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
Tagged graduate students, Teaching, teaching assistantships, Working conditions
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
Tagged Academic freedom, Faculty, Iran, Islam, Politics
World University News: NEW ZEALAND: Lower pay rises ahead
New Zealand’s university staff are facing the end of a run of significant pay rises amid concern that the government is taking an unprecedented, and unwelcome, interest in the tertiary education sector’s pay deals.
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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits
Denver Post: Colorado higher-ed director Skaggs resigns
The official, often at odds with state college presidents, cites a dispute with Gov. Bill Ritter.
Citing a dispute with Gov. Bill Ritter about “a matter which . . . we could not agree,” higher-education chief David Skaggs announced his resignation Friday afternoon.
Neither the governor’s office nor the Department of Higher Education would elaborate on the disagreement. Skaggs had been at the helm of the department for 2 1/2 years.
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Colorado, resignations
Chicago Tribune: Chicago State gets $40 million surprise
State lawmakers plan funding for a West Side campus that the struggling school didn’t request
The president of Chicago State University was scanning the newspaper before an executive staff meeting when he did a double-take. Frank Pogue learned his South Side school would be building an extension campus on the West Side, and state lawmakers were allocating $40 million for it.
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Posted in Budgets & Funding
Tagged Budgets & Funding, Chicago State U, Government
The Grand Rapids Press: Calvin College professors call for discussion about memo warning against homosexual advocacy
Calvin College professors say they want a campus discussion about academic freedom after being told it is “unacceptable” for them to advocate for homosexual issues and same-sex marriage.
College employees received a memo last week saying the Board of Trustees has revisited issues surrounding the college’s position on homosexuality, concluding it is “unacceptable” for faculty and staff to teach, write or advocate on behalf of the issue.
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Posted in Diversity
Tagged Calvin College, Sexuality
News-Gazette: UI’s Global Campus staffers given notice of layoffs
URBANA – Virtually the entire University of Illinois Global Campus staff, which services about 500 students in the online education program, has been notified of layoffs.
Meanwhile, the leader of Global Campus has moved back to faculty status but retains the $344,850 salary he earned as administrator, at least for the next year.
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Posted in Academics, Budgets & Funding, Corporate University
Tagged Corporate University, Distance Education, Layoffs, U of Illinois
Inside Higher Ed: Labor Secretary Clarifies Remarks on Adjuncts
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis last week gave an interview to National Public Radio in which she answered a listener’s question about adjunct instructors in a way that some viewed as questioning their commitment to teaching — but she has now clarified her comments. The comment in question, found toward the bottom of this transcript, is: “[T]he continuance of involvement on the part of part-time faculty members I think is a legitimate issue and should be looked at. Because as it stands, you also find that that faculty member is not as inclined to stay committed to those groups of students that they do teach because they’re off to different — other — what they call, freeway traveling or teaching.…” The American Federation of Teachers approached the Labor Department about the issue and published this statement of clarification that the AFT received: “Adjunct faculty are being particularly hard-hit by the financial crisis at the state level. They deserve to be represented in collective bargaining, and their collective bargaining agreements should be respected. I certainly was not implying that adjuncts are not committed to their students, or that they are anything other than excellent educators. In fact, my involvement with California community colleges has shown me that they are committed professionals who are dedicated to helping students succeed. What I wanted to get across is that, too often, adjunct faculty do not get the level of compensation or professional supports that full-time faculty receive to advise students academically, follow students through their academic careers, develop the college’s curriculum, etc. Too many adjuncts, I noted, wind up needing to move from college to college each week just to put together a small living.”
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Posted in Contingent labor
Tagged adjuncts, Contingent labor, Government
This is the news of the demand for revocation of the 88 lecturers laid off by Korea University.
It is understood that 88 lecturers from Korea University, and 5,000-10,000 lecturers in the whole country, have been the victims of lay-offs.
