Author Archives: E Wayne Ross

Kentucky: U of L creates office to help resolve disputes

Posted on October 3, 2008 | Comments Off on Kentucky: U of L creates office to help resolve disputes

Courier-Journal: U of L creates office to help resolve disputes

Plan to help settle disputes follows Felner controversy

The University of Louisville says it will create an interim office to assist its employees in resolving conflicts, disputes and complaints.
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The office’s creation is a response to concerns raised over the handling of grievances and complaints involving former U of L education Dean Robert Felner, who is the focus of a federal investigation into the alleged mishandling of grant money.

During Felner’s five-year tenure at the College of Education and Human Development, faculty and students filed 31 complaints and grievances against him, ranging from challenges to annual reviews to intimidation. …

The university has several other reviews under way. They include: an internal audit of the finances of the education college; an external audit of the university’s grants-management and contracts practices; a review of managerial and administrative practices at all the university’s schools and colleges; a review of the conflict of interest policy; and a review of circumstances surrounding the awarding of a doctoral degree during Felner’s tenure.

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Posted in Administration

Illinois: At U. of I., a question of supporting candidates on campus

Posted on October 3, 2008 | Comments Off on Illinois: At U. of I., a question of supporting candidates on campus

Chicago Tribune: At U. of I., a question of supporting candidates on campus

Students and professors at the University of Illinois decided to rally for Barack Obama on the Urbana-Champaign campus Thursday to make clear their stand on an increasingly controversial question as the November elections approach: Is it legal for employees and students at state colleges to express support for political candidates while on campus?

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Posted in Free speech, Protests

Maryland school superintendent with suspect PhD named deputy director of education at Gates Foundation

Posted on October 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Maryland school superintendent with suspect PhD named deputy director of education at Gates Foundation

UPDATED POST

John Deasy, superintendent of Prince Georges County (MD) public schools has resigned his post to become deputy directory of education for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Deasy received a PhD in 2004 after enrolling for 9-credits in one semester at the the University of Louisville. The University of Louisville recently named a blue-ribbon panel to investigate the awarding of the degree.

Deasy, had previously been involved in directing a $375,000 grant to a university research center that was run by Robert Felner, who was Deasy’s PhD supervisor and at the time dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Louisville. Felner is the focus of a ongoing federal criminal investigation.

WHAS11.com: Deasy, colleague of Felner who received PhD from U of L in 4 months, to work for Gates Foundation

But not over the controversy. Instead, John Deasy has become Deputy Director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Courier-Journal: School chief linked to Felner will leave for new job

Says controversy over doctorate unrelated

John Deasy, who got a doctorate from the University of Louisville after being enrolled only one semester, is leaving his job as superintendent of the Prince George’s County (Md.) Public Schools to become deputy director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Sentinel: PGCPS eyeing Deasy degree investigation

Prince George’s County Public Schools officials supported Superintendent John Deasy despite news of an unusually speedy doctorate, but said their legal counsel was following the University of Louisville’s investigation.

Deasy’s doctorate was called into question after a federal probe into former University of Louisville Dean Robert Felner revealed that Deasy received the degree in one-fourth the time slated by university policy. Felner, the focal point of the federal investigation, was dean at the time.

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Posted in Academics

Tension Grips Venezuelan Student Groups After Prominent Leader Is Murdered

Posted on October 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Tension Grips Venezuelan Student Groups After Prominent Leader Is Murdered

The Chronicle News Blog: Tension Grips Venezuelan Student Groups After Prominent Leader Is Murdered

Bogotá, Colombia — The murder of a Venezuelan student leader opposed to the policies of President Hugo Chávez has renewed tensions and fears among the country’s student organizations.

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Posted in Students

Adjuncts Fight Back Over Academic Freedom

Posted on October 1, 2008 | Comments Off on Adjuncts Fight Back Over Academic Freedom

The Chronicle: Adjuncts Fight Back Over Academic Freedom

Steven Bitterman was on his way to teach a course in Western civilization at Southwestern Community College last fall when his car slipped off the road. By the time he got back on the road, Mr. Bitterman’s clothes were muddy, so he returned home to clean up. That’s where he got a telephone call from one of the college’s vice presidents, saying he had been fired.

Three students, the vice president told Mr. Bitterman, were offended because he had told his class that people could more easily appreciate the biblical story of Adam and Eve if they considered it a myth.

