In Delaware, Dramatically Different Conceptions of the Current State and the Future Prospects of Higher Education

Earlier this month, Dr. Patrick T. Harker, President of the University of Delaware, wrote an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer expressing his views of the American university and the faculty of the University of Delaware. His op-ed is available at: http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20150205_Universities_must_adapt_to_meet_student_needs.html After an open meeting of the membership of the University of Delaware chapter of AAUP,…

In Praise of Scott Walker—An Annotated Response to a Wall Street Journal News Story

Colleges are usually at the forefront of radical politics [The word “radical” suggests extreme and abrupt change driven by ideological rather than practical concerns. These days there is much more political radicalism on the Far Right than anywhere on the Left], but when it comes to their own privileges they become feudal empires [Loaded language…

The Numbers Support Patricia Arquette, Not Her Critics (And They Indicate a Truth about “Right to Work” as Well)

Patricia Arquette is being slammed from both the Left and the Right for her comments during and after her acceptance speech for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. From the Left, the criticism has come largely from other disadvantaged groups who feel that her focus was too narrowly on women’s issues,…

Power and Education

Paul Krugman opens his column today in The New York Times by saying, “I sometimes mock ‘very serious people’ — politicians and pundits who solemnly repeat conventional wisdom that sounds tough-minded and realistic.” These are the people at the Lippmann end of the John Dewey/Walter Lippmann polarity, the elite who believe they have the knowledge and skills to present the…

Student Debt as a Percentage of Total Household Debt, Q4-2014

The following chart shows total household debt in the United States, broken down into its major components, in the fourth quarter of 2014: In effect, although total household debt increased from $11.71 trillion to $11.83 trillion from the third to the fourth quarters of last year, student-loan debt remained a relatively flat percentage of that…

Education As a Political Football: Just One More Example

Here’s a headline from today’s New York Times: “Wisconsin Sees Presidential Ploy in Walker’s Push for University Cuts.” Only to be expected, of course: to his critics, Mr. Walker, in both his proposed cuts and his aborted effort to overhaul the Wisconsin Idea, is trying to capitalize on a view that is popular among many conservatives: that…

The Board of Regents Approves a New Business Model for the University of Maryland University College: A Serious Blow

Guest blogger David Kaloustian is a professor of English and Modern Languages at Bowie State University in Maryland. An Unfortunately Chosen Metaphor I note that the White Paper (see 4.b. here), which formed the basis of the Board of Regent’s change of course for higher education begins the history of UMUC with a rather unfortunately…

More Budgetary Hijinks from Bobby Jindal

I have been chronicling the ever-increasing state budget deficit in Louisiana, Bobby Jindal’s ideologically doctrinaire and ineffectual attempts to find a solution to that deficit that does not involve raising any taxes, and the catastrophic impact that this situation will almost certainly have on Lousiana’s public colleges and universities. This past week Jindal floated another…

Major Attack on Public-Employee Unions in Illinois

The recently inaugurated Republican governor of Illinois, Bruce Rauner, has signed an executive order banning public-employee unions from collecting fair-share contributions from those employees who choose not to belong to the unions that represent them. I very recently did a post on the very skewed logic behind “right to work” legislation—see https://academeblog.org/2015/02/07/right-to-work-provides-workers-with-many-rights/ Rauner, previously the…

Judge Rules Salaita Wins the Right to Sue University of Illinois over F.O.I.A.

The News–Gazette reported that Steven Salaita’s lawsuit against the University of Illinois will proceed. The University of Illinois had argued, since the lawsuit had been filed by the professor’s lawyers, the Center for Constitutional Rights (C.R.C.), and not specifically by Professor Salaita, that the plaintiff did not have legal standing. Judge Chase Leonhard, a Champaign County state judge, issued…