If it was a typical company those who were fired could fight and in the case of Ssangyong Motors, they fought and were able to achieve a half-victory. However if a fired lecturer fights, in the academic world that lecturer would be labelled as a troublemaker, and it would be the end of his career. It is worse than simply being put on a blacklist. Even I myself teach every semester with the thought that it may be my last one to seek university normalization. So even though all of the 88 lecturers are as one in resenting the dismissal, they cannot step forward to fight it.
One laid off lecturer says: I don’t want to lecture anymore. Another lecturer who has a PhD says: My child are just two so I can’t speak up. Another lecturer said to his department, I received to teach three courses in the second semester; but I can’t teach any longer because I can’t stand this Korea University which only gives lip service to academic freedom and conscience’. The department said it was struggling with the university so they should be a little patient.
On Koreapas (koreapas.net) one laid-off lecturer’s wife posted the desperate words below, on 8. 23:
The following is what i posted online on July 10 on the university homepage’s Cyber-inspection room for online petitions. Since I received no reply I posted it on the free bulletin board, but maybe because it became old it has been removed and I am re-posting it here. Whatever is the reason we need a cyber-inspection room, if they simply ignore what people post without responding at all? It would be less embarrassing if they simply got rid of it….
‘I am the wife of an hourly paid lecturer who is teaching at your esteemed university.
A few days ago, my husband was contacted by a department professor who told him that since he has worked over 4 terms in the second semester he would be dismissed.
The department professor told him, this instruction was passed to them through an official notice from the university central department in relation to the irregular worker act.
What I don’t understand is, my husband already received the instruction to proceed teaching in the second semester at the end of the first semester; the teaching schedule for the second semester has already been posted and students’ course applications already received, and the irregular worker act does not even apply.
That even a famous private university, Korea University which is called the people’s university, would do this kind of excessive and rude act is a fact that makes me angry and miserable.
I even think that now there are no longer any teachers existing, who think of education seriously. It only inspires disillusionment and contempt that, in this country, the university itself is the place that is turning a large number of hourly lecturers who are responsible for education, into a socially weak and marginalized class.
I hope that you can abandon the false image of authority which is not even recognized, and wake up and clarify this for us.’
Even though he had no security for his future, my husband lived with fulfillment from teaching his students and juniors. But now I see that he has lost all motivation and as his wife I feel anxious and insecure.
I feel, it is not right to use and dispose of a person like this.
I feel, it is not right to ignore even the students’ right to study as they choose, like this.
I wonder, as an alumnus of Korea University myself, whether I should just accept all this, and so I ask for the rest of the Korea University community for your thoughts…
***
On August 21, 10 a.m., in front of the central Anam Building of Korea Univerdity, a press conference titled ‘Please let us have our teachers back!’ was held by Korea Univ student unions, where over 40 people attended, including Chung Tae-ho, president of Anam Campus of Korea Univ. student union, Lee Sae-ra, vice president of Sejong Campus of Korea Univ. student union, representatives of College of Political Economy, representatives of College of Liberal Arts, Kim Dong-ae, head of Central Struggle Committee for Restoration of University Teacher Status of University Lecturers and Normalization of University education, Song Hwan-woong, vice director of National Association of School Parents for Genuine Education, Do Chun-soo, president of Korea University Democracy Alumni Association, and others. Reporters from several media attended including MBC, SBS, YTN, Seoul Newspaper, Hangook University Newspaper, Korea University Newspaper, Bae Lusia Int! ! ernet, etc. and YTN has reported on it.
Korea University union local leader Kim Young-kon said, ‘Whether from the aspect of the irregular worker protection act or raising the quality of lecturers, there are no grounds for dismissing the lecturers.’ Vice director Song Hwan-woong said ‘Apart from university entrance, if you want to improve the quality of university education and university lecturers, the dismissal of the lecturers must be revoked and their status as university teachers restored. President Do Chun-soo said, ‘Korea University must restore the jobs of the dismissed lecturers, and vice president Lee Ki-su of the Korean University Association should join in calling for the restoration of university teacher status to lecturers.’ President Jung Tae-ho said, ‘Give back our teachers.’ Vice president Lee Sae-ra said, ‘ The dismissal of our teachers is unfair and we demand revocation of the dismissals.’ Resolutions continued to be read out and shared.
