On Race and Racism Data Matter
BY HANK REICHMAN In the aftermath of the election there has been plenty of discussion, both among academics and in the media, of the role played by “identity” and especially race in the outcome. Mark Lilla’s much and deservedly criticized New York Times op-ed, “The End of Identity Politics,” got things going. Among the more…
Science Is a Kind of Poetry
BY MARTIN KICH If poetry is at its core the effort to give expression to the inexpressible aspects of our experience, then science is often a kind of poetry, or at least provides a complement to the poetic impulse. For science provides both a fundamental challenge to all simplistic notions about our existence and a…
Academics Earn $1,000/Hour Promoting Mega-Mergers
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH These are the opening paragraphs of a new report by Jesse Eisinger and Justin Elliott for ProPublica: “A serial acquirer, AT&T must persuade the government to allow every major deal. Again and again, the company has relied on economists from America’s top universities to make its case before the Justice Department…
Science in the Crosshairs
BY HANK REICHMAN Readers of this blog may be familiar with the regular National Public Radio (NPR) feature “Science Friday.” Last week one 35-minute segment, “Science in the Crosshairs,” focused on governmental and other threats to the academic freedom of scientists. It began with fetal tissue research: After furor erupted over a video seeming to…
‘I Sing the Body Electric’: Bob Dylan, the Nobel Prize and Academic Silos
BY AARON BARLOW What is a writer? What is a Digital Humanist? These sound like disparate questions, but they both are based on the academy of division that has grown up over the past century and more, particularly in American universities. Specializations are created and claims are staked. You’re either on the bus, as Ken…
Climate Scientist Awarded Damages
BY HANK REICHMAN [CORRECTION: Professor Mann has pointed out to me that the damage award was made two years ago. Someone tweeted a link to a story on it this week and I mistakenly thought it was current. Nevertheless, the issue certainly is still alive] The Virginia Supreme Court has [in July 2014] ordered the…
Faculty at Western Carolina U Exert Singular Oversight on Koch Center
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Here are excerpts from two articles written by Becky Johnson for the Smoky Mountain News [http://www.smokymountainnews.com/], passed on to me by Connor Gibson of UnKoch My Campus: WCU Faculty Closely Monitoring $2 Million Koch Gift Faculty members have lauded administration for giving them a seat at the table. That wouldn’t happen…
The University as a Community of Scholars
BY ALVIN BURSTEIN Guest blogger Alvin Burstein is professor emeritus at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and past president of the Louisiana AAUP conference. For many academics, members or not of the AAUP, the need to protect academic freedom and tenure is a rallying cry, and the organization has been stalwart in defending both. However, the…
Pursuing Virtue in State-University Relations
BY DAVID J. WEERTS Guest blogger David J. Weerts is associate professor and faculty director of the jCENTER for Innovative Higher Education at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. His research focuses on state-university relations, community-university engagement, and alumni giving, volunteerism, and advocacy. For those interested in the politics of higher education, the ongoing sparring in…