BY MICHAEL BÉRUBÉ AND MICHAEL DECESARE In September, the AAUP announced an investigation of the crisis in academic governance that has occurred in the wake of the pandemic. The investigation’s initial focus was on seven institutions; the following month, an eighth was added to the list. Never before in the Association’s 106-year history has a governance…
BY AAUP-Penn The following column by the new University of Pennsylvania chapter of the AAUP, appeared in the Daily Pennsylvanian last week. We are proud to announce the formation of the University of Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP–Penn). As scholars and teachers of all ranks, we have come together because…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following is the text of a letter sent by the executive board of the Council of University of California Faculty Associations to UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia K. Larive on December 6. Dear Chancellor Larive, The Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA) rarely intervenes in matters that are not germane…
POSTED BY JOHN K. WILSON Here is an event being held this afternoon by the AAUP’s University of Virginia chapter. In 2013, the AAUP issued a report on shared governance issues at the University of Virginia. The UVA Chapter of the American Association of University Professors presents: “When Did Tenured Faculty Give Up on Governance?…
BY JAY M. SMITH Last summer UNC–Chapel Hill became ground zero for COVID-19, setting off a prolonged exercise in blame-shifting. The dean of the College of Arts and Sciences recently convened an emergency meeting of department chairs at which she announced the provost’s “disappointment” in the faculty. Specifically, university administrators are disappointed that so many…
BY A SAINT LEO UNIVERSITY FACULTY MEMBER In the face of challenging and even perilous working conditions, teachers at all levels need unions to help protect them during the pandemic. However, one university in Florida used the pandemic as an opportunity for union busting. The story of the unilateral disenfranchisement of faculty members at Saint…
BY HANK REICHMAN On Monday, Stanford University issued the following statement concerning Trump adviser, “herd immunity” advocate, and Hoover Institution fellow Scott Atlas: The university has been asked to comment on recent statements made by Dr. Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution who is on leave of absence from that position. Stanford’s…
BY JEFFREY SOMMERS A half century back, as noted in the fall 2020 Academe article I coauthored, “A Marshall Plan for Rebuilding Higher Education,” the United States began its retreat from public investments that had originally made it the world’s premier power. No longer wishing, or even thinking it possible, to retain its position of…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following statement by the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) was published on September 27. We all recognize that this is an extraordinarily difficult time for everyone in higher education. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased costs, yet state support is being cut back and enrollments…