Visual Metaphor of the Day
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH When deer hunters in Matador, Texas, looked under their deer blind, they found 26 rattlesnakes: Source: http://www.wideopencountry.com/texas-hunters-find-rattlesnake-surprise-blind/.
Next Berkeley Chancellor Must Rebuild Trust
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN “We need a chancellor who will not be engaged in the doublespeak of proclaiming UC Berkeley’s preeminence as a public university while simultaneously insisting on marketizing every aspect of its existence. We need a chancellor who does not believe that the negative impact on educational access and the quality of our…
Corporate Universities Are Shocked To Learn They Have Graduate Student Employees
BY MICHAEL MERANZE The following is reposted with the author’s permission from the Remaking the University blog. Michael Meranze is Professor of History at UCLA. As you may know, a 3-1 majority of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Columbia University’s Teaching Assistants (known at Columbia as Instructional Officers) are to be considered “employees” under…
An Open Letter to Columbia Provost John Coatsworth
BY HANK REICHMAN Last week the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in the Columbia University case that student employees at private universities have the right to organize unions to bargain collectively over the terms of their employment. The lengthy and carefully argued ruling overturned a 2004 decision in Brown University that denied such rights…
In the Good Old Days
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This video was made by Marianne DeMarco, who first posted a version of it to her YouTube channel in March. Video URL: https://youtu.be/gFZ-1EojoFM.
In the Good Old Days: Addenda
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This one can be titled “When the Carnival Act Was Actually a Carnival Act”: Video URL: https://youtu.be/ZJkzHXGPXPw.
Mismanagement and No Meaningful Oversight [Item 5]
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This post is an edited synthesis of two communications sent to the bargaining unit faculty members (BUFMs) at Wright State University about what we know about the reductions to the budgets of the administrative and the academic units at the university. The details will probably be of little interest to faculty…
More on the Hypocrisy of the University of Chicago Administration
BY HANK REICHMAN In a widely publicized letter to incoming freshmen this week, University of Chicago (UC) Dean of Students John Ellison offered a bold defense of academic freedom and freedom of expression, which included this sentence: Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called trigger warnings, we do not cancel…
Parents: Don't Muck Up College Move-in Day
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL It’s August. For many families, it’s time to participate in a celebrated American ritual: moving a son or daughter to college. While thousands of parents and children bid each other farewell after moving belongings into a dorm room, the experience is acutely personal. Every child has a different and unique relationship…
Just About Anywhere but Here
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Writing for Yahoo News, Jon Ward describes efforts to track the outsourcing of products sold by Donald Trump’s various companies: “Trump, like most celebrities who monetize their fame, does not always manage the day-to-day operations of the companies that make goods with his name on them, instead making licensing deals and…