BY MICHAEL DECESARE Please mark your calendars: the AAUP will hold its shared governance conference online June 14 through June 18, 2021, and we are now accepting proposals for paper presentations on topics relating to academic governance. In addition to paper presentations, the conference will include panels, plenary presentations, and workshops for current and future…
POSTED BY JOHN K. WILSON The following open letter in support of Prof. Garrett Felber, to University of Mississippi Chancellor Boyce and the chair of the history department, was written in response to the news that Felber has been fired as an assistant professor of history. Although this open letter has no connection to the…
BY JOHN K. WILSON The outrage machine against “cancel culture” has already been put into full motion with Joseph Epstein, an emeritus lecturer at Northwestern University who retired from the English Department almost 20 years ago but still manages to annoy people with his rather stupid op-eds in the Wall Street Journal. The latest essay…
POSTED BY CAPRICE LAWLESS Below is a letter sent last week by the AAUP Colorado Conference to James W. C. White, the interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His reported plan to reduce tenure and tenure-track positions has received local and national coverage. James W. C.…
BY HANK REICHMAN Back in October when Lora Burnett, a history professor at Collin College in Texas, was hounded by internet trolls for a comment she made about Vice-President Mike Pence’s appearance during the vice-presidential debate, her administration buckled under the pressure and publicly denounced her, ignoring their own policy’s written commitment “to uphold vigorously…
BY IRENE MULVEY In a December 7 virtual listening session on higher education with the Biden-Harris transition team and other higher ed advocacy organizations, AAUP president Irene Mulvey delivered remarks about planning for a better future for higher education; supporting students, faculty, and staff; and repealing Trump administration policies. Thank you for inviting the AAUP…
BY GLENN COLBY AND CHELSEA FOWLER Today the AAUP released an in-depth look at the makeup and salaries of full-time faculty members in US higher education. Using data collected by the US Department of Education, this snapshot provides an updated demographic profile of full-time faculty by academic rank and institution type, highlighting disparities among women…
BY MATTHEW W. FINKIN Philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson died on November 20 at the age of ninety-one. Matthew W. Finkin remembers her and her service to the AAUP below. Philosophy has lost a luminary. The AAUP has lost a stalwart. I have lost a friend. In philosophy, one need only glimpse at the Encyclopedia of…
BY ANDREW ROSS In one of the great ironies of our times, Joe Biden, who did more than any other politician to make it harder for individuals to escape their credit card debts and student loans, is likely to discharge a significant chunk of education debt once he takes office in January. The “compromise and…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following is the text of a letter sent by the executive board of the Council of University of California Faculty Associations to UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia K. Larive on December 6. Dear Chancellor Larive, The Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA) rarely intervenes in matters that are not germane…