When state revenues dip, those groups funded in areas where state officials have the most discretion often suffer more than other state-funded groups. It’s expected. At the top of the list for many state officials is public higher education. Governors and their education staffs often use the occasion to demand efficiencies, warn against corresponding tuition…
We are entering another season of commencement addresses. Given the unrest in many African-American communities over this past year, as well as the financial challenges being face by many HBCUs, Michelle Obama’s 2014 commencement address at Dillard University seems as timely now as it did then—perhaps all the more so. _________________________ UNO Lakefront Arena New…
This is an excerpt from an article distributed by the Far-Right news service Newsmax: “Wages for the overwhelming majority of Americans have fallen below 1970s levels as the percentage of the population that is foreign-born has surged. “A memo from the Congressional Research Service (CRS), released in response to a request for data from the…
Aaron Barlow’s post highlights a major difference between how Progressives and those on the Far Right have sought to address endemic poverty. Progressives have been accused, sometimes with much justification, of being willing to waste millions on wrong-headed “solutions” to poverty. On the other hand, the Far Right has essentially ignored solutions and has turned…
“Rich families are all alike; every poor family is poor in its own way.” Writers on poverty in America might want to inscribe this over their computers. Even those should who, like David Brooks, are anxiously awaiting “a thinker who can describe poverty through the lens of social psychology.” For that’s not going to help.…
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of joining the leadership and some members of the Illinois Conference at their annual meeting in Chicago. I had previously met several of those in attendance, and I had the opportunity to meet in person several others with whom I have corresponded about posts to this blog and…
Writing for the Indianapolis Business Journal, J. K. Wall has reported: “Indiana’s public colleges and universities, spurred by pressure from state lawmakers, are pumping out more graduates than ever. “But in spite of a 20-percent increase in degrees granted since 2010, the education level of Indiana’s younger adults has barely budged, for reasons that aren’t…
The most recent issue of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy is available at http://thekeep.eiu.edu/jc. The issue includes two op-eds and four articles. Here are excerpts from each of the op-eds and the first of the articles: Boris, Richard (2014) “From Ivory to Babel to A New Foundation,” Journal of Collective Bargaining in…