Another Attack on Teacher Unions and “Fair Share”

In a column last week Los Angeles Times op-ed writer Michael Hiltzik (whose work is almost always a must-read) exposed the fraud behind the latest assault on the political activity of teacher unions.  It involves a lawsuit, Bain v. California Teachers Association et. al, which purports to defend the “free speech” rights of its plaintiffs,…

Update on the Case of Professor Stephen F. Cohen

On January 30, I posted an item to this blog under the title “The Troubling Case of Professor Stephen Cohen and the American Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies.”  The post recounted the background to a decision by the Association’s Board to reject an offer by Professor Stephen F. Cohen, his wife, Katrina vanden…

AAUP Investigation Report: Felician College

From the Conclusions of the report, “Academic Freedom and Tenure: Felician College (New Jersey)”, May, 2015: In terminating the appointments of sixteen fulltime faculty members, seven of whom sought the Association’s assistance, the administration of Felician College attributed its action simply to “the exigency of the college’s financial status” without any further explanation. The administration’s…

AAUP Investigation Results: The University of South Maine

From the Conclusions of the report, “Academic Freedom and Tenure: The University of South Maine” of May, 2015: In terminating the appointments of sixty of the 250 full-time faculty members and eliminating, reducing, or consolidating numerous academic programs, allegedly on financial grounds, the administration of the University of Southern Maine acted in flagrant violation of…

Saida Grundy’s Tweets: The Outrage

The issue of Saida Grundy’s “anti-White” tweets has received extensive coverage on  FOX News and in the Washington Times, and David Horowitz has predictably weighed in to bemoan still further evidence of the Far-Left bias in higher education. The website driving the outrage at Saida Grundy’s tweets is SoCawlege, the purpose of which has been…

Saida Grundy’s Tweets: The Institutional Response

What follows is an open letter from the President Robert A. Brown of Boston University in response to the controversy surrounding “anti-White” tweets made by incoming assistant professor of African-American Studies Saida Grundy. I could be wrong, but I believe that in reaffirming the university’s stance against racially charged language and attitudes, President Brown quite…

Chomsky on Neoliberalism, Exploitation and the Decline of U.S. Higher Ed

The following is an edited transcript of remarks given by Noam Chomsky via Skype on 4 February 2014 to members of the Adjunct Faculty Association of the United Steelworkers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Robin J. Sowards prepared the transcript and there was additional editing by Noam Chomsky. While our New York-minute society may recoil at a post that…

Gov. John Kasich Is Wrong to Denigrate Ohio Universities’ Innovation Capabilities

What follows is an op-ed by John T. McNay, chair of the department of history, philosophy and political science at the University of Cincinnati’s Blue Ash campus and president of the Ohio Conference of AAUP. This op-ed originally appeared at Cleveland.com: http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/05/gov_john_kasich_is_wrong_to_de.html#incart_river _________________________ Gov. John Kasich, while making the rounds in Washington, D.C., on his…