POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This “over the transom” piece is from a colleague who has chosen the pseudonym “Thucydides.” It owes a considerable debt—is in many respects an homage–to the legendary Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko. _________________________ Moose McGillicuddy had just opened his tavern on a quiet weekday morning, wanting to do some cleaning before…
BY HANK REICHMAN For the past three years I have been posting about the ongoing issues regarding accreditation at the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) and the subsequent disaffection of virtually all of California’s community colleges with their current accreditor, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). This past spring attention focused…
Writing for University Business, Nick Kalm and Courtney Harper advise universities on how “Strong Messages Can Defuse Campus Unionizing Campaigns.” The authors’ bio note indicates that “Nick Kalm is president and Courtney Harper is senior vice president at Reputation Partners, a communications consultancy that specializes in labor communications for universities and other organizations.” The…
COCAL is the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, a nearly 20 year old network of contingent activists and their organizations that does a conference (now tri-national – USA, CAN (including QBC) , and MEX) every other year, usually in August. It also sponsors a listserv, called ADJ-L, and has an International Advisory Committee and…
Five years ago, a tractor trailer carrying 1.3 million signatures on petitions for a referendum on Senate Bill 5 made its way through downtown Columbus, Ohio, to the Ohio Statehouse. Officials at the Statehouse were not sure that the lobby of the building could structurally support the weight of the petitions, adding to the…
With contract talks stalled, the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, which represents more than 6,000 faculty members at Pennsylvania’s 14 state universities, has scheduled an emergency legislative assembly in August to determine whether a strike authorization vote will be taken by its members. The faculty have been working without a new…
BY PETER N. KIRSTEIN I realise this post may not endear me to the leadership of my university, but I will approach this with the knowledge it appears on an A.A.U.P. blog! Catholic universities such as Saint Xavier, Duquesne, and Manhattan have fiercely resisted the right of part-time faculty to organise into a collective bargaining unit.…
BY PETER N. KIRSTEIN A spectre is haunting Chicago–the spectre is academic unionism. Both the University of Chicago and Loyola University Chicago have witnessed the rise of contingent faculty organising success. Now at Northwestern University, a placid campus in Evanston, part-time faculty and non-tenure track full time faculty are moving rapidly in that direction. According…
After a successful two-day walkout of faculty across the United Kingdom led by the University and College Union, more than 1,000 scholars have resigned from their roles as external examiners, who are contracted to sit on exam boards at other universities to review students’ work and sign off final grades. A UCU spokesperson told The…
BY HANK REICHMAN College and university faculty in the United Kingdom began a two-day strike today against the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA). Members of the University and College Union (UCU) are taking action after talks to resolve a dispute over a 1.1% pay offer collapsed last week. The UCU said the value…