Academe Confronts a New Reality for Faculty
POSTED BY KELLY HAND The new issue of Academe considers the state of the academic profession in a political climate that has exacerbated existing threats to higher education. Articles focus on challenges to academic freedom and collective bargaining, the recent upsurge in harassment campaigns targeting faculty members, and faculty activism. Follow the links in the table of…
Trump Admin’s Actions Heighten Higher Ed’s Sense of Alarm
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL There has always been a historic tension between America’s colleges and universities and the government, whether at the state or federal level. It’s unavoidable. Once the government began to fund students and institutions in the late 20th century, its leaders believed that they had a right and responsibility to oversee the…
In Anticipation of Trump’s “Fake Media” Awards
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The following news release has been issued by the Committee to Protect Journalists: As U.S. President Donald Trump announces his “Fake Media” awards, the Committee to Protect Journalists names its global Press Oppressors—world leaders who use rhetoric, legal action, and censorship to try to silence their critics. The list features leaders…
Trump’s War on Science
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The New York Times Editorial Board has published a lengthy editorial on the Trump administration’s persistent efforts to deny scientific consensus and to place in positions of power people who share that disdain for scientific truths that conflict with narrow corporate interests and Far-Right ideological talking points. The editorial begins by…
Higher Ed Week Will Be Here before You Know It
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The Trump administration has been designating a theme for each week—most recently, Infrastructure Week, Workforce Development Week, and, this week’s rendition, Technology Week. (I recognize that Workforce Development Week involved a much-publicized visit to a community college, but I doubt that Trump, DeVos, or anyone else in his administration would see…
Trump Abandonment of Paris Climate Accord is Call to Action for Higher Education
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL On June 1, President Trump announced that he was taking the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord, making the U.S., Syria, and Nicaragua (which felt the deal was not sufficiently ambitious), the only nations not to support the agreement. The Paris Agreement sets a series of goals and is…
Oppose the Trump Administration’s Proposed Cuts to Higher Ed
BY KELLY HAND We already knew from the Trump administration’s initial “skinny” budget proposal, released in March, that higher education would be on the chopping block. The fleshed-out budget proposal released on May 22 details cuts that would have a devastating impact on student aid, the arts and humanities, scientific research, and international education. Following up…
Trump’s Early Moves Stifle Economic Engine of Higher Ed
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL In post-industrial America, the roles played by large nonprofits – especially its hospitals and universities – power the economic engines in many regional economies. What would cities like San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Boston look like without their large educational and medical research complexes? Would other cities, such as Houston, Chicago,…
A Message to the President
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following letter by forty-eight US university presidents and chancellors was sent to President Trump on February 2. President Donald J. Trump The White House United States of AmericaDear President Trump: We write as presidents of leading American colleges and universities to urge you to rectify or rescind the recent executive…