BY LAURA MARKWARDT Yesterday, Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s education secretary nominee, submitted written answers to questions from the Senate Education Committee. As in her hearing, she avoided substantially answering questions. Senator Patty Murray says that DeVos’s answers are lacking and has called for a postponement of today’s scheduled committee vote. Senator Al Franken confirmed last week…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Last week, I posted an item on the proposals to eliminate tenure in Iowa and Missouri. Hank Reichman subsequently posted the AAUP’s statement on those proposals. Those proposals were made by Republican members of the state legislatures. In the intervening week, the Republican governors of both states have proposed substantial cuts…
BY HANK REICHMAN This month saw what the AAUP quickly labeled “A Concerted Attack on Academic Freedom” in Iowa and Missouri, as well as a boneheaded bill introduced in Arizona that would have banned discussions of “social justice” at the state’s public colleges and universities. But after faculty members and higher ed leaders pushed back,…
BY HARRY HELLENBRAND Harry Hellenbrand, who retired not long ago from his long-time position as provost at California State University (CSU), Northridge, remains one of the most respected and intelligent academic administrators in the CSU, who was revered — dare I say, even loved — by his faculty. Harry is also one of the most…
BY MARTIN KICH Andy Lee Roth, a sociology professor at Citrus College is associate director of Project Censored and co-editor of Censored 2017: The Top Censored Stories and Media Analysis of 2015-2016. In “Ralph Nader Calls for a New 1%,” an article written for Yes magazine, Roth highlights the call to action made by Ralph…
BY MARTIN KICH In “Threatening Tuition Hike, Oregon Universities Demand Funding Increase,” an article for Oregon Public Broadcasting, Rob Manning reports: The presidents of Oregon’s seven public universities are telling legislative leaders they need a big funding increase to keep tuition down. That’s the main message in a letter the university presidents intend to send to…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following statement was issued today by the AAUP: Legislators in Missouri and Iowa have introduced legislation that would eliminate tenure for faculty at public institutions in these states. In Missouri, the awarding of tenure would be outlawed for all faculty hired after 2017. In Iowa, tenure would be eliminated even…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In yesterday’s Wisconsin State Journal, there is an article by Nico Savidge titled “Complaining of Bias on Campus, Republicans Push for ‘Intellectual Diversity’ at UW Schools.” Here are the opening paragraphs: “Conservative critics of higher education in Wisconsin have opened a new chapter of their longrunning complaints about institutions such as…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Some 1,700 of the world’s leading scientists, including the majority of Nobel laureates in the sciences, issued this appeal in 1992. The World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity was written and spearheaded by the late Henry Kendall, former chair of Union of Concerned Scientists’ (UCS’s) board of directors. INTRODUCTION Human beings and…
