Arne Duncan’s Response to the Vergara Ruling: Absolutely Empty Assurances of “Respect” for Teachers—Causing One to Wonder What, Exactly a Romney Education Secretary Would Have Said Differently

“Drawing the Right Lessons from Vergara” Sometimes conflict is the starting point on the path to progress. That’s one of two possible ways events could play out in the wake ofVergara v. California, a court case that is driving enormous debate throughout the education world. Brought on behalf of nine public school students, the Vergara case…

A Simply Awful Implicit Equivalency—even if Digitally Generated

As colleges and universities struggle to formulate effective policies for dealing with sexual assaults on campus, the media have often focused on the campus culture that blurs the lines between sexual license and sexual imposition. But the same insensitivity to distinctions is also pervasive in our media, often to an outrageous extent. The following is…

Knowing Students… Then What?

Three years ago, my newly appointed dean asked if I would take on responsibility for New York City College of Technology’s Associate degree in Liberal Arts and Arts with a primary focus on overseeing advisement. What I have learned about our students since then is astonishing–astonishing, that is, in the ignorance it highlights, in the…

AAUP Censures Northeastern Illinois University

At this morning’s 100th meeting of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the AAUP membership voted unanimously to censure Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) for denying tenure to John Boyle without adequate cause and in retaliation for his department’s involvement in criticizing the administration, violating academic freedom and due process. Illinois AAUP Committee A Chair…

Administrative Bloat as It Is Reflected in Presidential Compensation: 2013 Ohio Edition

Although the increases in the compensation by college and university presidents represent a negligible percentage of their institutions’ budgets, they do very clearly set a baseline for the compensation received by other administrators—their subordinates and the subordinates of their subordinates–and reflect the continuing corporatization of our institutions as it is manifested in the broader increases…

Fathers and Sons

My father was an absent man and perhaps that is why his presence appears more often now, once I have opened my memory bank.  When my brother and I were growing up, he was gone most of the time, traveling and making a living for his family.  But before his travels grew to Gulliver proportions…

Eric Holder’s Commencement Address at Morgan State University: A Commentary on Race in America

The following is the text of remarks as prepared for delivery by Attorney General Eric Holder at the Morgan State University commencement ceremony in Baltimore on Saturday, May 17, 2014. The transcript was provided by the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs. _________________________ Thank you, President [David] Wilson, for those kind words-–and thank you all…

CFHE 7th National Gathering Focuses on Affordable, Quality Higher Education for All

On May 16-18, the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education’s 7th National Gathering drew nearly 100 faculty, student and organizational leaders to the Desmond Hotel in Albany, New York, where the organization held panel discussions and workshops surrounding a theme of “Building Alliances for Access, Equity and Quality.” The increasing problem of student debt was…