BY MADHUKAR VABLE Large classes, replacing tenure-track faculty with contingent faculty without fringe benefits, and subpar wages have not put brakes on tuition increases in excess of inflation, because the cost drivers prior to the pandemic were not in the instructional part of the universities. Administrative bloat is one of the cost drivers, but there…
POSTED BY CAPRICE LAWLESS Below is a letter sent last week by the AAUP Colorado Conference to James W. C. White, the interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His reported plan to reduce tenure and tenure-track positions has received local and national coverage. James W. C.…
BY GRETCHEN MCNAMARA Wright State University plans to begin the retrenchment process that will result in workforce reductions. Elevate Dayton is publishing the perspectives of students, faculty, alumni and other Wright State community members that could be affected by the changes. Gretchen McNamara, a senior lecturer of music and union executive committee member, explores her torn feelings…
BY FACULTY, STAFF, AND STUDENTS AT US JESUIT COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES We, the faculty, staff and students of Jesuit Colleges and Universities from throughout the United States, are concerned by the rash of austerity-driven layoffs, firings and program eliminations occurring and under consideration by Jesuit institutions across the United States. These measures are particularly troubling…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The forum, sponsored by the SaveOhioHigherEd coalition of AAUP chapters across several Midwestern states, included six presentations: Jill Galvin, an English Professor at Ohio State University, made the “Introduction.” Cathy Wagner, an English professor at Miami University, provided an “Overview.” Abby Stidham, a student at the University of Cincinnati, spoke on…
BY JOHN K. WILSON On August 31, Illinois Wesleyan University announced that three tenured faculty would be given one-year terminal contracts and then fired because of controversial plans to discontinue academic programs in anthropology, French, Italian, and religious studies while expanding programs in economics and business. The AAUP’s Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance…
BY SUE RAMLO They said they were sorry; they said that it was financial. We were devastated when we got the emails or phone calls about meetings with an administrator concerning our future at the University of Akron (UA)–we were being fired. Our situation made national news because there are nearly one hundred of us…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This event will feature speakers from Ohio, but the problems being faced by higher ed institutions in Ohio are clearly not exclusive to our state. So the event may clearly be of broader interest. What created the current crisis in public higher education? Where does all the money spent on education…
BY MARTIN KICH The current situation at the University of Akron is extreme but nonetheless illustrative of the situations developing at many of our college and university campuses across the state of Ohio and the nation. At Akron, the administration and Board are attempting to use a force majeure clause in the faculty contract to…