COVID-19 vaccine vial

How COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates May Skew Campus Viewpoints

BY PAUL DILLER COVID-19 vaccine mandates have been in effect at hundreds of universities for more than a year now. The 2022–2023 academic year is the second consecutive year during which many universities require some amount of COVID-19 vaccination from students, faculty, and staff.  As the Centers for Disease Control’s recent guide to COVID-19 prevention…

And Meanwhile, Back in Florida…

BY CAROLYN BETENSKY Earlier this month, I wrote of the conditions faculty were facing in COVID-denialist states.  Here is an update on recent developments in one of them. At the University of Florida, members of the Faculty Senate are polling campus stakeholders (faculty members, staff, and graduate assistants) regarding a proposed vote of no confidence…

UNC campus signs that say "did you remember your mask?"

The Illusion of Imminent Normality

BY MICHAEL SCHWALBE Last summer, even as COVID-19 cases were surging, university leaders in North Carolina tried to engineer a return to normal by August 2020. It famously failed. Soon after the start of the semester yielded a burst of COVID-19 clusters, the state’s two flagship universities, UNC–Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, shut…

tear in thick brown paper reveals the word "governance" in block letters on a white background

2021 AAUP Shared Governance Conference

BY MICHAEL DECESARE The 2021 AAUP Shared Governance Conference is in June, and there’s just one week left to submit a proposal for a paper presentation on a topic relating to academic governance. Authors are encouraged to explore connections between their institutions and other institutions, and to consider the application of AAUP governance policies. Possible areas of focus…

COVID-19 vaccine vial

Petition to Include Kansas and Missouri Post-Secondary Workers in Vaccine Prioritization

BY KANSAS AND MISSOURI AAUP CHAPTERS In the following petition directed at state and local politicians, Kansas and Missouri AAUP chapters demand equal prioritization for Kansas and Missouri post-secondary workers as their pre-K-12 counterparts: namely, that Kansas post-secondary workers be included in vaccine Phase 2 and Missouri workers in Phase 1b, Tier 3. Seventy-two percent…

person in mask holding vaccine vial in gloved hand

Front of the Classroom, Back of the Vaccination Line

BY JANET BOWDAN Here in Massachusetts, my university just posted a coronavirus update that notes, in passing, that “higher education is not part of Phase I and II of the vaccination plan.” Wait. Why aren’t higher education faculty and staff at least in Phase II? Obviously (at least to me), health care workers and first…

Call for Proposals: 2021 AAUP Shared Governance Conference

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…

student holding sign that says "I don't want to kill my professor"

The Necroliberal University Lives So Others May Die

BY BENJAMIN BALTHASER AND BILL V. MULLEN As US colleges and universities were preparing to reopen their doors in August, we wrote in our fall 2020 Academe article, “The Necroliberal University,” that the reopening reflected a “necroliberal” consensus among university administrators that the benefits of a return to normalcy—and fiscal solvency—outweighed the risks of the…