BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL One of the central themes of the new book – How to Run a College: A Practical Guide for Trustees, Faculty, Administrators, and Policymakers — that my co-author, Dr. W. Joseph King, and I touch upon repeatedly is that American colleges and universities operate with an unsustainable financial model. Colleges’ Comprehensive…
POSTED BY KELLY HAND In a new op-ed* in the Wall Street Journal, Jay Smith, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, comments on reforms to college basketball recently proposed by Condoleeza Rice and her NCAA-appointed Commission on College Basketball. He is skeptical about the commission’s recommendations to address corruption because they…
BY HANS-JOERG TIEDE The AAUP today wrote to the governing board of the Maricopa Community College District in Arizona to convey our concern over apparent departures from generally accepted principles of academic governance. The matter stems from a February resolution of the governing board that terminated a “meet-and-confer” provision of the faculty policy manual and…
BY CHELSEA FOWLER As discussed in my Equal Pay Day blog post, the gender disparities that exist in faculty ranks are persistent and consistent. Without meaningful efforts by individuals and at the institutional level, female faculty members will likely continue to face challenges breaking through the proverbial glass ceiling to the highest faculty ranks. Below is…
POSTED BY THE AAUP Last week, the AAUP shared a new toolkit of resources about legislation on campus free speech. Media scrutiny has blown the issue of free speech on campus out of proportion relative to more widespread and urgent problems in higher education. Bills purporting to protect free speech on campus would have the…
BY MEMBERS OF YOUNG APPALACHIAN LEADERS AND LEARNERS The guest bloggers, the below-signed members of Y’ALL, are members of the Appalachian Studies Association. This statement was presented to the membership as a whole. Context On Thursday, April 12th, members of Y’ALL (Young Appalachian Leaders and Learners) met to discuss J.D. Vance’s invited participation in a…
BY HANK REICHMAN Fifty years ago today, on April 23, 1968, members of the Students Afro-American Society (SAS) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and their supporters at Columbia University occupied Hamilton Hall, the main undergraduate classroom and administration building, demanding an end to construction of a segregated university gymnasium on public park land…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The AAUP has joined with the American Council on Education and 32 other higher education groups in submitting an amicus brief on March 28, 2018, to the US Supreme Court opposing the Trump administration’s recent proclamation instituting a travel ban. The current iteration of the travel ban, introduced on September 24,…
BY HANK REICHMAN In February, George Mason University students filed a lawsuit against their school and its fundraising arm, the George Mason University Foundation, in hopes of obtaining grant and gift agreements between private donors and the Foundation. Transparent GMU, the student organization that filed the suit, is worried about the potential for private donors…
BY AARON BARLOW The 1940 AAUP Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure argues that: Tenure is a means to certain ends; specifically: (1) freedom of teaching and research and of extramural activities, and (2) a sufficient degree of economic security to make the profession attractive to men and women of ability. Freedom and…