Sweet Briar Faculty Speak Out
On March 3, President James Jones of Sweet Briar College shocked the small women’s college’s faculty and students by announcing that the school would close its doors on June 30. Seniors would be allowed to graduate, but all other students would be compelled to transfer elsewhere. Faculty members were provided vague promises of assistance, but…
U. of Illinois President on Censure: “No need to get out of jail.”
President Timothy Killeen is completing his first month as leader of the University of Illinois system. In remarks before the Urbana-Champaign faculty Senate Executive Committee, he was rather cavalier about the AAUP censure vote last Saturday. Unlike Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise, who stated in a conciliatory tone that removal of censure was important, President Killeen, according to…
Administrative Staffing 1987-2011, A Statistical Profile by Institution, Part 8: California (Part 4)
The federal data that will be presented in this series of posts was analyzed by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting (NCIR) in collaboration with the American Institutes for Research. The NECIR story on the data and its implications, written by Jon Marcus, who is currently an editor at the Hechinger Report, is available…
Sen. Sherrod Brown: How Trade is Like a Baseball Game
For those of you who are not residents of Ohio and may be unfamiliar with Sherrod Brown’s record, he has been a staunch defender of the continuing value of collective bargaining rights and of public education. He was one of the few figures at the federal level who immediately denounced Senate Bill 5 for what…
My Congressional Comment
On June 2, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, held a hearing on “First Amendment Protections on Public College and University Campuses.” The subcommittee received testimony from four witnesses: Greg Lukianoff, President and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE); Kim Colby,…
Scholarly Associations Defend Tenure and Academic Freedom in Wisconsin
The following statement signed by 22 scholarly associations was released on June 11. It is consistent with the position of a resolution passed unanimously by the AAUP’s annual membership meeting on June 13. The American system of higher education is the envy of the world. It’s not perfect; few things are. But at a time…
Committee A Report to the 2015 AAUP Annual Meeting
Higher Education: The Right Kind of Philanthropy
Earlier this month Harvard University announced a $400 million donation to its engineering college, as part of a $6.5 billion fundraising goal for its comprehensive campaign. Harvard’s endowment stands at $36 billion, with its total wealth estimated at $43 billion. Its endowment earned a 15 percent return on investment last year. Taken together with…
Salaita Attorneys Respond to AAUP Censure of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dr Steven Salaita, denied academic freedom for his tweets on the Israeli operation in Gaza last year, has been the subject of a national conversation on free speech, academic freedom and academic due process. I was present during the vote and spoke on behalf of Illinois Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure that responded…