Our own Hank Reichman (click here to see a list of his posts) has contributed to a New York Times opinion section “Room for Debate” spread, “Tongue-Tied on Campus.” Not only is he an important contributor to this blog but Reichman is the AAUP’s first vice president and chairman of the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure. His most…
The Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club invited the Satanic Temple of New York City to conduct a Black Mass on the Harvard Campus. The announcement of the event prompted widespread opposition at Harvard and throughout the Boston metropolitan area. More than 60,000 Harvard faculty, staff, students, alumni, and “friends” signed an online petition asking that…
This weekend two studies on the compensation of university presidents appeared. The Chronicle of Higher Education released its annual report on “Executive Compensation at Public Colleges and Universities” and the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington D.C. think tank, released a report finding that student debt and low-wage contingent faculty labor are increasing faster at…
In response to news of the destruction of murals at Central CT State University, we have received dozens of letters from around the world. These messages speak to the value of our mural program and the incredible contribution that our students have made to this campus and the community beyond our walls. We should…
America’s colleges and universities define themselves partly by the company that they keep. As they seek to improve the quality of their institutions, most higher education officials look at some combination of inputs – including the number of applications, acceptances, and admissions – and outputs – persistence and graduation rates – to determine how much…
The following paragraphs are taken from the opening of an article by Katy Murphy that appeared in the May 12, 2014, edition of the San Jose Mercury News: “San Jose State’s embattled president has issued a public apology, vowing to ‘right the ship’ after a rocky year and widespread criticism led the statewide chancellor to…
AAUP members should receive their print copies of the May/June issue of Academe over the next few days. In the meantime, they can read it online–as can anyone else (there’s no paywall around here). If you only know us through the blog, you may find the magazine worth your while. More in depth and carefully prepared,…
This item originally appeared at Futility Closet (www.futilitycloset.com). It is being re-posted with the permission of Greg Ross, who maintains that site. You can have daily updates from the site delivered to your e-mail each morning. _________________________ Most mutilated journals in the library of the University of Nebraska, Omaha, September 1982-May 1983: 1. Personnel Psychology 2.…
The following transcript of David Remnick’s commencement address is reprinted here with the permission of the Syracuse University communications office. The video is available at: http://news.syr.edu/video-david-remnicks-commencement-address-15306/ Remnick is the editor of the New Yorker. So one would expect his commencement address to be witty and insightful. But the speech attrached some controversy because Remnick chose…
The last line of Philip K. Dick’s underappreciated novel Confessions of a Crap Artist is probably one the best warnings to all of us who think we know something: And on the basis of past choices, it seems pretty evident that my judgment is not of the best. The reports, this past week, that the…