POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In a recent post, Hank Reichman provided a post-election playlist that did a great deal to mitigate my post-election despondency. That playlist could not have included this just released video of Fiona Apple singing a Christmas standard reworked for this particular holiday season: Whether you enjoy the song or not, Fiona…
BY AARON BARLOW When I read Nicholas Kristof’s “The Dangers of Echo Chambers on Campus” last night, I knew I would have to write in response. Drive-by commentary of this sort can’t be ignored by those of us who really are members of college communities. Fortunately for me, John K. Wilson posted even before I…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times today jumps up on his high horse to inform us all that the real problem in America today is not that a bigoted, lying, idiotic right-wing conspiracy nut will soon be president; no, the real problem is that liberals are outraged about it…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following is excerpted from a story in Pensions and Investments online and reposted on the blog of the UCLA Faculty Association under the above title. University of California gives CIO $841,000 bonus despite year of negative returns By Randy Diamond | December 9, 2016 The University of California Regents approved…
BY HANK REICHMAN Charles Reed, former head of the now-dismantled Florida state university system and for sixteen years (1996-2012) Chancellor of the twenty-three-campus California State University (CSU), died this week at the age of 75. Known to friend and foe alike as just “Charlie,” Reed was a highly controversial leader whose brusque, even bullying style…
BY HANK REICHMAN Most Californians believe the overall affordability of the state’s public colleges and universities is a big problem, while few say the same about the quality of education. These are among the key findings of a survey of public opinion on the state’s public higher education system released December 8 by the Public…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Writing in the New York Times last month, Laura Pappano offered a thoughtful analysis of the efforts by public colleges – principally public flagship universities – to find new sources of revenue, diversify their student bodies, and expand their national reputations. It’s an interesting trend that should be watched closely. America’s…
BY HANK REICHMAN The latest attempt to blacklist dissenting faculty members is the so-called “Professor Watchlist,” a project of a group called Turning Point USA founded by an ambitious twenty-something named Charlie Kirk. The group’s website says it seeks to “to expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students, promote anti-American values and…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN Last week the AAUP, the College Media Association, the National Coalition Against Censorship, and the Student Press Law Center issued a report on “Threats to the Independence of Student Media,” which cited multiple cases in which college and university administrations exerted pressure in attempts to control, edit, or censor student journalistic…
BY HANK REICHMAN Yesterday I posted to this blog “The Oakland Fire Tragedy and Higher Education,” in which I tried to describe some of the economic factors that have compelled so many young artists and others in the Bay Area to live in often illegally converted warehouses and similar spaces while authorities turned a blind…