Higher Education in the Era of Swift Technological Evolution: A Response to the UW-System’s Dismantling of the Liberal Arts Curriculum

BY RENEE CALKINS, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, UWM AAUP, University of WIsconsin-Milwaukee National studies have underscored the value employers place on the analytical and communication skills that training in the humanities and social sciences, cornerstones of a liberal arts education, is focused on developing. And the national press has repeatedly highlighted liberal arts education as particularly suited…

Wright State Chapter’s Contract Campaign: Pop Culture Memes

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH

Survey Says… College Presidents Concerns about Future

BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Inside Higher Education has released its annual “Survey of College and University Presidents.” The results, which cover a wide variety of topics, are revealing if not surprising. There are too many individual findings to discuss in a single article; therefore, we’ll concentrate on the findings that deal most directly with the state…

Laboratories of Austerity

BY NICHOLAS FLEISHER The following is reposted with permission from the LanguagePolitics blog of Nicholas Fleisher, associate professor of Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an active member of the AAUP. For previous discussions on the Academe blog of recent events in the University of Wisconsin system see here and here. UW-Stevens Point has…

Fast Facts: Letting the Numbers Speak Volumes

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH During our protracted contract campaign, which started in January 2018, we have greatly expanded our communication strategies. The new approaches to reaching our members, others in the university community, and residents of the surrounding communities through the local news media have included the distribution, physically and digitally, of Fast Facts flyers that…

David Bukovinsky: Long-Term Value Creation over Expedient Temporary Fixes

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH As I noted in yesterday’s posting of Dan Slilaty’s statement on the primacy of the relationship between faculty and students, we have been asking our members to speak at the meetings of our Board of Trustees as part of our ongoing contract campaign at Wright State. What follows is a statement…

Dan Slilaty: The University’s Single Reason for Being

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH As part of our ongoing contract campaign at Wright State, we have been asking our members to speak at the meetings of our Board of Trustees. What follows is a statement made by Dan Slilaty, Professor of Mathematics, at the most recent Board meeting. I think that it speaks to issues…

Academic, administrative silos must be broken down if colleges are to survive

BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL American colleges and universities are reaching for every means through which they might increase net tuition revenue. Net tuition revenue is the revenue that the college takes in from tuition after factoring in (i.e. deducting) all institutional financial aid. Net Tuition Revenue is Flat or Decreasing at Many Colleges The harsh…

Like lobsters on slow boil, colleges don’t realize crisis has arrived.

BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL American higher education is a complex, decentralized, and interlocking network of institutions that provide education to a disparate group of learners. Historically, many of the fundamentals build around an applicant cohort of 18- to 22-year olds. The demographics of the 21st century predict that this group will not be able to…

Loyalty Matters for Non-Renewed UNH Lecturers and Their Students

BY NATHAN S. WEBSTER As a soldier in the US Army, I served in Iraq during 1991’s Desert Storm. So I understand institutional loyalty. I understand sacrifice in pursuit of a larger mission, and pride in a strong community tethered by common purpose. In recent weeks, the University of New Hampshire has gone in a…

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