On June 6, Tamar Lewis wrote an article for the New York Times titled “Colleges Re-Evaluate the Concept of Tenure.” I came across the article, however, in the Seattle Times, where it had been republished. The premise of the article is expressed succinctly in the teaser: “In an era of rapid change, long life spans,…
Almost a year ago, the following brief item, written by Daniel Wilco, appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Two men have been indicted on charges they defrauded Delta and Northwest Airlines of $22 million between 2004 and 2013. “Michael Yedor and Paul Anderson have been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and 96 counts of…
The federal data that will be presented in this series of posts was analyzed by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting (NCIR) in collaboration with the American Institutes for Research. The NECIR story on the data and its implications, written by Jon Marcus, who is currently an editor at the Hechinger Report, is available…
For those of you who are not residents of Ohio and may be unfamiliar with Sherrod Brown’s record, he has been a staunch defender of the continuing value of collective bargaining rights and of public education. He was one of the few figures at the federal level who immediately denounced Senate Bill 5 for what…
On June 2, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, held a hearing on “First Amendment Protections on Public College and University Campuses.” The subcommittee received testimony from four witnesses: Greg Lukianoff, President and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE); Kim Colby,…
The following statement signed by 22 scholarly associations was released on June 11. It is consistent with the position of a resolution passed unanimously by the AAUP’s annual membership meeting on June 13. The American system of higher education is the envy of the world. It’s not perfect; few things are. But at a time…
The following is the text of the report of Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure as read by Committee Chair Henry Reichman to the 2015 AAUP Annual Meeting held on June 13 in Washington, D.C. The formal annual written report of the Committee will be published in full as part of the annual AAUP…
Remarks from AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum to the 101st Annual Meeting of the AAUP. It is truly an honor to stand before you today at the 101st annual meeting of the American Association of University Professors, the meeting that is the bookend to the celebration of our centennial. I want to start by reading to…
Earlier this month Harvard University announced a $400 million donation to its engineering college, as part of a $6.5 billion fundraising goal for its comprehensive campaign. Harvard’s endowment stands at $36 billion, with its total wealth estimated at $43 billion. Its endowment earned a 15 percent return on investment last year. Taken together with…
Yesterday evening, UIUC Chancellor Phyllis Wise sent out the following mass email: Dear Colleagues: I write to address the June 13 vote by the American Association of University Professors to censure the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign administration. The censure is focused on the hiring decisions and processes involving Professor Salaita, as well as AAUP…