The 2011 volume of the AAUP Journal of Academic Freedom contained two articles—by John Champagne and John Powell—critical of “the relentlessly expanding assessment movement.” In response, Berea College professor Dave Porter describes his own extensive experience with assessment, arguing that assessment is about creating a culture of evidence that is much more than merely collecting…
Ramola Ramtohul is a professor of Social Studies at the University of Mauritius. In addition to surveying Mauritian university and higher ed landscape, Professor Ramtohul describes the precarious state of academic freedom in the country. Academic freedom is stronger than in most other African nations, but government authorities monitor academics closely, leading to a “chilling…
The United States Air Force Academy is in many ways like any other elite university. Students pick a major, attend class, join clubs, and play sports. Faculty generally teach three or four courses per semester, and do research and service work. But as Jeff Dyche, a former teacher at the AFA, explains in the new…
New in the AAUP Journal of Academic Freedom: “Academic Freedom in Principle and Practice: The Case of Algeria.” Malika Rebai Maamri describes a great effort by Algeria’s president to improve the quality and availability of higher education. But despite many new institutions, articulation of democratic ideals, and resources to support higher education, things have gone awry.…
More than half of all Americans have experienced some form of chronic illness. In a new article for Academe, Stephanie A. Goodwin and Susanne Morgan look at how chronic illnesses affect faculty members. Because such illnesses can have no symptoms visible to others, many faculty members can be unaware that some of their colleagues have…
North Carolina multimillionaire Arthur Pope has been using his wealth to influence the state’s politics and policy for years. In the May-June issue of Academe, Hassan Melehy, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, explains how Pope uses his wealth to fund foundations which push for more and more conservative influence over education. On the one hand,…
As we all know, universities around the country are in financial trouble. Many states have been cutting funding to their public universities, forcing the schools to do more with less. So it’s understandable that administrators would be on the lookout for new sources of funding—including wealthy donors. In “Fine Print, Restrictive Grants, and Academic Freedom,”…
When does philanthropy cross the line? That’s the question we are looking at in the newest issue of Academe, now posted online. Over the next few days, I’ll be highlighting a few of the feature articles, but before I do, I wanted to talk about the issue as a whole, because I think it’s a particularly good…
The following is a guest post by Michael DeCesare, an associate professor and chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Merrimack College. “Tenured Professor Is Placed on Leave After Showing a Film About Pornography” was one of the headlines screeching across the April 20 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. The case…
Before departing for their two week break, Michigan’s House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education issued a group of policy recommendations tied to new funding. One recommendation in particular, tries to force public universities to sell their academic freedom or risk losing new state money. Section 273a threatens the state appropriations of any Michigan public university…