On the University of California, V: Gutting Accountability?

BY HANK REICHMAN This is the fifth in a series of posts on issues in the University of California (UC) system, the nation’s premier public research institution. Previous posts in the series may be found here, here, here and here.  At a time when there is growing concern about governing board overreach, the University of…

Blocked By the Chancellor

The following was posted on the site medium.com by a student at East Carolina University.  I am a student at East Carolina University. ECU is an amazing school, and one of 16 in the University of North Carolina (UNC) System. This public higher education system is one that has been a model for many other…

Union Busting Is Still an Ugly Business

  Writing for University Business, Nick Kalm and Courtney Harper advise universities on how “Strong Messages Can Defuse Campus Unionizing Campaigns.” The authors’ bio note indicates that “Nick Kalm is president and Courtney Harper is senior vice president at Reputation Partners, a communications consultancy that specializes in labor communications for universities and other organizations.” The…

Student Op-Ed on Koch “Gifts”

  This is a letter written by George Mason sophomore Mark Hammond to the George Mason student newspaper, The Fourth Estate. For some reason, that newspaper never published it on its website; so he has given permission to Connor Gibson, a co-founder of the group Un-Koch My Campus, to disseminate it. _________________________ “Last fall, when…

Sherrod Brown on Charter-School Waste

  The following letter was sent by Sherrod Brown to Secretary of Education John King. (I have omitted a half-dozen footnotes that cite the sources for the details that Senator Brown highlights.) The letter illustrates why Sherrod Brown is a very effective and widely respected progressive Senator in a “purple” state. _________________________ June 20, 2016…

COCAL Updates

  COCAL is the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, a nearly 20 year old network of contingent activists and their organizations that does a conference (now tri-national – USA, CAN (including QBC) , and  MEX) every other year, usually in August. It also sponsors a listserv, called ADJ-L, and has an International Advisory Committee and…

Berkeley Chancellor Responds to BFA Letter

BY HANK REICHMAN Yesterday I posted to this blog the text of a letter from UC Berkeley professors Michael Burawoy and Celeste Langan, co-chairs of the UC Berkeley Faculty Association (BFA), a partner organization of the AAUP, calling for a new probe of alleged abuses in the university’s intercollegiate football program.  The request came after…

Tone Deaf, Myopic (and Self-Serving) Leadership

  Writing for the Hartford Courant, Jacqueline Rabe Thomas reports “In Tough Times, UConn Hands Out Raises to Top Staff”: “In a fiscally challenging year in which few non-union managers received pay increases—at UConn or elsewhere in state government—President Susan Herbst is sticking by promises she made in 2013 and 2014 to give multiyear increases to…

Trump is a William McKinley Protectionist, Not a Bernie Sanders Populist

  This post was written by Bill Scher for the daily Progressive Breakfast newsletter of the Campaign for America’s Future [http://ourfuture.org/], which has become a driving force behind the New Populist Movement. The group’s report, Organizing to Take Back America: The New Populist Movement, is available at: http://y.ourfuture.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/New-Populist-Movement-Organizing.pdf. Prepared by Roger Hickey, the co-director of the Campaign…