BY BOB NOWLAN One of the most egregious dimensions of outgoing University of Wisconsin system president Ray Cross’s May 7 “Blueprint for the University of Wisconsin System Beyond COVID-19”—which calls for a radical restructuring and effective elimination of the comprehensive dimension of the system’s eleven regional comprehensive universities, as well as an effective jettisoning of…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH AAUP-AFT Rutgers has posted this statement on its website: The Rutgers University administration has notified nearly all of its unions that it is taking the first steps toward implementing a fiscal emergency, thereby jeopardizing the futures of our 20,000-plus union members, their families, and communities throughout New Jersey. By declaring a…
BY JOHN MCNAY One of the truly frustrating things about working for reforms in higher education is to get our college and university administrators to put education first and not allow the resources of the institutions to get hijacked for other purposes. The inability to focus on the real problems is widespread and yet the…
BY HANK REICHMAN Calbright College, California’s totally online community college, a target of withering faculty criticism from its inception by former Gov. Jerry Brown, may be just a few steps from a well-deserved demise. Last week the California Legislature agreed on a state budget for 2020-21 that will eliminate all funding for the school. The…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following statement was issued June 5 by the Labor and Working Class History Association (LAWCHA). The Labor and Working-Class History Association condemns the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and all victims of racist police brutality, and we demand justice. We stand in solidarity with all who are…
BY A UNIVERSITY LECTURER IN FLORIDA* In one of my final classes in May, students started talking about how well J. K. Rowling described moments like the one we’re living through now, when young people worry about the great evil that hangs over them, and the adults in charge refuse to come out of denial.…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN On Monday night, June 1, through the following morning the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) crowded protesters arrested in downtown Los Angeles and Westwood into sheriff’s buses and brought them to Jackie Robinson Stadium. Located off-campus, on the grounds of the Los Angeles Veterans Health Administration and seating just 1,820, it…
BY RUDY FICHTENBAUM AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum issued the following statement today. The murder of George Floyd by four police officers in Minneapolis has unleashed a massive protest movement across the country. These protests, led by young people, are revealing years of pent-up frustration with racism and inequality. The militarization of policing in the United…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Like most Americans, I was sickened by the senseless violence and destruction across the country this weekend, just as I was sickened by the murder of George Floyd. In recounting the terrible acts this past week, let me start at the top, with the evil and incompetence of Donald Trump. In…
BY MARTIN KICH On Thursday, the U.S. Senate will hold a committee hearing on re-opening college campuses in the fall. The hearing will be available live online. I am not sure what actual impact such a hearing will have since federal coordination of the COVID-19 response has been negligible. But the hearing may affect the…