In the current issue of Academe, AAUP President Rudy Fichtenbaum explores the question, “What’s New about Today’s Corporate University?” He concludes: Corporations today are interested not just in controlling those who might criticize their agenda but also in using institutions of higher education as publicly financed research centers and privately financed (tuition-funded) training facilities that focus on…
I know that the heading to this post may sound somewhat blasphemous, but if the Calvinistic or Puritan notion of the “Elect” has now gotten so narrow that the opposite is true, we are all basically screwed and heaven is kind of like most of Montana or Wyoming or Alaska, at least in terms of…
A little over ten years ago, two adequately eminent sociology departments swiped two of my colleagues. For years, I wondered why the then-dean didn’t try to stop those raids; I’ve finally decided that the answer lies in a tangle of college and interdepartmental politics and corporatization, as well as the fact that one of the swipes was a woman. (In the not so…
This is a news release from the Department of Labor: Halliburton Pays Nearly $18.3 Million in Overtime Owed to More than 1,000 Employees Nationwide after US Labor Department Investigation Global Oil And Gas Service Provider Failed To Pay Overtime HOUSTON — In one of the largest recoveries of overtime wages in recent years for the…
This is the press release from Wright State University: “The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced today that Wright State University has been selected to host the first debate in fall 2016 prior to the November general election. “The debate will be held Sept. 26, 2016, at the Wright State University Nutter Center. “’I could not…
With Governor Walker suspending his presidential campaign, many of us in Wisconsin have been asking ourselves, what will be next on his agenda? My guess? Messing with public employee retirement and pensions. According to Molly Beck, “Republican lawmakers are laying the groundwork for changes to state workers’ pensions that could reduce the monthly payouts and…
The new issue of the Journal of Academic Freedom was released yesterday, including Cary Nelson’s much-anticipated essay. As an argument for firing Salaita, Nelson’s essay is a complete failure. Robert Warrior writes a response, but it’s unnecessary because nothing Nelson writes provides any evidence to justify Salaita’s dismissal. The bulk of the essay is devoted…
Anderson, Nick. “At UCF, Bigger Is Better.” Washington Post 21 Sep. 2015: A, 1. ORLANDO – A small state school launched here in the 1960s to develop employees for the space program has morphed into one of the nation’s largest universities, using accessible admission policies and online instruction to fuel extraordinary growth in an…
In last week’s iteration of his syndicated column, Robert Reich takes on college rankings. After noting that the Obama administration has decided to give up on the idea of providing some sort of federal rankings to U.S. colleges and universities, Reich describes the most widely promoted college guide, that produced by U.S. News and World…
On September 17, the Washington Post’s daily Going Out Guide newsletter included as the lead story “Getting to Know D.C.’s College Towns.” When I followed the link to the story, it actually had a somewhat different headline—“Get Schooled on the D.C. Area’s Division I University Campuses.” Nonetheless, the opening paragraph had much the same slant…