What follows is the text of a letter sent by Margaret Spellings, president of the University of North Carolina, to the Justice Department, making the case that the university–and, by extension all public colleges and universities in the state–have been placed in a very difficult situation by the Department of Justice’s suit on transgender rights and the…
BY HANK REICHMAN This is the fourth in a series of posts on issues in the University of California system, the nation’s premier public research institution. Previous posts in the series may be found here, here, and here. On Friday, the University of California at Berkeley announced that Provost Claude Steele is stepping down from…
Here is the opening section of a news report written by Craig Jarvis for the News and Observer in Raleigh: “The North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday ruled unconstitutional a state law that phased out job protections for teachers who had already earned them. “The court, in a unanimous decision, said the law, passed by…
The following resolution was approved by the Academic Senate at the University of Texas, Dallas. The AAUP this month published for comment an extensive draft report prepared by a joint subcommittee of Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure and the Committee on Women in the Profession on “The History, Uses, and Abuses of Title…
Today the Supreme Court announced the expected impasse on Friedrichs vs California Teachers Association: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it was unable to resolve a major challenge to organized labor, and the result was a defeat for a group of California teachers who claim their free speech rights are violated when they are forced…
BY RISA LIEBERWITZ Yesterday, AAUP posted for public comment a draft report, “The History, Uses, and Abuses of Title IX.” This extensive report, an evaluation of the history and current uses of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, is a joint effort authored by a subcommittee (which I chaired) comprised of members of…
Writing for the Pantagraph, Lenore Sobota reports: “Thirteen faculty and staff members at Illinois State University were the apparent victims of an information breach that allowed someone to divert their direct-deposit payroll payments to another account, according to university officials.” So, as if the furloughs caused by Illinois’ budget impasse and the further austerity that…
BY MARTIN KICH Myra Crownover, R-Denton, said during a House Committee on Higher Education discussion on college sexual assault: “I was listening for mention of drug or alcohol abuse and, you know, I think those two conversations are so intertwined. I would be curious to see how many times a pure, sober sexual assault happened.…
BY RISA LIEBERWITZ There’s been much speculation about the impact of the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on the cases currently before the Court, particularly those anticipated to be decided by a 5-4 vote with Scalia in the majority. One of these cases is Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, in which the plaintiffs…
DENVER – The ACLU of Colorado filed suit this morning on behalf of Danny Ledonne, a former professor who was banned by school officials from the Adams State University campus in Alamosa, CO after he created a website criticizing various university administration practices. From May 2011 to June 2015, Ledonne taught in the Mass Communications…