Big $$$ Foundations Are Driving the Policy Train

An “On the Issues” post from the Campaign for the future of Higher Education [http://futureofhighered.org] _________________________ We like to think experts who weigh in on the direction of American higher education are steeped in researchabout what works and have real-world experience with actual students. We like to assume that elected officials, who are accountable to…

Gauging the Probable Impact of President Obama’s New “Plan” for Higher Education

President Obama’s new “plan” for higher education is, of course, largely a sparely detailed sketch of a proposal, especially when one considers what any legislation that might actually result from it will end up looking like. In fact, many commentators on both the Left and the Right have expressed serious doubts about whether the “plan’…

CFHE Response to President Obama’s August 22, 2013 Plan for Higher Education

The Campaign for the Future of Higher Education [http://futureofhighered.org/ ] is a loose association of the major faculty unions and faculty associations in the United States. These groups have come together several times each year to share information on issues affecting high education and to shape responses to those issues that emphasize the paramount importance…

Statement on the President’s Proposal for Performance Based Funding, by Rudy Fichtenbaum, President of AAUP

In an attempt to rein in rising tuition and skyrocketing debt President Obama has announced a plan for performance based funding for higher education. Under his plan colleges would be rated on affordability, graduation rates and earnings of graduates. While we applaud the President for raising concerns over rising tuition and student debt, concerns that…

Far-Right Rhetorical Self-Contradictions, Item 1

On the heels of passing some of the most restrictive abortion legislation in the nation, the North Carolina legislature has just passed a revision of the state’s voting laws that, unarguably, makes it more difficult for many voters to exercise their right to vote. The new law requires photo-ID’s of all voters, regardless of whether…

How the Far Right Is Behaving like Communists

Certainly since Lyndon Johnson pushed through the social safety-net programs known collectively as the Great Society, but even since FDR began to create the first of those safety-net programs as part of his New Deal, the Far Right has been arguing vehemently that such programs are tantamount to communism, that they represent an unethical and…