In a victory for free speech, the University of Wisconsin at Stout has reversed its earlier decision censoring posters put up by professor James Miller. FIRE, which led the crusade against the censorship, announced the reversal today and posted the letter from leading administrators: UW-Stout has reconsidered its decision to remove the two posters from…
The AAUP announced Friday that an investigating committee will visit Louisiana November 12-15 to look into discontinuance of academic programs within the University of Louisiana system and resulting potential termination of tenured appointments. See the letter announcing the visit. See an earlier statement on reports that the university system had embarked on what appeared to be…
In my last post, I examined “Education Start,” a deceptive site run by a company called Vantage Media. Education Start asks students which colleges they are interested in applying to, and promises it will give them information about applying. In reality, it gives their contact information to for-profit recruiters which are paying for leads. In…
Jane Mayer has an important article in the New Yorker about the influence of millionaire Art Pope in North Carolina politics and higher education. Pope funds the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, where director of research George Leef has been one of the loudest voices calling for the defunding of higher education…
My essay on due process violations at Northwestern University in the cases of David Protess and Michael Bailey appears at InsideHigherEd today. You can read more about the Protess case at my blog College Freedom. Peter Kirstein wrote about academic freedom and the Bailey case at his blog. While the two cases are very different…
Vanderbilt University has been under attack from FIRE and other conservatives for requiring all student groups to follow the campus non-discrimination policy in their constitutions. The Christian Legal Society, which imposes a Statement of Faith on all campus student leaders, has objected. I can never get anyone to answer my question about what I see…
By Joe Berry Some updates from the Chicago Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor. Bowling Green U (Ohio) condemn admin role in crafting bill to outlaw outlaw collective bargaining. Eastern Michigan U contract for new adjuncts union (AFT) approved. Adjunct exploited at Plymouth State U (NH). Good article on massive healthcare strike in CA (biggest in…
Laura Clawson at DailyKos writes about part-time student graduation rates and notes, “don’t try to pretend that economic factors aren’t affecting college completion rates.” Roger Shuler writes about being threatened with a libel suit by Ted Rollins, the CEO of a student-housing development company. Updates on the Cincinnati State strike: “‘We love our teachers,’ says…
On September 12, 2011, University of Wisconsin at Stout Professor James Miller posted on his office door the image of a character from the TV series Firefly and a quote from the show: “You don’t know me, son, so let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake. You’ll…
In an essay in the current issue of Academe, Elizabeth Cramer and Charles Ford discuss how, despite improvements in the climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students, staff, and faculty on college campuses over the last generation, discrimination persists. They cite the harassment and suicide of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi last fall, harassment…