Chicago Tribune sportswriter Shannon Ryan has an important column today attacking the efforts of Missouri legislators to punish activist student athletes who boycott games (and fine coaches who support them): “This is another attempt to control athletes, silence them and pigeonhole them as solely money-makers for the university.” Even if I don’t think football players should…
On December 10, the Academic Senate at California State University, Chico adopted a Resolution of No Confidence in university President Paul Zingg, Interim Provost Susan Elrod, and Vice President for Business and Finance Lorraine (Lori) Hoffman. After nearly three and a half hours of statements, comments from faculty, staff, and students, and discourse among the…
The open access movement in scholarly publishing has been widely and rightly praised, but its potentially negative implications for academic freedom are too often ignored. Today an opinion piece on Inside Higher Ed by Rick Anderson, associate dean for collections and scholarly communication at the University of Utah’s J. Willard Marriott Library, makes an important…
Last week the AAUP issued a blistering report criticizing the Iowa Board of Regents for its conduct of a presidential search that led to the hiring of businessman J. Bruce Harreld as President of the University of Iowa. The report acknowledged, however, that Harreld had pledged to respect shared governance and faculty rights and had…
The following is a press release from the Professional Staff Congress representing faculty at the City University of New York: New York—Senator Bernie Sanders, presidential candidate and Brooklyn native, is calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to invest in the City University of New York and fund a fair union contract for CUNY faculty and staff.…
The following statement was released today by the AAUP: On Friday, 22 part-time faculty at the Los Angeles campus of Emerson College overwhelmingly won a National Labor Relations Board-supervised election for union representation, choosing to be represented by the American Association of University Professors. The vote was 16-0. “We decided to form a union because…
The following is a press release from the Professional Staff Congress representing faculty at the City University of New York (CUNY): New York—Governor Cuomo’s veto of legislation to protect educational quality for a half-million mostly low-income CUNY students undermines CUNY’s ability to offer an excellent education and betrays the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers…
As we move into the holiday season and the end of 2015, it seems especially appropriate to reflect on the positive role of higher education in American society. Next year will present any number of challenges, particularly as the political rhetoric heats up. Some will see bully pulpit opportunities driven by the growing anxiety and…
The College of Saint Rose (NY) faces a $9.3 million deficit and declining enrollment. “It’s a challenging time in higher education and it’s not for the faint of heart,” President Carolyn Stefanco recently remarked. “Change is really hard for people, and higher education is changing in pretty dramatic ways.” As reported by the Chronicle, the…