BY HANK REICHMAN I’ve been posting pieces about California’s ill-conceived all-online community college, Calbright, and faculty resistance to it pretty much since its inception. You can find those posts here. Now that all the state’s community colleges, like pretty much all of higher education nationally, are now offering classes only remotely, using online methods, the…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH We emphasize to our students that critical thinking is not just an advantage but a necessity in our increasingly complex world. But these sorts of juxtapositions, which have become commonplace online each and every day, really require something much more basic than critical thinking. In fact, discussing them as…
BY AARON BARLOW Why are we professors so scared of having someone look over our shoulders? Do we really believe that having someone peek into our classrooms—or sitting in through a class—is a threat? Is our academic freedom going to disappear simply because someone is watching? When I was being interviewed by a dean for…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Last year, after DePaul philosophy professor Jason Hill published an anti-Palestinian article that drew protests, I wrote a post titled “In Defense of Jason Hill and His Critics” in which I noted that Hill should not be punished for his offensive right-wing views–but also pointing out that Hill, in fact, hadn’t…
POSTED BY JOAN W. SCOTT A group of academics is calling for a comprehensive policy for public higher education in response to the coronavirus pandemic. They are, rightly I think, suggesting that the various federal stimulus packages have not made higher education a central concern, nor have these packages addressed fundamental issues facing us. They…
BY CAPRICE LAWLESS Organizers do what they can, with what they have, where they are. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic our small community college chapters have been focusing on preserving the faculty majority of adjuncts who are nearly out of their minds with worry over income the next several months. While Colorado is essentially a right-to-work…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This holiday is not as well-known as May Day, Memorial Day, or Labor Day. But, especially during this pandemic, when many non-unionized, low-wage workers are in the “front lines” with insufficient personal protections and insufficient healthcare and paid sick leave, this day seems more “essential” than ever. The commemorative day was…
BY AARON BARLOW What does it mean to be a college in the contemporary milieu? Can we continue with expectations now decades out of date? Can we continue to carry the deadwood, both administrators who are mired in models of education only applicable to expanding economies and professors who have refused to update pedagogy to…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The Atlantic’s weekly collection of news photos included one of the cadets graduating from the Air Force Academy. It prompted me to look for a fuller selection of photos of the ceremony. I know that the anything military is going to be more regimented than a civilian equivalent, but this just…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH These statements on COVID-19’s impact on the publishing industry have been issued to mark the 26th annual World Book and Copyright Day on April 23. An Industry ‘Already Struggling for Oxygen’ We, the undersigned representatives of the global book industry urge governments all over the world to recognize, support and celebrate…