BY BETHANY LETIECQ, TIM GIBSON, AND BETSY DEMULDER This is the first in a series of three George Mason-AAUP Academe Blog posts on lessons learned from the presidential search campaign. Presidential searches conducted at public universities have become secretive processes that exclude most if not all forms of public vetting and engagement. Historically, finalists for…
BY BETHANY LETIECQ, SAMANTHA PARSONS, AND GUS THOMSON We did it! We organized. We educated. We advocated. And with student activism, solidarity, and a collaborative spirit, we collectively achieved a huge victory for transparency at George Mason University (GMU). Last week, Provost Wu announced at our GMU Faculty Senate meeting that we will institute a…
BY JOHN K. WILSON The corruption at George Mason University has prompted some conservatives to jump to the defense of giving wealthy donors more influence. Jim Geraghty at National Review argues that “A Washington Post Scoop about the Koch Brothers Falls Apart.” But actually it’s Geraghty’s argument that quickly falls apart. According to Geraghty, “The headline in the…
BY BETHANY LETIECQ When I joined the George Mason University faculty in 2013, I had already had a taste of what could be achieved when faculty, students, community members, and organizations work together in common cause. Earlier in my career, I helped organize a faculty union at Montana State University and, in my community-based work…
BY HANK REICHMAN A little more than a month ago, Martin Kich posted to this blog a piece on the Koch network that prompted a lively and extensive exchange in the comments section between Conor Gibson of UnKoch My Campus, John Wilson, and Phil Magness, a professor at George Mason University, frequent commenter on this…
BY SAMANTHA PARSONS This is a guest post by Samantha Parsons, a graduate of George Mason University and co-founder of Transparent GMU. She is now a Grassroots Campaign Strategist at UnKoch My Campus. On February 9th, George Mason University students filed a lawsuit against their school and its fundraising arm, the George Mason University Foundation,…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This is the latest report from UnKoch My Campus. Although it does not entirely align with other recent discussions of this topic posted to this blog, I think that it contributes some new elements and details to that discussion: In the past month, state lawmakers across the country coordinated an…