BY HANK REICHMAN Non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements are much in the news these days. Most notably, the “aggressive and unconventional” use of such agreements by the Trump White House has attracted attention because, as the Washington Post pointed out, “most legal experts believe such agreements are not legally enforceable for public employees.” In this context…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Many college leaders readily agree that the liberal arts have been under attack politically, socially, and culturally for well over a generation. They earnestly argue that a liberal arts education creates productive citizens to ensure a robust democracy. These officials point to the heightened polarization within American society and a growing…
BY ROBERT A. SCOTT According to Moody’s Investors Service, about 25% of private colleges are experiencing budget deficits. It also is estimated that traditional high school graduates will decline by 9% between 2026 and 2031, reducing by almost 300,000 the number of four-year college students. Moody’s also predicts more campus mergers and closings. Finally, it…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN Earlier this week I posted an item about how contract negotiators for the University of California have refused to acknowledge the faculty status and academic freedom of the system’s librarians. Yesterday, the Council of University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA) and the California Conference of the AAUP (CA-AAUP) issued the following…
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…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This is a follow-up to Hank Reichman’s post on the news coverage of the most recent debacle at the University of Akron. John McNay, the President of the Ohio Conference, wrote a letter to the Akron administration that found its way into an article by Amanda Garrett published in the Beacon-Journal.…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The announcement this week that the University of Akron will eliminate 19 percent of its degree programs, has received considerable national publicity (see here and here). The following is the text of a statement responding to the cuts issued jointly by the Akron AAUP and the executive committee of the university’s…
This past weekend, I was invited by the National Association of Scholars to speak on a panel at their conference at Grove City College, “Capitol Ideas: Government Overreach and Higher Education.” As a progressive, I probably agreed with the title about fearing government overreach in higher education more than almost anyone there, and I spoke…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN Like many academics, I am a devotee of crime fiction, especially of the noirish and hard-boiled varieties. On a plane trip earlier this summer I was enjoying a collection of stories, Jewish Noir, edited by Kenneth Wishnia (Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2015), when one tale leaped out as unique. “Living Underwater,”…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL One of the most interesting responsibilities as a college president is to serve as a member of the president-led athletic conferences. With experience as a chair of conferences at the Division I and Division III levels, I can report that there are some striking differences between the divisions. But what stands…