Author Archives: E Wayne Ross

U of Hawaii seeks to delay faculty paychecks by 1 day to save cash

Posted on September 7, 2009 | Comments Off on U of Hawaii seeks to delay faculty paychecks by 1 day to save cash

Star-Bulletin: UH seeks to delay faculty paychecks by 1 day to save cash

The University of Hawaii administration is negotiating with the faculty union to save $12 million this fiscal year through a delay in issuing paychecks.

If the administration and the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly can agree, unionized faculty members would see their June 30, 2010, paycheck pushed back to July 1, when the 2011 fiscal year begins. They will also likely see their paychecks pushed back a day for the next four pay periods.

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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits

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University Administrators Fight to Line Their Own Pockets

Posted on September 7, 2009 | Comments Off on University Administrators Fight to Line Their Own Pockets

California Chronicle: University Administrators Fight to Line Their Own Pockets

SACRAMENTO – University of California and California State University administrators have killed a bill that would have limited executive pay raises during bad budget years.

Despite the fact that the Senate Appropriations Committee found no costs to the bill and the Assembly Appropriations Committee´s analysis estimated a significant cost-savings, the Assembly Appropriations Committee today held the bill on their suspense file without allowing a vote. Normally, the suspense file is used to kill bills that have a significant cost to the state.

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Posted in Administration, Government, Salary/Economic Benefits

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Protests in Mexico after Oaxaca teacher killed

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AP: Protests in Mexico after Oaxaca teacher killed

(AP) – Aug 28, 2009

OAXACA, Mexico — Protest barricades returned to the streets of this southern Mexico city Friday after a teacher was killed and two other people were wounded during an apparent clash between rival unions in another part of the state.

Oaxaca city, capital of the state of the same name, was brought to a standstill for months in 2006 by protests sparked by a teachers strike, until federal security forces finally moved in and cleared out demonstrators.

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Posted in Protests

Washington: Kent teachers delay decision on whether to stay on strike

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Seattle Times: Kent teachers delay decision on whether to stay on strike

About 1,300 striking Kent School District teachers have put off until Monday evening their decision on whether to obey a judge’s order that they return to the classroom Tuesday.

About 1,300 striking Kent School District teachers have put off until Monday evening their decision on whether to obey a judge’s order that they return to the classroom Tuesday.

The teachers planned to rally at 11 a.m. today in front of the district office on Southeast 256th Street and said they would continue picketing over the weekend.

In the meantime, some 26,000 students in the state’s fourth-largest district remain out of school, forcing parents to scramble for emergency day care, upsetting plans for seniors hoping to graduate on time and causing what King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Darvas on Thursday called “irreparable damage” to students and parents.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Cuba Denies Exit Permits to Students With U.S. Scholarships

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The Chronicle: Cuba Denies Exit Permits to Students With U.S. Scholarships

The Cuban government has denied exit permits to 30 Cuban college students who had been offered scholarships by the U.S. Department of State for academic programs at American colleges, and several of the students have been expelled by their home institutions.

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Posted in Government, Students

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Staff Unions at U. of California Vote No Confidence in President

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San Francisco Chronicle: UC workers deliver no-confidence vote to Yudof

The top brass at the University of California say it’s “nothing more than a publicity stunt” and a “tantrum” – and they might be right.

But when labor unions representing about 70,000 UC employees said Thursday that 96 percent of staff and faculty at all 10 campuses had signed a vote of no confidence in UC President Mark Yudof, the message was clear: Employees at the public university are angry.

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Posted in Administration, Unions

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Montgomery College Trustees Oust Its President

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Inside Higher Ed: Montgomery College Trustees Oust Its President

The Board of Trustees at Montgomery College voted late Thursday to end the presidency of Brian K. Johnson, amid faculty discontent over his alleged misspending and reports that he faces prison time in Arizona for non-payment of child support. The faculty at the two-year institution in Washington’s Maryland suburbs voted no confidence in Johnson last week, citing evidence they’d accumulated that he had spent tens of thousands of dollars on questionable expenses. And Thursday, The Washington Times reported that police officers in Arizona have a warrant out for his arrest that would land him in jail if he returned to the state. In a statement, the chairman of the college’s board said it had decided not to renew Johnson’s contract and had placed him on administrative leave immediately. Johnson came to Montgomery College from the Community College of Allegheny County just two years ago.

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Posted in Uncategorized

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Ariz. warrant cites Md. college president

Posted on September 7, 2009 | Comments Off on Ariz. warrant cites Md. college president

Washington Times: Ariz. warrant cites Md. college president
Montgomery board mulls Johnson’s fate

Maricopa County sheriff’s detectives want to talk with embattled Montgomery College President Brian K. Johnson about an outstanding warrant that would land him in jail if he returned to Arizona.

Capt. Larry Farnsworth said the department is looking at Mr. Johnson, who is accused of owing at least $12,000 in child support in Maricopa County, Ariz., and confirmed the warrant is still active in that state.

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Posted in Administration, Legal issues

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Israel Bars Some Foreign Academics Who Teach in the West Bank

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The Chronicle: Israel Bars Some Foreign Academics Who Teach in the West Bank

Israel has clamped down on the movement of foreign academics teaching at Palestinian universities in the West Bank, barring some from entering the region altogether or stamping “Palestinian Authority only” in the passports of others, preventing them from entering Israel.

