“Change in any industry is difficult, but it is particularly problematic in higher education with its unique culture and history of shared governance.” So begins the description of the first “module” offered by the new Academy for Innovative Higher Education Leadership. The Academy, which launches in November, bills itself as “the premier training ground for those…
As editors used to say, here is an item that I received “over the transom.” Paraprosdokians are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected, and are frequently humorous. 1. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research. 2. Where there’s…
On his show tonight, Chris Hayes asked Al Franken if Donald Trump’s campaign made him wish that he were still writing comic sketches and doing stand-up comedy. Franken, of course, said that he was very absorbed in doing his work as a U.S. Senator and that there are countless comedians taking full advantage of Trump’s…
In March, New York University professor Andrew Ross was stopped from boarding a flight to Abu Dhabi, where NYU has a campus and where Ross had intended to conduct research. The NYU administration has maintained that its Abu Dhabi campus will observe the AAUP’s principles on academic freedom and that all faculty and students will…
“Quitpieces?” That’s what Ian Bogost calls them in The Atlantic, writing “No One Cares That You Quit Your Job.” He’s right, but I’m more interested in what they say about our profession and what we can learn from them than in anything about any individuals. Two such quitpieces were posted two days ago, one by…
The most recent issue of the New York Times Magazine includes a very thought-provoking article by Frederick deBoer, a recent graduate of the doctoral program in English at Purdue University. In “Why We Should Fear University, Inc.,” deBoer considers the whole gamut of ramifications of the increasing corporatization of our universities. After very succinctly but…
This buzzword has actually been around for a while: Higher Education Is a Government-Created Cartel By Conn Carroll August 6 2013 Washington Examiner The government-created accreditation cartel is one of the biggest reasons why college costs continue to rise and there is very little innovation in the higher education industry. It is no…
We often talk about teaching our students critical-thinking skills, but the fear of provoking controversy causes many of us to steer away from many, if not most, of the controversial issues of the day. So our students are left to absorb the almost always very selective and superficial talking points disseminated by public figures and…
