BY AARON BARLOW Sometime around 1970, when I told an aunt and uncle that the FBI was spying on American leftists, they turned to me in outrage and spoke in unison, “You don’t really believe that, do you?” This, from a couple who had just told me I should be willing to go fight in…
BY HANK REICHMAN Readers of this blog may be familiar with the regular National Public Radio (NPR) feature “Science Friday.” Last week one 35-minute segment, “Science in the Crosshairs,” focused on governmental and other threats to the academic freedom of scientists. It began with fetal tissue research: After furor erupted over a video seeming to…
BY HANK REICHMAN Seven in ten University of California workers in clerical, administrative and support services struggle to put adequate food on the table, according to a new study reported in today’s Los Angeles Times. The study, conducted by Occidental College, found that 45% of 2,890 employees surveyed throughout the 10-campus UC system went hungry…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN Most Americans know California’s Napa Valley as a tourist destination and the source of many of the country’s finest wines. But people live there too, of course, and many of them go to school. Specifically, many attend Napa Valley College, the local community college. Last week Doug Ernst, the public information…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL In the Hechinger Report’s recent story, “University Bureaucracies Grew 15 Percent During the Recession, Even as Budgets Were Cut and Tuition Increased,” reporter Jon Marcus examined the confounding trend that many university systems are showing “new resolve . . . to improve the efficiency and productivity of stubbornly labor-intensive higher education”…
BY STEVE KUUSISTO This, from Steve Kuusisto, author of Planet of the Blind, is worth us all reading:
BY MARTIN KICH If you have been reading the posts in my series “Mismanagement and No Meaningful Oversight” (I have actually gotten several items behind in terms of re-posting those items from our chapter blog to this blog), you are aware of some of the issues that have been reaching critical mass at Wright State…
BY AARON BARLOW What is a writer? What is a Digital Humanist? These sound like disparate questions, but they both are based on the academy of division that has grown up over the past century and more, particularly in American universities. Specializations are created and claims are staked. You’re either on the bus, as Ken…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Some politicians make good college presidents, at least on paper. As Rick Seltzer reported in Inside Higher Education last week , the best possess many of the same skills as successful college and university presidents. They are typically well connected with outside stakeholders, enjoy good name recognition, and know how to…
BY HANK REICHMAN The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that “University of Tennessee officials are investigating a claim of sexual harassment after reports surfaced online that a student received a zero on a geology quiz for answering a question about his lab instructor’s name with that of a semifamous lingerie model. Neither the student nor the…