BY ROBERT A. SCOTT Every state requires hairstylists to receive certifications before they serve the public. There are certification programs for hospital trustees and education programs for corporate directors. Yet few states require training for college and university trustees, individuals who are fiduciaries for the more than $1.2 trillion in operating funds and endowments held…
BY HANK REICHMAN In 2017 California State University Chancellor Timothy White issued two controversial executive orders on general education and remediation that prompted a major backlash among faculty. Many opposed the substance of the orders, but most concerning was the Chancellor’s failure to engage faculty governance on either the system or campus levels. The CSU…
BY HANK REICHMAN This week the New York Times reported that the University Senate at American University in Cairo (AUC) had on February 5 “voted overwhelmingly” to declare no confidence in the university’s president, Francis Ricciardone, a former United States ambassador to Egypt, Turkey and the Philippines and Palau. In the resolution, the Times reported,…
BY MICHAEL C. BEHRENT The ongoing controversy surrounding the Confederate statue known as “Silent Sam” at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has raised many issues relating to inclusivity and free expression. But as administrators have sought over the past month to find ways to lay the issue to rest, the controversy has…
BY JEFFREY SOMMERS The following open letter to the chancellor, provost, and faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) is reposted by permission from the blog of the UWM AAUP chapter. Jeffrey Sommers is Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies and Global Studies at UWM. Dear Chancellor Mone, Provost Britz, and Colleagues, I could…
BY RICHARD GRUSIN The following is reposted with permission from the blog of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee AAUP chapter. Richard Grusin is Distinguished Professor of English at UWM. On Pearl Harbor Day, 2018, the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents dropped its own economic bomb on the people of Wisconsin, approving raises ranging from $14,421…
BY JULIE SCHMID As we approach the end of the semester, I wanted to share information about some significant wins for the profession and for higher education as a common good that the AAUP has celebrated in recent months. These successes emphasize the power that the national AAUP, the state conferences, and the chapters have…
BY KARL ULRICH AND SHANE BORROWMAN The faculty senate of the University of Montana Western (UMW) has regained its right to conduct its periodic review of academic administrators, with the major assistance from the AAUP. Previously, UMW faculty senate abruptly had this long-standing right and responsibility stripped from it, as had other campuses of the…
BY KAILEY ADKINS Students and faculty have been clear: George Mason University must begin reviewing all of their future donor agreements for conflicts of interest and make them more transparent to the public. The Provost at George Mason University will be presenting his recommendations to the university’s board to improve gift acceptance policies next Wednesday.…
BY MICHAEL C. BEHRENT On Monday, December 3, the Chancellor and Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill delivered their formal plan for what to do with “Silent Sam,” the controversial Confederate statue. They managed to formulate a decision that was almost perfect in its absurdity. To lay to rest…