Author Archives: E Wayne Ross

Copyright Silliness on Campus

Posted on June 8, 2007 | Comments Off on Copyright Silliness on Campus

Washington Post: Copyright Silliness on Campus

What do Columbia, Vanderbilt, Duke, Howard and UCLA have in common? Apparently, leaders in Congress think that they aren’t expelling enough students for illegally swapping music and movies.

The House committees responsible for copyright and education wrote a joint letter May 1 scolding the presidents of 19 major American universities, demanding that each school respond to a six-page questionnaire detailing steps it has taken to curtail illegal music and movie file-sharing on campus. One of the questions — “Does your institution expel violating students?” — shows just how out-of-control the futile battle against campus downloading has become.

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Posted in Commentary, Legal issues

Students sue Ontario colleges for $200M

Posted on June 8, 2007 | Comments Off on Students sue Ontario colleges for $200M

Toronto Star: Students sue Ontario colleges for $200M

As a child-care worker, Dan Roffey knows the importance of teaching kids to play by the rules.

That’s why he was outraged to learn that not only were Ontario colleges “cheating” each student out of hundreds of dollars annually in extra fees he claims are expressly forbidden under a tuition freeze imposed by Queen’s Park, but that the province “turned a blind eye.”

“I think students will be wondering, as I am, what kind of message our college administrators are sending students when they tell me on the one hand that we’ll fail if we cheat on an assignment, but at the same time we catch them cheating on our fees,” Roffey, 26, told a news conference yesterday.

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Posted in Legal issues, Students

Corruption rife in world’s schools and universities

Posted on June 8, 2007 | Comments Off on Corruption rife in world’s schools and universities

The Guardian: Corruption rife in world’s schools and universities

Bribery and graft in schools and universities is seriously undermining education systems worldwide and costing governments billions of dollars, according to a new report funded by Unesco.

The report, “Corrupt schools, corrupt universities: What can be done?”, by Unesco’s international institute for educational planning into ethics and corruption, says education is plagued by rigged calls for tender, embezzlement, illegal registration fees and academic fraud, among other corrupt practices.

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Posted in Corruption, International

Australia: Editorial: Time to reform higher education

Posted on June 8, 2007 | Comments Off on Australia: Editorial: Time to reform higher education

The Australian: Editorial: Time to reform higher education
Central planning is depriving us of quality universities

WHEN the winds of micro-economic reform began to blow the cobwebs away in the Australian public sector two decades ago, it was unfortunate that higher education was walled off from change. Yet as Australia struggles to meet the shortage of skilled labour, it is time to address the rigidities in the tertiary sector that have rendered it incapable of responding flexibly to meet the demands of the labour market.

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Posted in Commentary, International

Massachusetts State’s higher ed $alaries sky-high

Posted on June 8, 2007 | Comments Off on Massachusetts State’s higher ed $alaries sky-high

Boston Herald: State’s higher ed $alaries sky-high

As Gov. Deval Patrick makes free community colleges the cornerstone of his education strategy, he’ll be wading into a system laden with six-figure salaries, sky-high administrative costs and perk jobs for cops, pols and judges.

The state’s 15 community colleges have an overall payroll of roughly $315 million, including 126 employees who made more than $100,000 in 2006, including every school president, a Herald review of payroll records found.

Presidents’ pay ranged from $140,400 for Berkshire Community College President Paul Raverta to $207,166 for Holyoke Community College President William Messner.

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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits

Corruption in education: breaking the taboo

Posted on June 8, 2007 | Comments Off on Corruption in education: breaking the taboo

UNESCO: Corruption in education: breaking the taboo

“Corrupt Schools, Corrupt Universities: What can be done?”, a report published by UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) will be launched on 6 June. Read the interview with authors Jacques Hallak and Muriel Poisson.

The IIEP will hold its first international Summer School on “Transparency, accountability and anti-corruption measures in education” from 6 to 15 June 2007.

Bribery in teacher recruitment, embezzlement of funds destined for education, faked calls for tender, illegal registration fees, academic fraud – the list goes on and on.

Based on six years of research and the experience of over 60 countries, “Corrupt Schools, Corrupt Universities” analyses the problem, points the way forward and outlines anti-corruption strategies, illustrated by success stories.

The IIEP Summer School on “Transparency, accountability and anti-corruption measures in education” will use the findings of the report.

