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,…

Thoughts for my fellow tenured and tenure track faculty on National Adjunct Walkout Day

Tenured and tenure track faculty share a (broken) system with adjuncts. We are all connected in this system of higher education. It’s time we believe it and start acting that way. Because today is National Adjunct Walkout Day, I said some things on Twitter last night. What follows is the recap, with a few links…

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…

National Adjunct Walkout Day

AAUP chapters across the country will be tabling, holding teach-ins, lobby days, films screenings, or other activities as part of National Adjunct Walkout Day this Wednesday, February 25. The day, a grassroots effort, is planned to highlight adjunct faculty labor issues and to insist on fair wages and better working conditions. Participating chapters include Aurora…

Why a White Guy Doesn't Want to Belong to a "White" Group

This post is an addendum to Aaron Barlow’s post on the attacks on Prof. Bebout’s course on “Whiteness,” a post which you should probably read before reading the rest of this post, especially if you are unfamiliar with the controversy. The most obvious irony is, of course, that this sort of virulent response to Prof.…

Studying "Whiteness" Threatens Whites?

Lee Bebout, an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University, is teaching a Topics in Critical Theory course this semester. From what I can tell, it’s one of those courses passed around from professor to professor based on a proposed theme for the semester, one generally approved by a departmental committee. Bebout’s theme is “U.S. Race…

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…

More Almost Farcical Higher-Ed Funding Schemes from Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal has jumped on the Sam Brownback/Scott Walker bandwagon and has cut taxes every year that he has been office. The problem is that he has not been able to cut spending as fast as he has been cutting taxes. The dramatic drop in oil and gas prices has cut deeply into one of…

Marquette to Fire McAdams for Dereliction of Duty

[Guest Blogger Ira Allen is an assistant professor of Rhetoric and Composition at the American University of Beirut.] In November of last year, alongside scholars from around the disciplines, I signed an open letter written by philosopher John Protevi. The letter urged Marquette University to support embattled philosophy graduate student Cheryl Abbate and to “take steps…

Speaker Series at Wright State University: 3. Howard Bunsis

The poster for the entire series is available at: https://academeblog.org/2015/01/06/speaker-series-at-wright-state-university-overview/

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