Kavanaugh v. Academic Knowledge
BY CHRISTOPHER NEWFIELD Christopher Newfield is Professor of English at the University of California at Santa Barbara. This piece is reposted with permission from the Remaking the University blog. Many people are worried about the damage the Kavanaugh appointment will do to the Supreme Court and to American politics. I’m worried about the new damage…
Targeted Harassment and the Kavanaugh Nomination
BY HANK REICHMAN Recently the AAUP and others have been calling attention to the growing phenomenon of targeted online (and direct) harassment of faculty members, which has become a major threat to the academic freedom of everyone in higher education. In January 2017, the AAUP issued a statement noting how individual faculty members “have been…
Have Moderating Voices Gone the Way of Moderate Voices?
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH That our politics have become polarized is a self-evident truism, and the FOX News claim of “fair and balanced coverage” has become as much a catchphrase as an empty boast. As I looked at RealClearPolitics’ Top Stories daily newsletter for yesterday, Labor Day, I saw both of these truisms being illustrated,…
The Pursuit of the Phantom Menace Becomes the Pursuit of Phantom Jobs
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Yesterday, on Labor Day, this was the lead item in the Today’s Headlines newsletter from the Los Angeles Times: Will ‘Space Force’ Mean ‘Jobs, Jobs, Jobs’? President Trump’s plan to create a “space force” is still a long ways from launch, but already some experts and former military officials think it could benefit…
Trump Attacks Trumka on Labor Day
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Because the Guy Who Has Lived Most of His Adult Life in a Gilded Penthouse Knows More and Cares More about Workers This is from the Far-Right news outlet Newsmax: President Donald Trump slammed AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka early Labor Day morning, accusing him of speaking against working people and the…
Labor Day Message from Randi Weingarten, AFT President
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Randi Weingarten’s message reinforces many of the points that Rudy Fichtenbaum made in his president’s address at the AAUP’s annual meeting in mid-June: A growing and enduring middle class, great public schools, a living wage, affordable healthcare and college, a decent retirement, a voice at work and in our democracy, communities…
Some Labor Day Reading
BY HANK REICHMAN Lacking any special insights or ideas that I wish to share in recognition of this first Labor Day since the infamous Janus decision, I thought I would instead call attention to some useful analyses of labor’s state published elsewhere today. So what follows are excerpts from a number of different pieces from…
Michigan College Students File Suit against Voter Suppression Measures
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This is from the Daily Kos’s Elections Update daily newsletter: Democratic students at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University have filed a federal lawsuit against Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson over a state election law that requires voters to register at the address on their driver’s license, even if that…
U of North Florida Latest to Cut Ties with Confucius Institute
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Reuters reports that the University of North Florida in Jacksonville has announced that “it had determined after ‘careful consideration’ that the Confucius Institute, which opened a branch there in 2014 to promote language and culture, did not meet the university’s mission”: “‘After reviewing the classes, activities and events sponsored over the…