BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL When its trustees shut down Mount Ida College, they unleashed a debacle that resulted in a torrent of criticism and considerable finger pointing. Rejecting a merger or acquisition (depending on the characterization) with Lasell College, the trustees opted to sell the campus to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, whose leadership…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In Ohio, the AAUP was historically apolitical. Then, in 2011, Senate Bill 5 was passed, completely eliminating our collective-bargaining rights in the space of just a few weeks at the beginning of John Kasich’s first term as governor. At the state and chapter levels, we mobilized to support the referendum that…
POSTED BY THE AAUP Last week, the AAUP shared a new toolkit of resources about legislation on campus free speech. Media scrutiny has blown the issue of free speech on campus out of proportion relative to more widespread and urgent problems in higher education. Bills purporting to protect free speech on campus would have the…
BY JOHN K. WILSON This afternoon (Thurs. April 19 at 1:30pm ET), AAUP political organizer Monica Owens will be holding a Facebook Live event about the threat from legislating free speech. It’s an important time to address these issues, especially since South Carolina has become the first state to pass the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Several days ago, Sasha Ingber contributed an article to the Washington Post on how “Trump’s Presidency Has Prompted a New, Nationwide College Course on Why Democracies Collapse.” The course has been developed by Robert Balir, an assistant professor of political science at Brown University. A specialist in post-conflict security in Africa,…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The following is from a news story in the Arizona Republic: A bill to fundamentally restructure how Arizona’s three state universities are managed passed an Arizona Senate committee Monday as a fast-tracked proposal that won’t receive much public input. Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, wants to effectively dismantle the Arizona Board…
BY HANK REICHMAN Faculty members in other states may be excused for expressing some jealousy of California’s economic and political success since Jerry Brown was elected governor nearly eight years ago. While Republican-led states like Kansas, Iowa, or Wisconsin continue to suffer slow growth and calamitous budget shortfalls and cuts, under Brown and a Democratic…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Two Items from Ohio This is a summary of the findings in a report by Policy Matters Ohio on student debt in in the state: –Ohioans have higher rates of indebtedness and default than residents of other states. –People of color, women, low-income people and seniors struggle most with debt. Loan…
BY HANK REICHMAN Leaders of the City University of New York Professional Staff Congress, a joint affiliate of the AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers, and the Rutgers University AAUP-AFT were among fifteen people arrested yesterday at a demonstration in New York protesting the Wall Street funders of the Republican Tax Bill, approved later…