I have long contended that California’s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown is the only true fiscal conservative in American politics. In many ways Brown is a liberal, and an often admirable one, but for decades perhaps his most distinctive characteristic has been his hesitancy to spend money. It would not be out of line to call…
What is occurring in Maine is the opposite of what has occurred in places where the “charter” university concept has taken hold–most notably Virginia. In those places, elite public universities have accepted lower state subsidies for more institutional “flexibility”–which has meant more aggressive efforts to attract out-of-state and international students who pay higher tuition.…
Writing for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution [31 Dec. 2015: A,1], Nedra Rhone reports on the rise in organized student activism nationwide but especially in greater Atlanta. In the article “Today’s Student Activists: On Fire against a Gumbo of Issues,” she emphasizes that this new wave of student activism is targeting more than racism, addressing issues “from…
The College of Saint Rose (NY) faces a $9.3 million deficit and declining enrollment. “It’s a challenging time in higher education and it’s not for the faint of heart,” President Carolyn Stefanco recently remarked. “Change is really hard for people, and higher education is changing in pretty dramatic ways.” As reported by the Chronicle, the…
By Elena Levy-Navarro The three chapters of the AAUP — UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, and UW-Whitewater — have sent to the Board of Regents Tenure Policy Task Force (TPTF) annotated copies of the two policy documents that were written by the chair’s staff. When I consider all of the actions of the Board’s TPTF, I remind myself…
The following post is by Michael Meranze, Professor of History at UCLA, and is reposted (with some minor clarifications of terms for non-Californians) from Michael’s and Chris Newfield’s Remaking the University blog. Since the ten-campus UC system is the largest research university system in the U.S., its troubled finances should be of some interest to…
The Daily Illini, the student paper at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been a very reliable source on the tenure travesty of Dr Steven Salaita. They report that Dr Salaita will receive directly a settlement of $600,000, with another $275,000 going to his attorneys. There is, of course, no job restoration, and the University of Illinois is…
Michael Behrent, the president of the Appalachian State University chapter of the AAUP, and John Steen, Program Coordinator of Scholars for North Carolina’s Future (with contribution from Jim Carmichael, professor at UNC Greensboro and president of the AAUP’s North Carolina Conference) have an op-ed today in The News & Observer or Raleigh, NC entitled “Outrageous move to foster runaway…
“Quitpieces?” That’s what Ian Bogost calls them in The Atlantic, writing “No One Cares That You Quit Your Job.” He’s right, but I’m more interested in what they say about our profession and what we can learn from them than in anything about any individuals. Two such quitpieces were posted two days ago, one by…
The following is an op-ed piece by Susan Gubernat, Professor of English at California State University, East Bay and a member of the CSU Academic Senate. It was published in the Sacramento Bee on September 7. Tuition dollars have overtaken state funding in supporting public higher education in California, as is true throughout the country.…