At the GOP’s rally against the Iran nuclear deal, one of the featured speakers was Sarah Palin, who said the following: “So up there in Alaska, across the way Russia. You know there is a name for this taking advantage of America. There is a Russian name for that. And it is called fortushka. And…
In March, New York University professor Andrew Ross was stopped from boarding a flight to Abu Dhabi, where NYU has a campus and where Ross had intended to conduct research. The NYU administration has maintained that its Abu Dhabi campus will observe the AAUP’s principles on academic freedom and that all faculty and students will…
“Quitpieces?” That’s what Ian Bogost calls them in The Atlantic, writing “No One Cares That You Quit Your Job.” He’s right, but I’m more interested in what they say about our profession and what we can learn from them than in anything about any individuals. Two such quitpieces were posted two days ago, one by…
The most recent issue of the New York Times Magazine includes a very thought-provoking article by Frederick deBoer, a recent graduate of the doctoral program in English at Purdue University. In “Why We Should Fear University, Inc.,” deBoer considers the whole gamut of ramifications of the increasing corporatization of our universities. After very succinctly but…
This buzzword has actually been around for a while: Higher Education Is a Government-Created Cartel By Conn Carroll August 6 2013 Washington Examiner The government-created accreditation cartel is one of the biggest reasons why college costs continue to rise and there is very little innovation in the higher education industry. It is no…
The following is an op-ed piece by Susan Gubernat, Professor of English at California State University, East Bay and a member of the CSU Academic Senate. It was published in the Sacramento Bee on September 7. Tuition dollars have overtaken state funding in supporting public higher education in California, as is true throughout the country.…
We often talk about teaching our students critical-thinking skills, but the fear of provoking controversy causes many of us to steer away from many, if not most, of the controversial issues of the day. So our students are left to absorb the almost always very selective and superficial talking points disseminated by public figures and…
I am not sure if this image is from The Great Gatsby or The Wolf of Wall Street, but the combination of image and message seems, to me at least, more puzzling, if not disconcerting, than very clearly ironic. I suppose that it could be worse—if, for instance, the image were of Michael Douglas as…
Both of these two things were actually said by a non-candidate who was speculating about her future roles if a particular Republican candidate should will the 2016 presidential election. While being interviewed on CNN about what cabinet positions she would prefer to hold within a Trump administration, Sarah Palin responded that she would like to…
Work Gangs Carl Sandburg, 1878 – 1967 Box cars run by a mile long. And I wonder what they say to each other When they stop a mile long on a sidetrack. Maybe their chatter goes: I came from Fargo with a load of wheat up to the danger line. I came from Omaha with a load…