Another Challenge to Academic Freedom at Collin College

BY HANK REICHMAN Back in October when Lora Burnett, a history professor at Collin College in Texas, was hounded by internet trolls for a comment she made about Vice-President Mike Pence’s appearance during the vice-presidential debate, her administration buckled under the pressure and publicly denounced her, ignoring their own policy’s written commitment “to uphold vigorously…

Good Riddance to Calbright (We Hope)

BY HANK REICHMAN Calbright College, California’s totally online community college, a target of withering faculty criticism from its inception by former Gov. Jerry Brown, may be just a few steps from a well-deserved demise.  Last week the California Legislature agreed on a state budget for 2020-21 that will eliminate all funding for the school.  The…

FACCC President: “Calbright Funds Should Go to Health Benefits for Part-Time Faculty”

BY HANK REICHMAN I’ve been posting pieces about California’s ill-conceived all-online community college, Calbright, and faculty resistance to it pretty much since its inception.  You can find those posts here.  Now that all the state’s community colleges, like pretty much all of higher education nationally, are now offering classes only remotely, using online methods, the…

Stack of the "Adjunct Cookbook"

The 2020 Adjunct Index

BY CAPRICE LAWLESS A big part of our success in chapter-building and awareness-raising in the Colorado Community College System is a list of facts we publish biennially in a document we call “The Adjunct Index,” modeled on the “Harper’s Index.” The index is an easy format to send to our press contacts, lawmakers, and to…

CSCU system office expenditures increase graph.

“Good Faith” and Community College Consolidation

BY 36 COMMUNITY COLLEGE SUPPORTERS In December 2017, as the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) system office was preparing its “Students First” consolidation plan, the system’s Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) presented an extended critique of the proposal.  It was not supportive, recommended other paths, and contained the following warning: “We believe that there is…

Hypocrisy Called Out by Community College Adjunct Faculty

BY STEVE MUMME AND CAPRICE LAWLESS This op-ed appeared originally in the Boulder Daily Camera [openforum@dailycamera.com].   It’s indicative of the dire state in which Colorado’s Community College System adjunct instructors now labor that the American Association of University Professors’ Colorado branch launched a Christmas season GoFundMe campaign to help tide them through the annual…

More Turmoil at Calbright

BY HANK REICHMAN In a sudden and unexpected move, Heather Hiles, president and CEO of Calbright College, California’s new online community college, has resigned after less than a year on the job.  The college’s board voted unanimously yesterday to accept a separation agreement with Hiles, who will step down effective March 31 but be on…