October Jobs Report: Under the Sunny Headline, Deep Roots of Discontent

The following post was written by Isaiah J. Poole for for the blog of the Campaign for America’s Future [http://ourfuture.org/] which has become a driving force behind the New Populist Movement. The group’s report, Organizing to Take Back America: The New Populist Movement, is available at: http://y.ourfuture.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/New-Populist-Movement-Organizing.pdf. Prepared by Riger Hickey, the co-director of the Campaign for…

Politics Is Both Message and Messaging

The most important paragraph in Isaiah Poole’s piece seems to me to be the following: “Here’s where the tragedy of Tuesday’s election results come into sharp relief. Republicans were more successful than Democrats in tapping into voters’ economic anxiety, even with their record of blocking the policy changes needed to address the causes of that…

Koch Money at Colleges and Universities: Part I, A-M

In an earlier post, “The Koch Brothers Gifts to Higher Ed Come with Many Strings Attached” [https://academeblog.org/2014/08/18/the-koch-brothers-gifts-to-higher-ed-come-with-many-strings-attached/], I discussed the decision by Brooklyn College to decline a gift from the Koch Brothers Foundation. To all appearances, it is one of the few colleges to have made such a decision. A former colleague once said that…

Koch Money at Colleges and Universities: Part II, N-W

In an earlier post, “The Koch Brothers Gifts to Higher Ed Come with Many Strings Attached” [https://academeblog.org/2014/08/18/the-koch-brothers-gifts-to-higher-ed-come-with-many-strings-attached/], I discussed the decision by Brooklyn College to decline a gift from the Koch Brothers Foundation. To all appearances, it is one of the few colleges to have made such a decision. A former colleague once said that…

Upcoming CFHE Meeting in Los Angeles

An announcement from the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education [http://futureofhighered.org] _______________ We invite you to join us for the Eighth National Gathering of the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education: Building Common Ground Inside and Outside the Academy  HOSTED BY: California Faculty Association (CFA)  DATES: January 16-18, 2015  LOCATION: Manhattan Beach Marriott, Manhattan…

Why Ph.D.s Should Teach College Students

Who should teach? And who should decide who teaches? What should the learning environment look like? And who should decide how it looks–and should there even be just one “look”? These old questions came to mind today when I read Marty Nemko’s October 29 article in Time, “Why Ph.D.s Shouldn’t Teach College Students.” I went…

Adult Education: Addressing the Needs of Today's Workforce

Guest blogger Sister Mary Reap, IHM, is President of Elms College, Chicopee, MA, She also served as President of Marywood University, Scranton, PA, for 19 years. As the economy continues to fluctuate, the demands of the workforce have followed suit. In order to compete for jobs, or to stay current with skills needed for their current…

Postmortem

Given yesterday’s election results, here are some observations and recommendations that I would like to offer to the leadership of the Democratic party—locally, statewide, and nationally: 1. Deluging registered Democrats with fund-raising appeals is ultimately counterproductive. I am on the lists for five dozen or so Democratic and progressive organizations, and at a certain point,…

Seventh Circuit Protects Part-time Faculty Union Leader, Robin Meade

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is becoming a very pro-faculty, pro-adjunct, pro-academic freedom and anti-Garcetti v. Ceballos court. It continues to reverse or remand upon appeal several draconian decisions of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. Loretta Capeheart, a member of the Illinois Committee A…