An Even Better Table for Ben Carson’s Office

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH What follows is a brief descriptive item from the daily newsletter Curbed, taken largely from the announcement from Wright Auctions: A rare work by midcentury designer Isamu Noguchi, a 1948 marble table, is expected to fetch between $1 million and $1.5 million when it heads to the auction block later this year. A…

For Zuckerberg, Big Issues Looming through 2020

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH What follows is the lead item in last night’s Overnight Technology newsletter from The Hill: Highlights from Zuckerberg’s Interviews: CNN: Zuckerberg said the company was open to some regulation. “Actually, I’m not sure we shouldn’t be regulated.” “I actually think the question is more ‘What is the right regulation?’ rather than ‘Yes…

Take it from Trump: Political Correctness is “Highly Overblown”

BY HANK REICHMAN Listening to right-wing Republican whiners, you’d think that America’s college and university campuses have been overrun by thuggish “snowflake” leftists busily drowning out conservative voices in the name of some sort of ideologically purist “political correctness” dismissive of free speech.   After U.C. Berkeley failed to find a safe venue for her…

Headline of the Day

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Our relationship with technology—and, in particular, technological advancements that are on the horizon and that promise major and not entirely predictable changes in how we conduct our daily lives—has always been ambivalent at best. But the newsletter teaser for an article in the Los Angeles Times on the inevitability of human…

“Wright in Your Neighborhood” Forums

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The Wright State Chapter of AAUP will be holding three community forums this semester on the value of a public university to the Miami Valley region around Dayton. We have decided that since the university seems to de-emphasize faculty in its advertising and public messaging, we will attempt to redress that…

Right-Wing Snowflake Congressman Assaults Free Speech

POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following is from the Washington Post: A high school student was suspended for “disrespect” after he called his congressman’s office and told lawmakers — as he recalls it — to “get off their f‑‑‑— asses” and pass gun-control laws. Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) has defended his staff member for reporting 17-year-old Noah…

Higher Education Under Fire at Tennessee Tech

GUEST POST BY JULIA K. GRUBER I am a professor and AAUP chapter president at Tennessee Technological University, the institution that has recently been in the news for its collaboration with the glider kit “Zombie truck” producing company Fitzgerald. The situation escalated last week, when four professors (myself included) received a rather threatening letter from…