The AAUP recently submitted comments to the Department of Health and Human Services in response to proposed new rule making on institutional review boards, the campus bodies that oversee research on human subjects. In accordance with the AAUP’s 2006 report on this subject, the comments emphasize that IRBs should evaluate risk based on empirical evidence,…
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”–Julius Caesar The star system is one of the worst afflictions to hit academia, and responsible for many of academia’s current problems. Frank Donogue wrote a recent blog on academic stars that got me thinking about the topic. Academia has…
Malcolm Kline, executive director of Accuracy in Academia, has responded to my critique yesterday of his essay listing the professors who provide “100 arguments against tenure.” Kline argues that abolishing tenure “is not tantamount to firing.” That’s absolutely true. But Kline is not making a broad argument against the existence of tenure (and there are…
Back in the 1980s, Reed Irvine’s right-wing group Accuracy in Academia (AIA) caused controversy by recruiting students to spy on left-wing professors. With the growth of the internet, AIA can do the spying online, but its attacks on academic freedom continue to this day. One of the most disturbing features on the AIA website is…
My essay on due process violations at Northwestern University in the cases of David Protess and Michael Bailey appears at InsideHigherEd today. You can read more about the Protess case at my blog College Freedom. Peter Kirstein wrote about academic freedom and the Bailey case at his blog. While the two cases are very different…
Laura Clawson at DailyKos writes about part-time student graduation rates and notes, “don’t try to pretend that economic factors aren’t affecting college completion rates.” Roger Shuler writes about being threatened with a libel suit by Ted Rollins, the CEO of a student-housing development company. Updates on the Cincinnati State strike: “‘We love our teachers,’ says…
In an essay in the current issue of Academe, Elizabeth Cramer and Charles Ford discuss how, despite improvements in the climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students, staff, and faculty on college campuses over the last generation, discrimination persists. They cite the harassment and suicide of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi last fall, harassment…
Some upcoming events (email us at academeblog@aaup.org if you have more events to recommend): In the Chicago area: On Mon Sept 26, at North Central College the newly constituted AAUP chapter is holding a fall kick-off event: North Central College will host a talk by Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors.…