The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice announced the indictment today of Graeme Phillip Harris for hanging a noose and an obsolete Georgia state flag with the confederate stars and bars over the iconic statue of James Meredith at the University of Mississippi. Mr Meredith integrated the Oxford, Mississippi institution in 1962, amidst klan-imposed death and…
We have all noticed how hard it is to find a reputable electrician or plumber. But almost no one ever asks, never mind addresses, why this shortage has developed. The major reason that so few people are going into the trades is that, more often than not, doing so leads to just another kind of…
Everyone seems to think that college is all about jobs. Even former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, in a column on his blog this past Sunday, “Why College Isn’t (and Shouldn’t Have to be) for Everyone,” writes, “all too often the jobs they land after graduating don’t pay enough to make the degree worthwhile.” That may…
Ohio State University is internally circulating a draft of a new policy on faculty intellectual property rights. The following summary of the main outlines of the lengthy and very detailed draft revision was published in an article in the Columbus Dispatch: “The proposal says that all intellectual property created by faculty, staff and students belongs…
The recent decision by the Board of Trustees to close Sweet Briar College raises an important question. Is there a better way to coordinate the findings of ratings groups to assist colleges and universities going forward? What would have happened if Sweet Briar College had worked more closely with a better educated group of internal and external…
This post raises issues of research and public information, as well as the role of a “public intellectual,” that are certainly worthy of consideration here.
We received this request by e-mail. I don’t know any of the specifics of this labor impasse, but it does not seem as if the graduate-student union is asking for anything extraordinary. _________________________ The CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) 3903 strike at York University in Toronto is in its third week. York University is…
I came across the following list of the “Top Ten Trending Spring Break Destinations.” The folks at Kayak have compiled the list after surveying the number of inquiries made over the past few months to various travel sites. I naturally assumed that most of the destinations would be “beach towns” in Florida, and I was…
If college campuses are to be safe spaces, the goal needs to be to make them safe for everyone—even faculty. With tenure reduced and enfeebled and secret investigations commonplace, I have seen seasoned professors tremble with fear. They feel unsafe and unsupported by administrators and staff and have seen how processes meant to protect can…