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…

University of Illinois Faculty Senate Endorses Faculty Panel Recommendation to Reconsider Salaita Firing

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty Senate has approved a resolution recommending that the administration “promptly” adhere to and implement the recommendations of the December 23, 2014 released Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure (CAFT) report on the Steven Salaita firing. The vote was 51-41 at the February 9, 2015 Senate meeting. We had…

Salaita Lawyers in Court Tomorrow for F.O.I.A. Lawsuit

The Center for Constitutional Rights has issued this “media advisory” concerning tomorrow’s lawsuit over open-records claims under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. The issue of donor influence on the Steven Salaita summary dismissal case is a key aspect of this struggle for academic freedom and academic due process. The battle for open records, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, between the University…

Three Science Stories Strangely Told

All of these items have been distributed by Business Insider. Let’s start with a story about the unsuccessful attempt by SpaceX to land a rocket on an platform in the ocean [www.businessinsider.sg/spacex-rocket-crash-landing-vine-images-2015-2/]. Here is a photo of the crash: And here is the opening line of the article that immediately follows the photo: “SpaceX launched…

Can Outcomes Save the Liberal Arts?

One of the great battles ongoing in American higher education centers on the continued vitality and relevance of a liberal arts education.   Nearly every American has seen some video variation of an underemployed liberal arts graduate at a fast food window asking: “Would you like biggie-sized fries with that?” Historically, the defense of the…

Beware of the Pedagogy Police: Cheryl Abbate v. John McAdams at Marquette: Graphic E-mail in Appendix

The decision of Marquette University to seek the revocation of the continuous tenure, an increasingly common oxymoron, of Associate Professor John McAdams merits academic freedom scrutiny. Whenever an administration seeks dismissal of a tenured faculty member, there is a categorical imperative to examine if academic freedom protection should prevail. An academic freedom inquiry, of course, can…