here is the full text of her resignation letter: Monday, August 24, 2015 Provost Daniel Linzer Northwestern University 633 Clark Street Evanston, IL 60208-1101 Dear…

And Another One's Gone: U of Illinois Provost Resigns

University of Illinois Provost Ilesanmi Adesida will be resigning his position next week and returning to his faculty position in the College of Engineering. No reason was given in the announcement this afternoon to the campus by acting chancellor Barbara Wilson, but Adesida was one of Phyllis Wise’s most trusted subordinates, and his personal emails…

Steps Toward Making Censure History at MD Anderson?

Just over a month after being censured by the AAUP annual meeting, the administration of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center took steps toward instituting a shared governance model and improving academic due process. The Cancer Letter reported this past Friday that UT System Chancellor William McRaven directed MD Anderson President Ronald DePinho in a July 23 letter…

University of Illinois Trustees Reject $400,000 Payout for Wise

This afternoon, the University of Illinois trustees’ Executive Committee voted to reject Phyllis Wise’s negotiated settlement and $400,000 payout to resign last week, effective today. The Executive Committee is made up of Chair Ed McMillan and trustees Karen Hasara and James Montgomery (the lone trustee who changed his mind about Salaita and voted against dismissing him). All…

“The least we can do is make use of the rights”

David Palumbo-Liu, a professor at Stanford University and one of the most insightful commentators on issues related to education that I know of, ends an article posted yesterday on The Nation website, “Steven Salaita, Professor Fired for ‘Uncivil’ Tweets, Vindicated in Federal Court,” with this admonition: As we see the case against the university gathering…