Yesterday’s stunning events at the University of Missouri must be viewed in the context of a much broader movement, led by minority students, to confront persistent racism at many college and university campuses. Even as the movement at Missouri was gathering steam, a similar conflict was brewing at one of the nation’s oldest and most…
I’ve been watching with dismay the coverage of the incident yesterday where University of Missouri professor Melissa Click asked, “Who wants to help me get this reporter out of here? I need some muscle over here.” To me, she seems to have moved from supporting the student protesters (which I applaud) who had created a tent…
“Academe Blog” readers should be well-acquainted with the actions that Adams State University in Alamosa, CO has taken against former adjunct professor Danny Ledonne as Martin Kich has already started a multi-part series of blog posts on the subject. [If you need a quick refresher, try here and here.] I have been in touch with…
We shouldn’t send bureaucrats and accountants to manage our wars. When we do (as happened in Iraq and even Vietnam), disaster follows. Military victory comes at the hands of those who know how to fight. Those who rise through military ranks learn, in addition, the needs and possibilities of their organizations. They neither place unrealistic…
According to today’s News-Gazette, the University of Illinois trustees are scheduled to vote this Thursday on a settlement with Professor Steven Salaita. Interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson informed the Senate Executive Committee of the news late this afternoon. Click here for the agenda of Thursday’s trustees’ meeting. Item #21–“Authorize Settlement (Salaita v. Kennedy et al.)”–is at the bottom of page…
My stepfather is dying. I hate even using the word “step” because in every sense of the word, he is my father. And he will be gone soon. He is in hospice now. There is a hospital bed in my mother’s living room. There will be no more emergency room last ditch efforts to save…
R. Bowen Loftin, the chancellor of the University of Missouri’s flagship campus at Columbia, will resign, the University of Missouri System’s Board of Curators announced just hours after the system’s president stepped down amid intense student and other protests over racial tensions. Loftin will become the system’s director for research facility development. Although most of…
Amid growing outrage among faculty about secretive presidential searches (see here and, for an AAUP statement, here), the College of Charleston in South Carolina recently appointed a new provost over complaints from faculty who say they were not consulted in the decision-making process, the Charleston Post and Courier reports. The position of provost, the institution’s…
For nearly a decade under Conservative rule, the Canadian Prime Minister’s Office exercised tight control over the release of information. Since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s swearing-in on Wednesday, however, things seem to be changing. One Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) producer requested an interview with Navdeep Bains, the new minister of innovation, science and economic development. She heard…
The following is excerpted from a column by Albor Ruiz published today in the New York Daily News: If you thought only fast food workers, home attendants and the like were abused and exploited by their employers and were willing to protest and risk arrest for demanding their rights, think again. College professors — an…