By Stephen Kuusisto I wrote yesterday on my blog Planet of the Blind about the selection of J. Bruce Herreld as the new president of the University of Iowa. The title of my post was: “On the Suborning of Free Speech and Shared Governance at the University of Iowa”—a conscious decision on my part, for I believe that the…
If the kind of mass strike reported in my previous post on labor unrest in India have become historical curiosities in the U.S., strikes by faculty and students at American universities do still occur, even if relatively rarely—and very rarely in tandem. But this past week at Central University of Hyderabad, both faculty and students…
This post is intended more for this blog’s American, rather than Indian, readers. The vitriol that has accompanied some recent posts related to Prime Minister Modi reflects political tensions that are being expressed very concretely, if complexly, in Indian daily life. Last week, a major strike occurred in India. It involved about 150 million workers…
By Stephen Kuusisto When Iowa’s Board of Regents selected J. Bruce Herreld, a businessman with no prior experience in education, as the new president of the University of Iowa they affirmed three principles: the university is now strictly a business, the faculty and students are to be put in their respective places, and those places…
Academic publishing has gone topsy-turvy over the past couple of decades, leaving those responsible for hiring, retention, tenure and promotion often scratching their heads. There’s so much money, now, in even small print runs (if the publisher is appropriately situated) that 300 hardbound copies sold at 100 dollars each to libraries can create profits–especially if…
Dear Professor Barlow, I am a professor of media studies at USF (and a proud supporter of USFFA) and the author of several books. I have written for several publications and blogs including Foreign Affairs, The San Francisco Chronicle, On Faith, Huffington Post, The Indian Express, The Times of India, The Hindu, and have spoken…
As Executive Editor of this blog, I have a tweet automatically produced for each post. It goes out over my name. Most often, that results in retweets and mentions that are positive; sometimes, quite the opposite. Never before, however, had I seen anything like this: .@AaronJBarlow Indian government should ban you from entering because of…
By Stephen Kuusisto We are living in the age of autocracy, a matter that’s clear, as every conceivable matter of public concern is about who controls what. It is hard to derive solace from the assertion America was always an oligarchy, that our founders were aristocrats, wealthy, and privileged. The second President of the…
Writing for Vox, Libby Nelson offers a thoughtful analysis of the recently released average scores on this past year’s SAT tests. She notes that although the average scores declined slightly, at least part of that decline may reflect the increased diversity among the students now taking the test. Although I have only a very superficial…