One of the dangers of the over-reliance on (some would say “abuse of” and I would not argue) adjuncts and other contingent hires is that it creates a pressure-cooker environment for those particular teachers, one that sometimes explodes–as it did yesterday for adjunct and Slate contributor Rebecca Schuman. Writing, putatively, about student essays and whether or not they…
In late October, Federal prosecutors in El Paso, Texas, formally charged Marco Antonio Delgado with conspiring to launder $600 million in drug profits for the Mexican Milenio Cartel. Delgado was a prominent attorney and known in El Paso and beyond as a generous philanthropist. The investigation that led authorities to Delgado began in 2007 when…
Published by AlterNet, C. J. Werleman’s “Look at the Stats: America Resembles a Poor Country” presents a succinct survey of data that suggests that the American Dream is becoming an ever more remote possibility for more and more Americans. Here is an excerpt from the article [the full text of which can be found at…
I’ve always had some ambivalent feelings about boycotts. I agree with the AAUP’s strong and principled opposition to academic boycotts, and I think engagement in almost every case is better than a boycott. On the other hand, I believe that individuals have the right to engage in boycotts, that institutions have the right to urge…
The next image was posted very recently online and caused Lehigh University to suspend the Chi Phi fraternity.
Never mind that the Ohio legislature continues to cut funding to K-12 education and local communities or that those cuts have resulted in the loss of thousands of teaching positions and local civil-service jobs. Never mind that the Ohio legislature continues to give tax breaks to the most affluent Ohioans and Ohio corporations, even as…
An “On the Issues” Post from the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education [http://futureofhighered.org] _______________ Many colleges and universities around the country are cutting programs (or have already done so) that just a few years ago were considered at the core of any college or university. The case of one campus highlights the price…
Our Dignity and Our Rights Have No Price On August 13, 2013 the employees of the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) received an email notifying them that beginning in the fall all would have to submit to a daily biometric scanning system to verify their attendance. Some of us were able to verify at our…
In late July, the New Jersey Department of Health provided a detailed news release on Meningitis B and the outbreak of cases at Princeton University. The news release included this summary of the first five cases, which had been reported between March 13 and July 24, 2013: “As of July 24, there have been a…
To Graça Machel and the Mandela family; to President Zuma and members of the government; to heads of states and government, past and present; distinguished guests — it is a singular honor to be with you today, to celebrate a life like no other. To the people of South Africa — people of every race…