POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Over the past two years, my university, Wright State, has been producing negative news stories with remarkable regularity. Our enrollment, which had been gradually increasing has dipped somewhat, and because we are in the midst of a largely self-created budget mess, any decline in enrollment makes the budget issues worse…
BY HANK REICHMAN Already reeling from the lengthy and damaging, though ultimately successful, campaign to retain the community college’s accreditation, faculty, students, and community supporters at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) may now face a new challenge. Yesterday, the college’s trustees approved a $310,500 contract for new Chancellor Mark Rocha, despite objections from dozens…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following is the text of a letter sent today to Senator Kevin de León, President Pro-Tem of the California state Senate, by the Council of University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA), an AAUP partner organization: June 19, 2017 Senator Kevin de León State Capitol, Room 205 Sacramento, CA 95814 Fax: (916)…
BY AFSHAN JAFAR, SIMON FELDMAN, AND JOAN C. CHRISLER In the latest issue of Academe, we write about the importance of participating in academic governance, especially on small campuses. Our article, Hang Together or Hang Separately, lays out some of the obstacles to participation in governance and argues for the need to overcome them. Here,…
BY MICHAEL DECESARE Administrative encroachment. Governing board overreach. Political interference. In light of these and other ominous trends, the need has never been more urgent for faculty to reclaim a central role in the government of our colleges and universities. The May–June issue of Academe, now available on the AAUP website, is devoted to academic…
BY HANK REICHMAN A few weeks ago the California state auditor released damning reports on the management of both the California State University Chancellor’s Office and the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), with the latter stirring up a hornet’s nest of controversy in the legislature and the media. At a Board of…
BY LAURA MARKWARDT An investigative report released today by the AAUP concludes that the administration of Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky, fired Erlene Grise-Owens, a long-serving professor of social work, in blatant violation of academic freedom and due process. The report finds that Spalding’s administration abruptly terminated Professor Grise-Owens’s tenured appointment because she criticized the administration’s…
BY HANK REICHMAN AB 847, a bill currently under consideration in the California Assembly, would require the local academic senate of a campus of the California State University or of a campus of the California Community Colleges, and would request the local academic senate of a campus of the University of California, to post its…
BY BILL MULLEN Guest blogger Bill Mullen is a Professor of English and American Studies at Purdue. Last week, Purdue University purchased Kaplan University, a for-profit on-line entity owned by Graham Holdings Company, a corporate conglomerate and former owner of the Washington Post newspaper. Purdue says it plans to make Kaplan into a public University…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Higher education is misunderstood and struggling financially, but the majority of college and university presidents are increasingly confident that their institutions are financially stable. These seemingly contradictions were found in Inside Higher Education’s annual survey of 706 campus leaders. Let’s set aside the obvious political concerns among presidents about the Trump…