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…

Calbright College “Opens;” No Faculty, No Students

BY HANK REICHMAN October 1 was the legislatively mandated opening day for California’s new ridiculously named fully online community college, Calbright.  But there were no classes.  There were no instructors.  There were no students.  There were, however, some applicants.  According to Taylor Huckaby, Calbright’s communications director, about 655 people had started an application, of which…

streaks of lightning across night sky with orange and purple tones

Two Teachable Moments

BY CAPRICE LAWLESS Teaching moment #1: One student was hit by lightning while on the job. Another one (who works at a deli) watched her boss banging on the restroom door as he yelled at the co-worker inside (whom she and others could hear was vomiting) that she needed “to finish up and get back…

Photos from the October Board of Trustees Meeting at Wright State

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Photos taken by Josh Lenes and David Kociemba. Please sign and share a petition of support for our chapter’s efforts to get a fair contract: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stand-with-wright-statefaculty. Please sign and share a petition of support for our chapter’s efforts to get a fair contract: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stand-with-wright-statefaculty. Please sign and share a petition of…

Working in Non-Harvard Higher Education

BY CHRISTOPHER NEWFIELD Christopher Newfield is professor of English at the University of California at Santa Barbara.  This is reposted from the Remaking the University blog.  The biggest mainstream media higher ed story last week–and this–has been the lawsuit charging Harvard with discrimination against  Asian American applicants. My piece on it has been delayed by…

Academic Freedom Explored at FACCC/AAUP Conference

BY HANK REICHMAN On Friday, September 28, about 100 California community college faculty members gathered at Berkeley City College for a day-long conference on academic freedom co-sponsored by the Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges Educational Institute (FACCC-EI) and the AAUP Foundation.  The conference highlighted the growing importance of academic freedom in community colleges…