Adjuncts, Faculty Working Conditions, and Student Learning Conditions

An “On the Issues” Post from the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education [http://futureofhighered.org] _______________ In “I Used to be a Good Teacher,” Alice Umber contrasts her experiences teaching as a tenure-track professor and then as a contingent, “adjunct” faculty member.  Her piece should be required reading for college students and parents, for administrators…

Ebola: A Symptom of Our Morbidly Diseased Media and Politics

On October 25, the BBC reported that, according to the World Health Organization’s best estimates, there were over 10,000 Ebola cases in West Africa. At least 4,922 people had died from the disease, with all but 27 of those deaths occurring in three countries: Liberia, with 2,705 deaths; Sierra Leone, with 1,281 deaths; and Guinea,…

How to Talk to Strangers

Guest blogger Nicholas H. Wolfinger (@NickWolfinger) is a professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Studies at the University of Utah. Academia doesn’t always do a good job of communicating its findings to the outside world.  Far too often, interesting and important results never get farther than the pages of a scholarly journal, in all…

AAUP and CUCFA Announce Partnership Agreement

The following is the text of a media release issued this morning by the American Association of University Professors and the Council of University of California Faculty Associations. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Council of University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA) today announced that they have agreed to work together as…

An Open Letter to High School Seniors

It’s October. For millions of American high school seniors, choosing what to do after receiving the high school degree begins now. It represents the first life-altering decision made by you about which you get to call the shots. Here are some important points to think about as you move into the decision-making season. The first…

Adding to the Armamentarium of Academic Freedom

Robert Kreiser, a former staffer of the American Association of University Professors Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure and Governance, spoke at an Illinois Conference annual meeting. I expressed an opinion that one of the AAUP’s most eloquent and powerful statements on academic freedom appeared in one of its lesser known Redbook documents: Academic Freedom in the Medical School. He…