In order to promote critical reflection and public discussions on the impact of neoliberalism on higher education the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University is hosting a national conference on “Neoliberalism and Public Higher Education” at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center in East Lansing, Michigan, on March 27 – 28, 2015. Critical topics…
Three weeks ago, Ebola was an all-consuming crisis that obsessed politicians and the media. But now, it’s just an old issue and old news. People are still dying in droves in substandard medical facilities in West Africa, and nothing much has changed in terms of our efforts to insure that the disease is contained when…
At this past June’s annual meeting, a chapter leader suggested that AAUP ought to start tracking votes of no confidence—even if not as formally as it tracks its own investigations and censures of institutions for violations of the AAUP’s core principles of academic freedom, shared governance, and tenure/economic security. As it is now, a vote…
President Robert Easter of the University of Illinois who participated in and approved of the egregious dismissal and summary suspension of Dr. Steven Salaita at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is retiring. He will receive a $180,000 Golden Parachute bonus in a state that is broke with one of the worst managed finances in the…
This is a guest post by Alan R. Shoho, a contributor to the recent November-December issue of Academe. Shoho is a professor of educational leadership and policy studies and associate vice provost for academic and faculty support at the University of Texas at San Antonio where he has been for the past twenty years. As…
What happens when you get the job? The best college and university presidents start out with an understanding of what they do not know. As candidates, they presented the Search Committee whose members screened them with impressive credentials, demonstrating an ability to communicate and persuade. They seemed to have grasped the need for a vision,…
This is a guest post by Joerg Tiede, a contributor to the recent November-December issue of Academe. Tiede is professor of computer science at Illinois Wesleyan University. He serves as chair of the AAUP’s Assembly of State Conferences, on Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, and as chair of the Committee on the History…
Soon after I returned from Peace Corps service in 1990, I started to hear of a new organization called “Teach for America.” People fancied it as something of a domestic Peace Corps, which rankled. Not only did I remember the suspicion toward VISTA volunteers in Western North Carolina in the sixties, but I knew the reasons…
Joining the AAUP says that you want to help shape the future of our profession. You want a voice in matters such as academic freedom, faculty governance, career issues, tenure, economic security for contingent faculty, and the overuse of contingent appointments. By joining the AAUP, you help shape the future of our profession. In addition, there…
Unfortunately, online education, or its include-all moniker “online,” tends to be lined up against face-to-face or classroom instruction, as if the two were gunfighters. Even if in the minds of some one of the parties walks away the victor, that party has more than the usual shoulder or arm wound than that of the winner…