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Posted in Publications

Venezuela students keep pressure on Chavez

Posted on June 8, 2007 | Comments Off on Venezuela students keep pressure on Chavez

MSNBC: Venezuela students keep pressure on Chavez

It could be the birth of a new opposition movement in Venezuela: Thousands of university students — their hands painted white as a symbol of nonviolence — returned to the streets Monday, keeping up a week of protests against President Hugo Chavez’s decision to force a popular TV station off the air.

Unlike earlier protests by opposition parties, the student marches have been dominated by a new generation of Venezuelans taking to the streets for the first time by the thousands in a coordinated challenge to Chavez.

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Posted in International

Alabama: Two year college administrators to get ethics instruction

Posted on June 6, 2007 | Comments Off on Alabama: Two year college administrators to get ethics instruction

Birmingham News: Byrne slates ethics instruction
Ethics chief to teach system administrators

MONTGOMERY – The man who once equated the state’s two-year college system with a Mafia family will be teaching ethics to the system’s presidents and senior administrators.

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Posted in Administration, Ethics

Mississippi: 2 profs critical of leader lose jobs

Posted on June 6, 2007 | Comments Off on Mississippi: 2 profs critical of leader lose jobs

Clarion Ledger: 2 profs critical of leader lose jobs

Two Mississippi Valley State University professors were fired weeks after they served on a faculty committee pressing for the ouster of President Lester Newman.

Losing their jobs effective immediately were professors Vickie Curry and Orian Cathey, who were among 10 on the panel slamming Newman’s “micromanagement” leadership style.

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Posted in Governance, Tenure & Promotion

Sharing Ideas About Sharing Files

Posted on June 6, 2007 | Comments Off on Sharing Ideas About Sharing Files

Inside Higher Ed: Sharing Ideas About Sharing Files

To use one of several metaphors to come out of Tuesday’s Congressional hearing on efforts to combat illegal downloading, colleges are finding themselves in the middle of a high-tech “arms race” between the recording and movie industries on one side and computer users, using increasingly clever methods to download copyrighted works for free, on the other.

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Posted in Open access

Wisconsin: Panel supports fixes for affirmative action

Posted on June 6, 2007 | Comments Off on Wisconsin: Panel supports fixes for affirmative action

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Panel supports fixes for affirmative action

A committee of Wisconsin legislators and citizens formed to review the state’s affirmative action policies approved at least two reform measures Monday night as members fought viciously over whether race and ethnicity should be considered in government contracting and university admissions.

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Posted in Diversity

Massachusetts Governor Proposes Free Community Colleges

Posted on June 5, 2007 | Comments Off on Massachusetts Governor Proposes Free Community Colleges

The New York Times: Massachusetts Governor Proposes Free Community Colleges

Community colleges in Massachusetts would be free to all students within 10 years under a proposal by Gov. Deval Patrick.

The plan would make Massachusetts the only state with no-cost community college. California’s system was free until 1984.

The plan is part of a broader 10-year proposal Mr. Patrick, a Democrat, unveiled Friday in a commencement address at the University of Massachusetts Boston. It calls for universal prekindergarten, full-day kindergarten and extending the school day and school year.

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Posted in Economics

Professor at MIT Resigns, Criticizing Its Dealings With a Colleague Who Was Denied Tenure

Posted on June 5, 2007 | Comments Off on Professor at MIT Resigns, Criticizing Its Dealings With a Colleague Who Was Denied Tenure

The Chronicle: Professor at MIT Resigns, Criticizing Its Dealings With a Colleague Who Was Denied Tenure

A prominent professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has resigned, saying the university breached an agreement to reconsider allegations that racism played a role in the decision to deny tenure to his colleague, James L. Sherley.

“I leave because I would neither be able to advise young blacks about their prospects of flourishing in the current environment, nor about avenues available to effect change when agreements or promises are transgressed,” Frank L. Douglas, executive director of the university’s Center for Biomedical Innovation, wrote in an e-mail message on Friday to MIT’s president and provost, among other officials. Mr. Douglas and Mr. Sherley are both black.

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Posted in Tenure & Promotion

UMass-Boston faculty pass no-confidence vote against system president

Posted on June 5, 2007 | Comments Off on UMass-Boston faculty pass no-confidence vote against system president

The Boston Globe: UMass-Boston faculty pass no-confidence vote against system president

Faculty leaders at the University of Massachusetts at Boston today voted overwhelmingly to approve a no-confidence measure against UMass president Jack Wilson, handing him his second rebuke for a proposal to restructure the five-campus system.