An English-language instructor from Ireland who taught for several years at the Arab American University, in Jenin, was refused entry on August 23 when she returned to the West Bank to take up a new

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Montgomery College, in Maryland, Puts President on Leave for Rest of His Term

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The Chronicle: Montgomery College, in Maryland, Puts President on Leave for Rest of His Term
Maryland’s Montgomery College Puts President on Leave

Brian K. Johnson, president of Montgomery College, has been placed on administrative leave with pay, the chairman of the Maryland institution’s Board of Trustees said after emerging from a four-hour closed-door meeting of the board on Thursday night.

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Posted in Accountability

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Faculty Strike Shuts Down Michigan’s Oakland U.

Posted on September 7, 2009 | Comments Off on Faculty Strike Shuts Down Michigan’s Oakland U.

The Chronicle: Faculty Strike Shuts Down Michigan’s Oakland U.

The first day of the fall semester at Oakland University was marked today by the start of a faculty strike that forced the 18,000-student public college in Michigan to cancel classes indefinitely.

The Oakland University chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which represents roughly 600 faculty members, has been in contract talks with the university since mid-May. Among the sticking points are workload issues, how to include the institution’s medical school in the contract, the elimination of some health-insurance plans, no new salary increases, and cuts in summer pay, the union said.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

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Independent Antioch College to Be Created

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Inside Higher Ed: Independent Antioch College to Be Created Friday

A final deal to revive Antioch College — independent of Antioch University — will be signed Friday. The agreement was announced by the Great Lakes Colleges Association, which has helped promote the negotiations between the alumni leaders who will be managing the revived college and the university’s board.

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Posted in Academics

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Michigan: Oakland University teachers may be absent for 1st day of class today

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Detroit Free Press: Oakland University teachers may be absent for 1st day of class today
Boycott possible if contract talks stall

Students will file into the first day of classes at Oakland University this morning, but there may be no one to greet them.

Faculty members of the OU chapter of the American Association of University Professors voted Wednesday evening to authorize the union to call a job action, which could result in faculty boycotting classes.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Hiding Adjuncts From ‘U.S. News’

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Inside Higher Ed: Hiding Adjuncts From ‘U.S. News’

Everyone knows that adjuncts and graduate assistants do a lot of the teaching these days, right? Well, maybe not everyone.

The American Federation of Teachers on Wednesday posted a blog item asking how it is, given those well documented trends, that magazine rankings give parents the sense that most of the teaching at large universities is done by full-time faculty members. “The majority of top colleges report well over 80 percent of their faculty are full-time and a large number report that well over 90 percent of their faculty are full-time. University of Nebraska-Lincoln even reports that 100 percent of its faculty are full-time,” the blog says of institutions in the U.S. News & World Report rankings, a small part of which are based on the percentage of faculty who are full time. “Amazing!”

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Posted in Media

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University of Miami to investigate police misconduct allegations

Posted on September 7, 2009 | Comments Off on University of Miami to investigate police misconduct allegations

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A UM police officer points a gun at Jordan Chusid, a junior political science major who had just transferred from the University of Central Florida. Chusid said he was talking on his cellphone and walking to the parking lot after a Spanish class.

Miami Herald: University of Miami to investigate police misconduct allegations

University of Miami officials opened an investigation into the actions of campus police officers who questioned a UM student at gunpoint over a stolen motorcycle that turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.

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Judge dismisses suit to force Tulane University to reopen Newcomb College

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Times-Picayune: Judge dismisses suit to force Tulane University to reopen Newcomb College

A suit seeking to compel Tulane University to resurrect Newcomb College was dismissed today by Civil District Judge Rosemary Ledet, who denied the plaintiffs’ claim that Tulane was obligated to keep the college open.

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Posted in Legal issues

The Antioch Fight — Refought

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Inside Higher Ed: The Antioch Fight — Refought

Following years of turmoil, Antioch College may be about to be revived, independent of Antioch University, which many of the college’s advocates blame for its problems.

The American Association of University Professors is today releasing an analysis of the conflict, arguing that it is a “cautionary tale” about what happens when a board ignores the faculty role in governance. Antioch University leaders in turn are releasing their version of events, accusing the AAUP of being unfair.

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Posted in Corporate University, Faculty, Unions

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U. of Illinois Chancellor Apologizes to Faculty

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The Chronicle: U. of Illinois Chancellor Apologizes to Faculty

Richard Herman, the embattled chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, delivered a remorseful apology to the university’s Faculty Senate today over his role in the “clout” scandal, according to The News-Gazette, a local newspaper. Faculty members, who reportedly applauded after Mr. Herman’s speech, postponed their scheduled vote on a resolution calling for his resignation and that of B. Joseph White, the university system’s president.

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Posted in Administration

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Doctoral Students Think Teaching Assistantships Hold Them Back

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The Chronicle: Doctoral Students Think Teaching Assistantships Hold Them Back

A new survey of recent Ph.D. recipients has found that more than four out of five of those who received paid teaching assistantships believe that having them prolonged their doctoral education, though not enough to keep them from completing the programs in a timely manner.

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Posted in Students

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Purge of Iranian Universities Is Feared

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The New York Times: Purge of Iranian Universities Is Feared

CAIRO — As Iran’s universities prepare to start classes this month, there is growing concern within the academic community that the government will purge political and social science departments of professors and curriculums deemed “un-Islamic,” according to academics and political analysts inside and outside Iran.

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Posted in Academic freedom

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