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Posted in Academic freedom

AAUP Speaks Out Against No-Politicking Rules at U. of Illinois

Posted on September 30, 2008 | Comments Off on AAUP Speaks Out Against No-Politicking Rules at U. of Illinois

The Chronicle News Blog: AAUP Speaks Out Against No-Politicking Rules at U. of Illinois

The American Association of University Professors wants the University of Illinois to immediately withdraw guidelines that would put political activity — such as wearing campaign buttons or T-shirts or attending a political rally on university property — off limits for faculty members, staff members, and graduate employees.

Cary Nelson, the AAUP’s president and a professor at the university’s Urbana-Champaign campus, said in a written statement that “anecdotal responses suggest a chilling effect has already settled over” the university’s three campuses, in Chicago, Springfield, and Urbana-Champaign. The statement, in support of graduate-employee and staff rights, follows one in support of faculty members.

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Posted in Free speech

Canada: Strikes close university classes in Brandon, Windsor

Posted on September 30, 2008 | Comments Off on Canada: Strikes close university classes in Brandon, Windsor

Ottawa Citizen: Strikes close university classes in Brandon, Windsor

University classes were disrupted Monday at two Canadian universities as professors and staff at Brandon University in Manitoba walked off the job and a campus strike at the University of Windsor in Ontario entered Day 13.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Tennessee: 115 at University of Memphis will get buyout offer

Posted on September 30, 2008 | Comments Off on Tennessee: 115 at University of Memphis will get buyout offer

Commercial Appeal: 115 at University of Memphis will get buyout offer

Faculty, staff eyed in cost-saving effort

In a “novel” move that could save the University of Memphis $1.5 million, the Tennessee Board of Regents unanimously approved a plan Friday to offer voluntary buyouts to some faculty and staff as soon as Monday.

The board voted on the proposal Friday during its quarterly meeting at Dyersburg State Community College.

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Posted in Faculty

Wisconsin: Parkside chancellor search was flawed, Reilly says

Posted on September 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Wisconsin: Parkside chancellor search was flawed, Reilly says

TradingMarkets.com: Parkside chancellor search was flawed, Reilly says

(The Wisconsin State Journal – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) —

The people involved in the failed search for a chancellor at UW-Parkside could have done a better job of sharing information about the top candidate, University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly said Friday.

Reilly commissioned a review of the search process used to choose chancellors at all System schools after Robert Felner, who was hired as chancellor of UW-Parkside last spring, resigned amid a federal criminal investigation in Kentucky.

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Posted in Administration

Bailing Out the Foes of Public Education

Posted on September 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Bailing Out the Foes of Public Education

CounterPunch: Quoting Friedman All the Way …

Bailing Out the Foes of Public Education

By TODD ALAN PRICE
We live in dubious times when staunch deregulators howl for vigorous and immediate regulation.

Lessons from the past

In 1983, the release by the Reagan administration of the report A Nation at Risk, launched over two decades of attacks on public education by right wing foundations and corporate pundits. Teachers and students were ill equipped to defend against the Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institution, and the American Enterprise Institute, just a few of the many shock troops aiming their sights on the public schools.

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Posted in Government

Zimbabwe teachers union urge authorities to postpone examinations

Posted on September 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Zimbabwe teachers union urge authorities to postpone examinations

SW Radio Africa: Zimbabwe teachers union urge authorities to postpone examinations

School children from most government schools in the country have had no lessons since the school term opened this month because of a teachers strike. The strike for better wages has come at a time when many pupils are preparing to write their final O and A’ level examinations.

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Posted in Unions

Italy: Union protests brew trouble for Berlusconi

Posted on September 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Italy: Union protests brew trouble for Berlusconi

AFP: Union protests brew trouble for Berlusconi

ROME (AFP) — Italy’s leading trade union pulled tens of thousands onto the streets Saturday to protest against the social and economic policies of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing government.

