BY MATTHEW BOEDY Two recent major surveys on public opinion about higher education offer differing details but the same dark picture of public opinion about higher education. They also offer the same roadmap for faculty advocacy to reverse that dangerous trend. First, there was a Chronicle of Higher Education survey in early September. The Chronicle…
POSTED BY SUE RAMLO A couple of months ago, the Provost’s office sent faculty, through their deans, a survey, asking us what we thought the criteria for firings should be. Akron-AAUP saw this for what it was: direct dealing with faculty, and a failed attempt to legitimize the gutting of the faculty. At the time,…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The following is an open letter sent by the members of the Wittenberg AAUP chapter to their university president. The Ohio Conference AAUP fully supports the chapter and their efforts to promote and enforce standards of shared governance. June 9, 2020 An Open Letter to the President, Provost, Board of…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH AAUP-AFT Rutgers has posted this statement on its website: The Rutgers University administration has notified nearly all of its unions that it is taking the first steps toward implementing a fiscal emergency, thereby jeopardizing the futures of our 20,000-plus union members, their families, and communities throughout New Jersey. By declaring a…
BY JOHN MCNAY One of the truly frustrating things about working for reforms in higher education is to get our college and university administrators to put education first and not allow the resources of the institutions to get hijacked for other purposes. The inability to focus on the real problems is widespread and yet the…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Our administration has asked our chapter to meet with them to discuss budget shortfalls. Noeleen McIlvenna, our chapter president, and other members of our executive committee recruited groups of faculty who have done detailed research on multiple “cost centers” on which the university has not adjusted its spending despite the financial…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Last week, Melissa Korn reported in the Wall Street Journal that Oberlin, the University of Chicago, George Washington University, Washington University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, among others, have extended their January application deadlines. She notes, “Some offered the extra time only to seniors who began but didn’t submit applications. Others sent broad…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL In our new book, How to Run a College: A Practical Guide for Trustees, Faculty, Administrators and Policymakers, Dr. W. Joseph King and I assert that the current operating model by which colleges meet their expenses no longer works. This financial crisis is best viewed through one revealing statistic – the…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL There are wide variations in the levels of financial support that alumni offer to their alma maters. While alumni giving rates at a few select colleges and universities may approach 60% of the identifiable alumni, most institutions have substantially lower levels. It’s a persistent source of discussion in budget conversations on…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL One of the most interesting responsibilities as a college president is to serve as a member of the president-led athletic conferences. With experience as a chair of conferences at the Division I and Division III levels, I can report that there are some striking differences between the divisions. But what stands…