Chancellor Wise on Possible AAUP Censure and Donor Influence in Salaita Firing and Dismissal

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise fired Steven Salaita for extramural utterances on Twitter. She gave an interview for the influential The News-Gazette: no other paper has pipelines to the university administration as does the Champaign-Urbana paper. In her interview she rather cavalierly dismissed the impact of a possible American Association of University Professors censure. She…

Why Inside Higher Ed Faces a Dubious Future

On January 19, David Halperin published a piece with the Huffington Post on the purchase of a controlling interest in Inside Higher Ed by the private-equity firm Quad Partners, which has invested heavily in for-profit colleges and educational consulting firms. Here are the opening paragraphs of Halperin’s article: “Quad Partners, a New York private equity…

The Salaita Case and the Case for Faculty Unionization

In early August, I came across an op-ed on the Salaita case on the Huffington Post Politics blog, and now that just about everything else has been said about that case on this blog, I think that it may be time to consider the argument made in that op-ed. Written by Lennard Davis, a faculty…

Very Frustrated but Fearful

This past week, we received “over the transom” the following e-mail from a non-tenure-eligible full-time faculty member. I am reprinting it with his permission but with all identifying details removed. I think that the e-mail itself conveys the predicament of these faculty more pointedly than any paraphrase and comment that I might provide. _________________________ I…

Congress Has Progressed from Bringing Nothing to a Vote to Taking Meaningless Votes

This item was distributed by The Hill several days ago, on January 21: NOT A LOAD OF A BALONEY: Senators voted 98-1 that “climate change is real and not a hoax.” I repeat “not a hoax!” The bipartisan vote caught Democrats off guard as many thought a majority of Republicans would vote against the amendment, which will now be attached to underlying…

Deflategate: On the Off-Chance That You Have Not Already Had Enough of It

The neologism of the month appears to be “Deflate-gate,” though the issue surrounding the deflation of the footballs used by the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game has also inspired the neologism “Ballghazi” and the pun “The Cheatriots.” Yeesterday “Deflategate” was the lead story on all four nightly newscasts on the major networks.…

ASU's new response still isn't good enough

Seth Kahn on the situation at Arizona State University:

More from the Florida State University Progress Coalition

New FSU President John Thrasher is taking a stance on controversy surrounding the Koch-funded faculty positions at the university that echoes the stance now being taken by those at the University of Illinois who have rescinded the offer letter to Steven Salaita and those who support that decision. Now that they have expressed their determination…

Speaker Series at Wright State University: 2. John McNay

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

On This Fifth Anniversary of the “Citizens United” SCOTUS Decision

What follows is the transcript of a speech given by Senator Bernie Sanders on the economic and political implications of widening wealth inequality and the “Citizens United” decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. The speech was given in late March 2014 on the floor of the U.S. Senate. _________________________ Thank you very much. As the…

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