I present the article that follows this introduction, which is taken from the newsletter of the AAUP chapter at the University of Akron, because what is occurring there now is certainly occurring elsewhere and would seem to be of considerable broader interest. The political endorsements of increasing enrollments in STEM programs and the resulting allocation…
This past year, the Oregon state legislature passed into law the “Pay It Forward, Pay It Back” plan intended to lessen the burden of student debt. The plan calls for the tuition of college students who would otherwise have had to take out student loans to be covered out of a designated state fund. The…
When I was entering graduate school in 1978, there were 29 new Ph.D.’s for every tenure-track job opening in English. It was the period in which anecdotes about Ph.D.’s driving taxi cabs became commonplace. I didn’t know that information at the time, but it became very apparent as I made my way through the Masters…
I’ve enjoyed this video in support of legislation for equal compensation for all faculty in Colorado’s community colleges and asked colleague Don Eron to write about it. Don is a faculty member at UC Boulder, a member of the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, and a leader in the Colorado AAUP conference.…
In a recent op-ed piece on the Chronicle of Higher Ed’s Worldwide blog, Dzulkifli Abdul Razak responded to an article written by Nigel Thrift, vice chancellor of the University of Warwick. Thrift had argued for the creation of an international association of colleges and universities, suggesting that it would not only facilitate efforts to meet…
For the past five to six months, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been confronting a seemingly ever-increasing number of legislative and legal investigations into misconduct by his immediate subordinates, starting with the politically motivated decision to close lanes leading onto the George Washington Bridge but expanding into seeming improprieties in how federal funds allocated…
Over the past six months, I have posted two other speeches by Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez: his comments in commemoration of Labor Day and his very well-received speech to the national convention of the AFL-CIO. He has already established himself nationally as a very strong and impassioned voice in support of workers and…
Whatever you might think of the American Studies Association’s stance on boycotting Israel, the attempted legal “remedies” have to be seen as worse. Pro-Palestinian, pro-Israel, or a pox on both houses… it shouldn’t matter. The implications for academic freedom carried in the various bills should bother anyone who cares about this great tradition of our…
Testimony of Rudy Fichtenbaum, Ph.D. President of the American Association of University Professors Before the House State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee Representative Su Ryden, Chair February 3, 2014 Good morning Chair Ryden, Vice Chair Salazar, Minority Caucus Chair Conti and distinguished Committee members. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify before your…
I have looked carefully at the backgrounds of the President’s two most recent nominees for upper-level positions related to higher education within the Department of Education. I have absolutely no personal animus against either of these nominees. In fact, they seem like well-intentioned individuals with a strong commitment to public service. But their backgrounds are…