Court Decisions Make Climate Science E-Mails Public

BY HANK REICHMAN Advocates of academic freedom generally find freedom of information laws beneficial.  Such laws enhance public knowledge and debate on the workings of government agencies, including public universities. But as a 2013 amicus brief filed by the AAUP and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) pointed out, “in evaluating disclosure under FOIA, the public’s right to know…

New Contract at CUNY

POSTED BY AARON BARLOW From the Professional Staff Congress: New York—CUNY’s 25,000 faculty and professional staff will get a long-overdue raise now that 94 percent of voting members ratified a new union contract, according to PSC President Barbara Bowen, who thanked union members for their hard work and commitment. The agreement between the Professional Staff…

The Mess at Oberlin

POSTED BY HENRY REICHMAN The following piece by Steve Lubet, Williams Memorial Professor of Law at Northwestern University, was posted originally on The Faculty Lounge.  It is reposted with his permission. The Mess at Oberlin Oberlin College just announced that Professor Joy Karega will be suspended with pay for the coming semester, pending the result…

A Long, Hot Summer on Campus

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Scott D. Miller, the President of Virginia Wesleyan University, has written a guest column for the Virginian-Pilot with the same title as this post. After providing an overview of what a university president’s summer routine typically involves, he writes: “Then there’s this summer — which to me is exceptionally hot, volatile,…

Not Just Students Are Leaving Illinois

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In an article for Crain’s Chicago Business, Steven R. Strahler reports on the growing exodus of faculty from Illinois public universities and colleges. In some cases, the faculty have been forced to look for positions elsewhere after being furloughed in response to budget shortfalls. But in most instances, the faculty have…

Education or Propaganda? Depends Who's Doing It!

BY HANK REICHMAN Amid the growing controversy over the leak of thousands of emails hacked from servers at the Democratic National Committee, apparently by a group linked to the Russian government, comes this report in The Times of London: President Putin has launched a secret propaganda assault on Britain from within its own borders, The Times can…

50th Anniversary of the Texas Tower Shooting

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In a post yesterday, Hank Reichman noted that August 1 was the 50th anniversary of the mass murder committed by Charles Whitman on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. Whitman had barricaded himself on top of the tower that was the tallest structure on the campus and began…