Online Education in California Public Higher Education

The Intersegmental Committee of the Academic Senates (ICAS) was established by faculty in 1980 as a voluntary organization consisting of representatives of the Academic Senates of the three segments of public higher education in California. For more information, see: http://icas-ca.org/ _________________________ Executive Summary The Academic Senates of California’s three segments of public higher education support…

Wright State’s New NTE Bargaining Unit Approves Its Initial Contract

The president of AAUP is also a very fine contract negotiator. This is the article on the new contract written by Meagan Pant that appeared in the Dayton Daily News: Nearly a year after voting to join a union, Wright State University full-time faculty not eligible for tenure have their first contract, which offers them raises, creates…

Now Online: Journal of Academic Freedom Volume 4

In 2010, the AAUP began publication of the Journal of Academic Freedom, an annual, online-only publication. Each year, we’ve published articles on current issues in academic freedom, and this year we are proud to announce that the fourth volume is now available on our website. Volume 4 of JAF focuses on issues of academic freedom in a global…

Colleges and the Hotel Business

Great colleges are an almost perfect and imperceptible mix of people, programs and facilities.  Among them, this mix works best when founded on a culture based upon a strong sense of self.  This also differentiates further the subtleties that exist among them.   It’s why in the end prospective applicants choose one institution over another. Students…

When Philosophical Debates Degenerate into Gunplay

Consider the following item from the El Paso Times: “An argument in southern Russia over philosopher Immanuel Kant, the author of ‘Critique of Pure Reason,’ devolved into pure mayhem when one debater shot the other. “A police spokeswoman in Rostov-on Don, Viktoria Safarova, said two men in their 20s were discussing Kant as they stood…

Toothless Petitions or a Genuine Fight-Back?

Or, Eight Reasons Why the Education Petition is Inadequate, Misguided, and Generally Useless  The August 24 statement by AAUP President Rudy Fichtenbaum was compelling enough to generate some actual responses on the Academe Blog.  The post was a response to Barak Obama’s dreadful education proposals, and it’s a pretty good statement.  You can read it…

“Open Textbook Publishing”

When Joe Moxley first published Writing Commons, an online textbook, the copyright (as is common) was held by his publisher, Pearson. After five years, their ownership of the work ended and the copyright belonged to Moxley again. He realized that he now had a number of interesting options for the future of his work. After…