BY HANK REICHMAN Privatization has failed. But a tuition-free college education in California is possible. That was the message this morning at a press conference in Berkeley introducing a new policy paper demonstrating how it is entirely feasible to provide today’s students with the same accessible low-cost university experience that California successfully offered its students…
BY MARTIN KICH Writing for Cleveland.com, Karen Farkas reports Kent State University is closing its golf course because of declining revenues and increasing operating costs. . . . The university bought the 18-hole par 70 course on Ohio 59 in Franklin Township, in 1966. The course includes a putting green, chipping area, snack bar, banquet room…
BY HARRY HELLENBRAND Harry Hellenbrand, who retired not long ago from his long-time position as provost at California State University (CSU), Northridge, remains one of the most respected and intelligent academic administrators in the CSU, who was revered — dare I say, even loved — by his faculty. Harry is also one of the most…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL There is a basic, fundamental truth about the American college or university operating model: It doesn’t work. In the second half of the 20th century, America’s colleges and universities moved toward a similar operating model, depending upon their size, purpose, and funding source. Some scaled up to the research powerhouses that…
BY MARTHA T. McCLUSKEY This is a guest post by Martha T. McCluskey, a professor of law and William J. Magavern Faculty Scholar at the University of Buffalo. Her e-mail address is mcclusk@buffalo.edu. The views in this blog and related article do not represent any institution or group. As public funding for higher education has…
BY MARTIN KICH In “Threatening Tuition Hike, Oregon Universities Demand Funding Increase,” an article for Oregon Public Broadcasting, Rob Manning reports: The presidents of Oregon’s seven public universities are telling legislative leaders they need a big funding increase to keep tuition down. That’s the main message in a letter the university presidents intend to send to…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL It may be an effort to continue Bernie Sander’s legacy by re-introducing the “free college” movement. It may also be a way to recast the Democratic Party in its “return to the working class defender” role. Or, it may be that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is staking his claim to…
BY HANK REICHMAN Today, the California Faculty Association (CFA), an AAUP-affiliate representing 25,000+ faculty members in the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system, released a new report, “Equity, Interrupted: How California Is Cheating Its Future,” the first in a promised series. Among its findings, the report details decisions impacting the CSU and its students, and…
BY MARTIN KICH Writing for the Dayton Daily News Josh Sweigart reports that an ongoing federal investigation of Wright State University has cost at least $2.2 million dollars, and counting. That total includes salary and benefits for suspended administrators, severance payments to an administrator who retired, a legal settlement to a fired administrator, legal fees,…
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…