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Posted in Administration

New Front for Antiwar Movement

Posted on June 5, 2007 | Comments Off on New Front for Antiwar Movement

Inside Higher Ed: New Front for Antiwar Movement

There’s nothing like a fresh Defense Department contract to inject a little controversy into a flagging antiwar movement.

Not long ago, a Stanford Daily article asked, “Where have all the anti-war protests gone?” The answer may have come in the form of an April announcement that the university had won a five-year, $105 million military computing research contract.

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Posted in Faculty

UK: The move to boycott Israel will damage research and, ultimately, efforts to foster peace in the region.

Posted on June 5, 2007 | Comments Off on UK: The move to boycott Israel will damage research and, ultimately, efforts to foster peace in the region.

The Guardian: Divide and rule?

The move to boycott Israel will damage research and, ultimately, efforts to foster peace in the region. Colin Shindler reports

As reader in Israeli studies at Soas, University of London, I teach the Israel-Palestine conflict to large classes that include Palestinians, Israelis, Jews and Muslims. I do this without any difficulties in the multicultural environment at Soas, and I work hard for all my students. I am also a loyal trade unionist. While my union, the University and College Union (UCU), does not directly call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions – presumably for fear of legal action – the spirit of last week’s motion is just that.

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Posted in Commentary, International, Protests

Fence could leave part of Texas university on Mexico’s side

Posted on June 5, 2007 | Comments Off on Fence could leave part of Texas university on Mexico’s side

Houston Chronicle: Fence could leave part of Texas university on Mexico’s side

A proposed fence along the Mexico-U.S. border could leave a portion of the University of Texas at Brownsville and a Texas Southmost College campus on the Mexican side of the fence, a university official said Monday.

“I don’t think it would be appropriate to fence off the university on the Mexican side of the fence,” Antonio D. Zavaleta, UTB-TSC vice president for external affairs, said he told a government official. “I told him I wanted to go on the record pointing out a couple of things that are important that (he) may not have thought of,” he said in a story in today’s editions of the Brownsville Herald.

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Posted in Government

Cheated of Future, Iraqi Graduates Want to Flee

Posted on June 5, 2007 | Comments Off on Cheated of Future, Iraqi Graduates Want to Flee

The New York Times: Cheated of Future, Iraqi Graduates Want to Flee

They started college just before or after the American invasion with dreams of new friends and parties, brilliant teachers and advanced degrees that would lead to stellar jobs, marriage and children. Success seemed well within their grasp.

Four years later, Iraq’s college graduates are ending their studies shattered and eager to leave the country. In interviews with more than 30 students from seven universities, all but four said they hoped to flee immediately after receiving their degrees. Many said they did not expect Iraq to stabilize for at least a decade.

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Posted in International

British Columbia: Union Padlocks a Union

Posted on June 4, 2007 | Comments Off on British Columbia: Union Padlocks a Union

The Tyee: Union Padlocks a Union

The labour dispute between the BC Teachers Federation and its unionized administrative staff escalated last week as picket lines sprung up, doors were padlocked, and an Asian airline’s lawyer landed in the middle of the whole thing.

BCTF staffers began picketing outside offices of teachers’ unions in Burnaby, Surrey, Prince George and in the Okanagan-Similkameen. And at BCTF headquarters in Vancouver, picketers upped their efforts by placing a chain and padlock on the building’s front door.

The administrative staff, which is represented by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) local 464, has been locked out by the BCTF since May 2, although BCTF spokespeople insist the lockout was prompted by the administrative staff effectively conducting a strike inside the building.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes, Unions

MIT center director resigns in protest of tenure decision

Posted on June 4, 2007 | Comments Off on MIT center director resigns in protest of tenure decision

The Boston Globe: MIT center director resigns in protest of tenure decision

A prominent Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and pharmaceutical researcher has resigned in protest over the case of James L. Sherley , an MIT colleague who held a 12-day hunger strike in February after he did not receive tenure, faculty members and school officials said.

Frank L. Douglas , executive director of the MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation , wrote in an e-mail obtained by the Globe that he will leave the university at the end of the month because of MIT’s refusal to reconsider its decision not to grant Sherley tenure.

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Posted in Tenure & Promotion