Wisconsin Regents Committee Approves Tenure Changes Without Discussion

BY HANK REICHMAN A controversial set of policies governing tenure at University of Wisconsin System schools that may threaten academic freedom were endorsed without debate Friday by a Board of Regents committee. “I’m stunned,” UW-Madison professor David Vanness, President of the UW-Madison AAUP, said of the swift approval. “I wonder whether due diligence is being…

photo of computer keyboard with shift button changed to green "news" button

AAUP/AFT-Wisconsin Statement on Proposed Regent Policies

The AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin today issued the following statement on draft policies on tenure issued by University of Wisconsin regents, which incorporate a number of sound elements, but fall short in other areas. To download the statement as a .pdf file, go here. For more on these proposals see UW-Milwaukee AAUP…

And This Is Why I Teach

My stepfather is dying.  I hate even using the word “step” because in every sense of the word, he is my father.  And he will be gone soon.  He is in hospice now.  There is a hospital bed in my mother’s living room.  There will be no more emergency room last ditch efforts to save…

Statement to the University of Wisconsin System Tenure Policy Task Force

Joint Statement of the UW-Milwaukee AAUP, UW-Whitewater AAUP, and UW-Madison AAUP executive committees to the UW System Tenure Policy Task Force. Milwaukee, Whitewater, and Madison, 17 September 2015 The University of Wisconsin has a one hundred year-long tradition of upholding the principles of academic freedom and shared governance as set forth by the American Association…

In Defense of Sara Goldrick-Rab

Sara Goldrick-Rab, a professor of educational policy and sociology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, is under fire for tweeting to some incoming freshman an article about the budget cuts and attacks on tenure at her institution. The campus College Republicans started a campaign denouncing her tweets as “disgusting and repulsive” and declared, “The…

AERA and ASHE Joint Resolution on Tenure and Academic Freedom in Wisconsin

The following resolution was released by the two organizations on June 30: The American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), as the two national scholarly associations devoted to the study of all education and higher education, respectively, affirm the principle that academic freedom, grounded in the tenure…