In an article titled “Beware of the Professor” published in Times Higher Education [24 Sep. 2015], Matthew Reisz has detailed the “eccentric things” that academics “pin on their office doors.” I know that the topic of the article is fast becoming anachronistic because many institutions now strictly control what can be put on doors and…
The following statement was released today and posted on the AAUP website: Today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a case which threatens to reverse decades-old decisions allowing for the collection of fair share fees from public employees. The case has far-reaching consequences for American workers, students and the…
The following item was posted on the blog of the UCLA Faculty Association: A poll was released by the Bay Area Council showing strong support of Californians for funding higher ed and possibly a ballot initiative to do so. When you read the poll question, it is clearly a push-poll, i.e., designed to suggest both…
Last month I posted an item about two studies demonstrating that student evaluations may not be the best way to measure either student learning or instructor effectiveness. One of those studies was co-authored by Philip Stark, chair of the statistics department at the University of California, Berkeley. He has now co-authored with Anne Boring and…
The New York Times covered the Historians Against the War resolution to protect academic freedom in Gaza and the West Bank that have been under Israeli control since the 1967 war. It stated in part: More than a half-dozen American scholarly groups have passed resolutions condemning Israel, including the American Anthropological Association, which endorsed a boycott…
The following is a press release from the Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York: New York—Two days before the release of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Budget, prominent clergy and representatives of the city’s most active community groups, civil rights organizations, and unions urged Governor Andrew Cuomo to restore state funding for…
Higher education leaders have a major problem from which they cannot hide. The transfer pathway from community colleges to four-year colleges and universities is badly broken. And, it’s partly their fault. The facts are clear. Just 20 percent of first-time, full-time community college students seeking an associate degree earn one within three years. Only 35…
Yesterday I posted a piece on California Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed budget, with specific reference to higher education. Today UCLA History professor Michael Meranze posted his response to the Brown proposal on the Remaking the University blog that he runs with UC Santa Barbara English professor Christopher Newfield. Michael’s take is similar to mine, but…
Crumley, James. The Last Good Kiss. New York: Random House, 1978. Like the novelist Robert Stone, James Crumley has synthesized the conventions of the hardboiled tradition with elements of counterculture fiction. In his mystery-detective novels, he has alternated between two Montana detectives, C. W. Sughrue and Milo Milodragovitch, though the two detectives join forces…