The Revelations in Phyllis Wise’s Emails

What are the most important revelations in Phyllis Wise’s secret personal emails that were uncovered on Friday? Perhaps the key fact is that these emails existed at all. Using a personal email address to evade FOIA requests is clearly unethical and possibly illegal. And confessing that this was the purpose, as Wise did, is remarkably stupid.…

“Who Is Aaron Barlow?”

“Who is Aaron Barlow?” wrote Robin Kaler, Associate Chancellor for Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in an email to colleagues last October. She asked this in one of the emails relating to Chancellor Phyllis Wise and the Steven Salaita case that were “dumped” last week in response to a FOIA request, emails…

The Urgent Demand for STEM Graduates Is Dubious

In a post to this blog that I made on June 18, “Why Selecting a College Major Primarily Because of the Employment Outlook in That Field Is a Terrible Idea” [https://academeblog.org/2015/06/18/why-selecting-a-college-major-primarily-because-of-the-employment-outlook-in-that-field-is-a-terrible-idea/], I focused on some of the salient points made in an interview by Peter Cappelli, a Professor of Management at the Wharton School at…

ACCJC Again Denies CCSF Accreditation

The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) has upheld its 2013 decision to terminate the accreditation of City College of San Francisco (CCSF), but the move will not affect the current status of the college, which remains open and fully accredited.  ACCJC announced its affirmation of the decision it made in June 2013…

Duquesne Adjunct Faculty Threatened with Termination for Testifying Truthfully under Oath

Writing for In These Times, Moshe E. Harvit reports that in a brief filed with the NLRB supporting its opposition to being forced to recognize and negotiate with the union organized by its adjunct faculty, Duquesne University explicitly acknowledged the truthfulness of the adjuncts’ testimony before the NLRB by threatening to terminate them for it.…

Union Endorsements and the 2016 Democratic Primary

A group called SEIU Members for Bernie has posted the following on a number of blogs, websites, and social-media pages. I found it on the blog Talking Union: “The undersigned SEIU leaders, members, retirees and staff urge the International Executive Board not to make an early endorsement in the presidential primary campaign. We are supporters…

Reflections on a Core Conundrum of Progressive Politics

Today The Hill ran an article Julian Hattem titled “Fury of the Left Falls on Schumer.” Here are the opening paragraphs: “Liberals are livid at Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) decision to oppose the White House’s nuclear deal with Iran, and have threatened to launch a full-scale war as retribution. “Activists and former top officials within…