According to union figures, 50,000 people demonstrated in the central region of Emilia-Romagna alone, another 30,000 in southern Naples, 20,000 in Sicily’s Palermo, 10,000 in northern Genoa as well as 15,000 in the capital itself.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Nigeria: Justification for the teachers’ strike

Posted on September 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Nigeria: Justification for the teachers’ strike

The Punch: Justification for the teachers’ strike

Under no circumstance should it be argued by any Nigerian citizen that the suspension of strike by the Nigerian Union of Teachers has positive sides, considering its unquantifiable cost on human resources, but could it have be avoided? Certainly not, consequent upon the following rationale behind the constant strikes witnessed in the nation‘s education sector.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Wisconsin: In wake of Felner debacle system looks to improve chancellor searches

Posted on September 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Wisconsin: In wake of Felner debacle system looks to improve chancellor searches

The Badger Herald: System looks to improve chancellor searches

Following a failed chancellor search at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, a consultant released a range of suggestions Friday for the system to improve future searches.

After UW System officials discovered that Robert Felner, the candidate slated to be UW-Parkside’s new chancellor, was under federal investigation for allegedly misappropriating funds during his previous position at the University of Louisville, they decided it was time to investigate ways to prevent such issues from occurring again, said UW System spokesperson David Giroux.

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Posted in Administration

Ontario: U Windsor faculty union mulls bad faith bargaining charges

Posted on September 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Ontario: U Windsor faculty union mulls bad faith bargaining charges

The Windsor Star: Union mulls bad faith bargaining charges
No end in sight for U of W strike

The union representing striking University of Windsor faculty and librarians said Friday it may pursue bad faith bargaining charges against the school’s administration.

Brian Brown, president of the Windsor University Faculty Association, said the union is looking at its legal options after the administration and the university board of governors released details to the media Tuesday of the employer’s final contract offer, put on the table before 1,000 professors and librarians walked off the job Sept. 17.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Ontario: U Windsor strike leaves students in limbo

Posted on September 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Ontario: U Windsor strike leaves students in limbo

The Chatham Daily News: Students left in limbo

University of Windsor president Alan Wildeman pulled the sympathy rug out from underneath striking faculty members this week, by releasing to the media financial details of the university’s latest offer.

Administration said Tuesday the salary of a professor would rise to $150,046 from $132,493 over three years if the faculty had taken the final offer, a composite 14-percent increase.

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Posted in Commentary, Strikes & Labor Disputes

Pennsylvania: Merit pay dispute brewing among Temple faculty

Posted on September 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Pennsylvania: Merit pay dispute brewing among Temple faculty

Philadelphia Inquirer: Merit pay dispute brewing among Temple faculty

A dispute is brewing within Temple University’s faculty as its union pushes for largely across-the-board raises while nonunion members advocate merit pay.

The Temple Association of University Professionals has proposed 5 percent across-the-board raises in each year of a four-year contract and 1 percent for merit raises. The faculty’s current contract expires Oct. 15.

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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits

Vermont: UVM full-time faculty ratify contract

Posted on September 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Vermont: UVM full-time faculty ratify contract

Burlington Free Press: UVM full-time faculty ratify contract

A new three-year contract providing annual pay raises of 5 percent has been ratified overwhelmingly by the full-time faculty bargaining unit at the University of Vermont.

The pact, effective retroactively to July 1 and running until July 2011, provides an increase in parental leave and a new family-care leave that one faculty negotiator, sociology professor Beth Mintz, called “by far and away the best policy in the country.” The parental leave provision gives up to 15 weeks, or one semester, of paid leave. The family-care leave allowance is six weeks paid.

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Posted in Campaigns & Contracts

Florida: Chancellor’s Exit Means Tough Search For State

Posted on September 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Florida: Chancellor’s Exit Means Tough Search For State

The Tampa Tribune: Chancellor’s Exit Means Tough Search For State

A lot was at stake last spring: The leader of Florida’s public universities warned top lawmakers that his schools were weakened by budget cuts and that a planned move by the Legislature to overhaul his system of higher education would erode its credibility.

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Posted in Administration

Illinois: Restrictions on politicking upset UI faculty

Posted on September 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Illinois: Restrictions on politicking upset UI faculty

News-Gazette: Restrictions on politicking upset UI faculty

Got a new Obama or McCain button you want to wear around the University of Illinois campus?

Want to circulate Democratic or Republican fliers on the Quad?
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If you’re a university employee, both of those activities are a no-no.

A memo sent to UI employees last week has raised the ire of some faculty members. The message cautions faculty and staff against wearing political campaign buttons, attending a candidate or party-specific rally on campus or participating in other political activity.

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Posted in Free speech