BY JOHN K. WILSON T.J. Martinson, a widely acclaimed novelist and author of The Reign of the Kingfisher, was hired in April as an Assistant Professor of English at Olivet Nazarene University, a Christian college in Illinois. And on June 28, Vice President Carol Summers informed Martinson that he will not be allowed to teach.…
BY HENNING SCHROEDER Woody Allen got it right, years before leadership seminars became the latest craze in higher education. In the 1971 movie Bananas his character Fielding Mellish goes on a rant after he gets dumped by his girlfriend, “Can you believe that? She says I’m not leader enough for her—who is she looking for,…
BY MARIAH QUINN In the face of a devastating 41 percent reduction in state funding imposed by the governor, Alaska AAUP members are mobilizing to save their public university system. In an open letter to state legislators, AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum and Abel Bult-Ito, president of United Academics of the University of Alaska (AAUP/AFT), urged…
BY AARON BARLOW There’s another way: We don’t need to be conforming to artificial numerical scales (based on testing, grades or whatever) or to universal “outcomes” for teaching in order to improve or pedagogy and remain vigorous. All we teachers need to do is turn to each other. We were hired based on a demonstrated…
BY THE GLOBAL FORUM ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM, INSTITUTIONAL AUTONOMY, AND THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY June 21, 2019 DECLARATION The Global Forum on Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy, and the Future of Democracy was held at Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg on 20 – 21 June 2019 and co-organized by the Council of Europe; the International Consortium…
BY JANE S. GABIN College Counselors responsible for steering high school students towards college might not realize it, but they are crucial allies of instructors at those colleges and universities. Counselors connect admissions representatives with prospective students by scheduling college fairs with tables or booths and information sessions with individual college representatives. They are busy…
BY AARON BARLOW Never were online courses adequate substitutes for face-to-face teaching. Like correspondence courses before them, they do fill a need and they can provide motivated students with a viable alternative. But they should never have been preferred or seen as a blanket equivalent to direct interaction with a professor. That is more true…
BY AARON BARLOW What’s with our disdain for age? I felt it myself for a bit in the sixties, that “don’t trust anyone over thirty” nonsense. But I got over it—even before I got old myself. The people who were influencing me most back then, I realized, were even older than my ancient parents who,…
BY LINDA CARROLL For red state advocacy members, it is heartening that the national leadership and staff of the AAUP are planning a renewed emphasis on organizing in advocacy situations, as announced at this year’s June meeting. Advocacy organizing in red states has a number of distinctive features, as I learned from decades of work…
BY ROBERT CHERNY On June 25, 2019, the San Francisco school board voted unanimously to either paint out or cover with solid panels the thirteen separate murals that make up The Life of Washington, a WPA-funded art project by Victor Arnautoff. The board’s decision came after several years of advocacy led by the district’s American…