Connecticut State Faculty Rally Against Contract Take-Backs
Today hundreds of faculty members from Connecticut State University (CSU) and their supporters rallied in Hartford outside a meeting of the Board of Regents of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities demanding that the regents abandon draconian contract proposals that would bring to Connecticut the kinds of anti-education and anti-union measures that failed Republican presidential…
A Personal Recollection Prompted by a Literary Anniversary
I have now reached an age at which the “cutting-edge” works of contemporary literature that I read as an undergraduate are starting to be regarded from a truly historical perspective. For instance, this year is the fiftieth anniversary of the original staging of Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming. To mark the anniversary, the play is being…
Oh, the Hypocrisy!
Yesterday Marty Kich posted a piece, When a University President Becomes a Scold, that focused on the hypocrisy of Oklahoma Wesleyan President Everett Piper’s much-publicized screed against PC students and his widely quoted claim that his institution is “not a ‘safe place,’ but rather, a place to learn,” and that “This is not a day…
The Higher Ed Wisdom of Donald Trump
From Donald Trump at a campaign rally in New Hampshire: “You look at the kind of salaries paid to the heads of the colleges — it’s like they’re running a business, a real business.” Maybe this suggests something about this bullying blowhard’s appeal. For in just one sentence he manages to summarize two important truths…
Wilson, Du Bois, and Who is Worth Honoring
Guest blogger Jonathan Marks teaches political philosophy at Ursinus College. Corey Robin, a professor of political science at Brooklyn College, concludes a recent piece in Salon by imagining how Princeton might distance itself from its former president, Woodrow Wilson. The Black Justice League there demands that the university “publicly acknowledge the racist legacy of Woodrow…
When a University President Becomes a Scold
Dr. Everett Piper, the President of Oklahoma Wesleyan, has brought a great deal of attention to himself and to his institution because of a blog post that he wrote to students. The most widely quoted portion of the post has been its closing: “At OKWU, we teach you to be selfless rather than self-centered. We…
On Not Liking Thomas Jefferson, But Refusing to Throw Him Away
Some Remarks on the UW-System Board of Regents Tenure Policy Task Force
By Elena Levy-Navarro The three chapters of the AAUP — UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, and UW-Whitewater — have sent to the Board of Regents Tenure Policy Task Force (TPTF) annotated copies of the two policy documents that were written by the chair’s staff. When I consider all of the actions of the Board’s TPTF, I remind myself…
In the Context of This Presidential Primary Cycle, Just How Weird Is This?
This item, written by Lucy Sweeney, is from ABC News in Australia (no connection to the ABC television network in the U.S.): “Vermin Supreme filed his paperwork for the New Hampshire presidential primary ballot on the last day before applications closed. . . . “The bearded eccentric, who regularly sports a boot on his head,…