This item was distributed by Progressive Review in its daily UnderNews newsletter: September 28, 2015 Obamacare Discriminates Against Heavy People Economic Hardship-–A 2013 report by ConscienHealth, a consultancy, found that 16 percent of employers require wellness program participation, including medical screenings, for access to full health benefits. Of these, 67 percent set goals for…
Last year, Michigan State University hosted a conference on “Neoliberalism in Public Higher Education.” I was supposed to present a paper at the conference, but because I became ill will some sort of virus, John McNay was kind enough to present the paper for me. The conference has created a sense of shared purpose among…
This is a guest post by Don Eron, who recently retired after twenty-five years as a non-tenure-track instructor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the primary author of the Colorado Conference’s “Report on the Termination of Ward Churchill,” which was published in volume 3 of the AAUP Journal of Academic Freedom. His writing on…
It is time for a direct and specific disavowal of a key component of the sacred text of the AAUP: the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure. Most genuflect before its presence as either the Magna Carta of higher ed, the common law of the profession, the great classic document of academic freedom…
This is a guest post by Kamala Visweswaran. She is a professor of ethnic studies at the University of California–San Diego. She is the editor of Everyday Occupations: Experiencing Militarism in South Asia and the Middle East (University of Pennsylvannia Press, 2013). My current Academe article, “Palestinian Universities and Everyday Life Under Occupation,” is not an article that describes causes, but rather the consequences of…
There is often a debate on American college campuses about the role of the university as a catalyst in the economic development of its region. Some argue persuasively that the university is an educational institution and should not be expected to divert its resources to build the local economy. Others also make the case that…
Let’s start with an article from the London Times on the impact of the economic slowdown in China on graduate enrollments in U.S. universities. “China Crisis a ‘Serious’ Risk for US Grad Schools.” Times Educational Supplement 24 Sep. 2015. The decline in Chinese students attending US graduate schools is expected to cause major…
And here are some other items of possible interest from newspapers published outside of the U.S.: “City Centres Are the Science Parks of the 21st Century.” Yorkshire Post 24 Sep. 2015. Britain’s city centres should be seen as the science parks of the 21st century, Leeds City Council’s chief officer for economy and…
In previous posts, I have focused on controversial decisions by President Scarborough during his first year at the University of Akron. Several posts have reported on his decisions to eliminate, then to redefine, and finally to restore the University of Akron Press—and, on the faculty and student activism that influenced those changed decisions. But, beyond…
The following item appeared in the September 24 edition of the Dayton Daily News. “FAIRBORN – Wright State University officials did not charge a Cincinnati man who drew a crowd on the campus last week by tearing pages from a book that he said was the Quran, Islam’s holy book. “In a YouTube video of…