Here is a link to Poorer by Degrees, a new short documentary by Jennifer Shuberth, a former faculty member at Portland State University: http://vimeo.com/95828754. The documentary questions the premise that our economic growth requires a dramatic increase in the number of college graduates. Indeed, it suggests that the increased emphasis on completing degrees may actually…
Godwin’s Law says that online arguments devolve into comparisons with Hitler or Nazis. We can extend that, I think, to almost any American argument involving politics and include “fascist” in the list of comparables: A student at Clemson University in South Carolina, in order to bring attention to the university’s past involvement in racism, has…
The University of Alaska (UA) faces a $26M budget deficit. Jobs have been cut, departments are being downsized, and departing faculty are being replaced by adjuncts who earn poverty wages and receive no benefits. Student services have been slashed while student fees have increased. Public Radio programming has been axed, as has the University of…
The New York Post recently ran a story by Carl Campanile under this headline: “College Liberals Spurn $10M Gift from the Koch Brothers.” Mitchell Langbert, a faculty member in the Business School at Brooklyn College, had been in extended discussions with the Koch Brothers Foundation about establishing a “financial center” within the Business School. When…
Today’s New York Times includes an editorial entitled “A Teachout Moment: Gov. Cuomo Should Welcome Zephyr Teachout.” Cuomo’s campaign has been trying to remove his challenger from the Democratic primary. Cuomo, with money and incumbency, will clearly win but, as the Times says: he should not dismiss Ms. Teachout and her growing number of followers as irritants. Her criticisms are mostly…
In an article about former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson, Patrick Smith claims, “the only way an American journalist can be a good American is to be a good journalist.” The assumption behind this, that journalism rises above biases such as nationalism, made me think of two things. The first is something James…
In an article titled “Outsourced in Michigan” written for Inside Higher Ed, Colleen Flaherty chronicles the movement among Michigan’s community colleges to outsource the hiring of adjunct faculty and the management of related “payroll duties” to a corporation called EDUStaff. EDUStaff had previously specialized in providing substitute teachers for K-12 systems. So, if you have…
In response to a complaint by a parent, Ohio State University launched a two-month investigation of its nationally renowned marching band. That investigation led to the firing of band director, Jonathan Waters. Waters had served as band director since October 2012, but he had been an assistant band director for a decade previous to that.…
Back in 1962, when I was first inhaling huge gulps of pop music, there was a song by Dr. Feelgood and the Interns that would occasionally surface on Atlanta top-40 stations. It contains these lines: You’ve got the right string, baby But the wrong yo-yo Somebody knocking on your door Well, I passed this morning…