Howard Bunsis sends the following message to his students at Eastern Michigan University to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It is worth sharing with all of our students: As you know, there are no classes Monday, due to the Martin Luther King holiday. Given the events in our country over the last year, the celebration…
Writing for Westword, Alan Prendergast reports that “Colorado Community College Profs Seethe over Low Pay, Lame Raise.” Here are the opening paragraphs of the article: “In a part-timer economy, fast-food workers and janitors aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch. Skimpy wages, long hours and a lack of benefits can also be found in the…
These are the contributions from higher educational institutions and individuals employed by them to the presidential candidates up to October 31, 2015. The totals include contributions from public and private, as well as non-profit and for-profit, institutions. Typically, for-profit institutions have been among the “industries” that have spent the most on lobbying, but thus far…
This is an op-ed contributed to The News Record, the student newspaper at the University of Cincinnati, by Stephanie Spanja, director of research at the University of Cincinnati chapter of the American Association of University Professors. _________________________ Even though universities try to make the world a better place through research and education, money still makes…
Writing for In These Times, Lauren Gurley has attempted to explain “Why the Left Isn’t Talking about Rural American Poverty.” Here is how Gurley frames her discussion: “Within the popular American conscience—arguably a close reflection of the mainstream media—there are two favored focal points for discussing the problem of poverty. The first is within the…
A satire with that title has been written by Patricia Marx for the New Yorker. Here is the headnote: “Something strange is happening at America’s colleges and universities. A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense.” —the…
This is hysterical — and painfully accurate!
Stefan Collini, Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature at Cambridge and author of the important book What Are Universities For?, has a wonderful review article in the London Review of Books responding to the Conservative British government’s proposal to establish a Teaching Excellence Framework. Responding specifically to a new Green Paper written by Jo…
I have previously reposted a number of items by University of California at Santa Barbara Professor Christopher Newfield, taken from the “Remaking the University” blog that he runs with UCLA Professor Michael Meranze (I suggest you subscribe). The essay below was posted today under the title Top Trends for 2016 Higher Ed: Earth-Two Edition. Cleverly taking…
On Tuesday, the University of Utah’s Board of Trustees voted to abandon a ten-year-old 120-word mission statement, branded too “long-winded” and lacking in tangible goals, replacing it with a new 70-word version that Academic Senate President Bill Johnson called “a nice, tight mission statement.” According to a report in the Salt Lake Tribune, the new…