Justice Delayed, Justice Denied

BY HANK REICHMAN Over two years ago, on November 3, 2017, I posted an item to this blog about the ordeal of Georgette Fleischer, a Barnard College adjunct writing instructor who was summarily dismissed from her position after 17 years of successful teaching.  Here, from that post, is the background: For seventeen years Georgette Fleischer…

Diet and Expert Knowledge

BY HANK REICHMAN Earlier this month the AAUP released an important statement, In Defense of Knowledge and Higher Education, prepared by Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure.  The statement has now been endorsed by these organizations: American Federation of Teachers American Historical Association Association of American Colleges and Universities American Society of Journalists and…

More Turmoil at Calbright

BY HANK REICHMAN In a sudden and unexpected move, Heather Hiles, president and CEO of Calbright College, California’s new online community college, has resigned after less than a year on the job.  The college’s board voted unanimously yesterday to accept a separation agreement with Hiles, who will step down effective March 31 but be on…

Audrey Watters’ Ed-Tech Disasters of the Decade

BY HANK REICHMAN Over the past decade Audrey Watters has proven to be one of our most knowledgeable, insightful, critical, and, well, just plain entertaining commentators on educational technology.  Her Hack Education blog is a must-read for anyone who cares about teaching and learning at any level.  One terrific feature of that blog has been…

Abhi Sharma from India [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

The Humanities: At Dusk or Dawn?

BY AARON BARLOW Oh, the fear of losing relevance! Responding to a Chronicle Review collection of essays on the demise of traditional studies in English called Endgame, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, in “The Academic Apocalypse: The crisis of English departments is also a crisis of faith” (01/11/20), expresses the worries of some: [O]ur…

Violent Assault on Indian University: Eyewitness Report

BY JAYATI GHOSH Jayati Ghosh, one of the world’s leading development economists, is professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and executive secretary of International Development Economics Associates (Ideas). She is co-recipient of the International Labour Organisation’s 2010 Decent Work Research prize.  For some U.S. press coverage of these events go here, here…

The Right has Weaponized Free Speech

BY JOAN WALLACH SCOTT Joan Wallach Scott is Professor Emerita of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study and a member of AAUP Committee A.  These remarks were delivered at a panel on “Academic Freedom and the Historical Profession” at the annual conference of the American Historical Association in New York on January 6. …

Adjunct Fired for a Bad Joke

BY HANK REICHMAN In my October Davis, Markert, Nickerson Lecture at the University of Michigan I argued that “the gravest challenge to academic freedom, one that exacerbates all others, [is] the steady erosion of the tenure system and the concomitant and explosive expansion of contingent, frequently part-time faculty employment,” what some have labeled “adjunctification.”  Part-time…