The Price of Excellence in Wisconsin
BY KELLY HAND Kelly Wilz, author of the May–June Academe article “A Day in the Life of a Public University Professor in Wisconsin,” recently won the 2015–16 Teacher Excellence Award given by the student body of the University of Wisconsin-Marshfield/Wood County. Becoming an award-winning teacher is never easy, but as Wilz’s article demonstrates, it has…
Hardest Hit Public Universities in Illinois Losing Students, Some to Adjacent States
The following excerpts from an Associated Press news story on the website of the ABC channel WLS-TV in Chicago provides on update on the longer term impact of the ongoing state budget battle in Illinois: “High school seniors’ unease over the lack of state funding for Illinois universities is contributing to a drop in applications…
What is the Proper Role of Higher Education in the States?
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Last week, Thomas Farragher provided some thoughtful commentary on the perils of underfunding public higher education in Massachusetts. It’s an important discussion that reaches well beyond how much money flows to higher education. Mr. Farragher argued that the cost of attending U Mass Amherst is $26,445 annually but that tuition is…
More on the Elimination of Faculty and Staff Positions in Kentucky
This post is a follow-up to my recent post on the elimination of faculty and staff positions at Northern Kentucky University. Writing for the Lexington Herald-Leader, Linda Blackford reports: “Facing a $26 million shortfall caused by declining enrollment and a decade of budget cuts from state government, Kentucky’s community college system has cut 506…
How many admins in Colorado's Community College System advocate for adjunct faculty? ZERO!
BY CAPRICE LAWLESS Few Colorado taxpayers, students and hard-working, devoted, adjunct faculty members are aware that there is not one person — among the hundreds of six-figure-earning administrators in the Colorado Community College System (CCCS) — charged with advocating for paying adjunct faculty a living wage. In fact, recent, historic events prove that part of…
Institutions on the DoE Watch List
Almost 40 Faculty and 70 Staff Eliminated at NKU
Writing for the Cincinnati Inquirer, Kate Murphy reports that Northern Kentucky University will eliminate “more than 100 faculty and staff positions” to cover an $8 million budget shortfall. The announcement came on the heels of a ruling by Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate that “Gov. Matt Bevin can cut the budgets of public colleges and…
When We Don't Fund Public Education
BY KELLY WILZ The narrative surrounding higher education in Wisconsin is yet again being defined by those who do not work in higher education and unfortunately, as we’ve seen before, this line of attack is incredibly persuasive. “The No Confidence vote isn’t really about President Cross or the Board of Regents. The radical faculty at UW-Madison are rejecting…
Illinois Budget Reprieve Not Enough to Save 300 Jobs at Chicago State
These are the opening paragraphs from a report by WLS—ABC, Channel 7, in Chicago: “Chicago State University laid off more than 300 people due to lack of funding during the ongoing state budget impasse. The layoffs were announced Friday [April 29] and effective immediately. “The school has been struggling with budget issues for months. Just…