****
You can send a letter to want revocation of laid-off lecturers of Korean University to below emails.
President of Korea University Lee Ki-su, e-kisu@korea.ac.kr
President of Republic of Korea, Lee Myung-bak, webmaster@president.go.kr
Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Ahn Byung-man, webmaster@mest.go.kr
Head of Korean Council for University Education & President of Ewha University, Lee Bae-yong. master@ewha.ac.kr
Head of the Committee for Education and Science & Technology of Korean National Assembly, Lee Jong-kul, anyang21@hanmail.net
Kim Young-kon, Korea University union local leader
Kim Dong-ae, head of Central Struggle Committee for Restoration of University Teacher Status of University Lecturers and Normalization of University education
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Posted in Unions
Tagged Contingent labor, Korea, Korea University, Layoffs
The Chronicle: Faculty Members at 2-Year College in Md. Vote No Confidence in President
Professors at Montgomery College voted no confidence late Thursday in Brian K. Johnson, president of the prominent Maryland community college since 2007. About half the college’s full-time faculty members overwhelmingly passed a resolution criticizing Mr. Johnson’s leadership and alleging that he has consistently skipped important meetings and events.
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Posted in Administration
Tagged community colleges, Montgomery College, no confidence vote, University presidents
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Jury awards whistle-blower student $450,000
When she was thrown out of nursing school just 13 weeks before graduating, Sara Castle was humiliated.
Still, she knew she and her classmates weren’t getting the clinical training they needed because an instructor repeatedly dismissed students early — a practice Castle exposed, and the teacher was fired.
But Castle, too, was a casualty as Appalachian Technical College expelled her for, she asserts, blowing the whistle.
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Posted in Legal issues
Tagged Appalachian Technical College, Legal issues, whistle-blowers
Chicago Tribune: U. of I. admissions scandal: Faculty panel wants leadership change at school
Replacing Herman and White best for school, panel says
University of Illinois faculty leaders urged Thursday that the institution’s president and chancellor be replaced to restore public confidence following a monthslong admissions scandal.
“An orderly transition to new leadership for both of these positions is in the best interests of this campus, and the university,” according to a statement approved by the 15-member Senate Executive Committee.
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Posted in Administration, Scandals
Tagged Admissions, Scandal, U of Illinois
Inside Higher Ed: Punishing a Whistle Blower?
A year ago, Gerald J. Davey, an adjunct at San Antonio College, was the whistle blower on a practice that angered fellow adjuncts nationwide.
The college, like many, has rules that provide benefits and higher base pay to those who teach 12 credits or more. But as a condition of receiving some courses that put them at the 12-credit threshold, some adjuncts were being required to agree in writing to pretend that they were only teaching 11 credits. So adjuncts who needed the base pay had to lie, and lose out on benefits, to get the courses they needed.
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Posted in Contingent labor, Working conditions
Tagged adjuncts, Contingent labor, San Antonio C, whistle-blowers
Canadian Press: Canada’s top court refuses to hear B.C. unions’ appeals about one-day strikes
VANCOUVER, B.C. — Two prominent British Columbia unions have lost their bid to have the Supreme Court of Canada decide whether a pair of one-day walkouts were Charter-protected political protests or illegal strikes.The teachers’ and health-workers’ unions staged separate walkouts in 2002 and 2003 to protest a provincial law that stripped their collective agreements – walkouts the province’s Labour Relations Board ruled were illegal.
Examiner.com: Pending strike for east bay schools
Teachers come out in droves for a strike authorization vote in East Bay District of West Contra Costa Unified School District, WCCUSD. They voted 93% yes, authorizing the United Teachers of Richmond, UTR, the authority to strike.
Wichita Business Journal: Teachers union rejects proposed contract
Untied Teachers of Wichita rejected a tentative agreement with the board of education, with 56 percent voting against the contract that called for pay freezes, elimination of bonuses and increases in health care premiums. In all, 2,684 teachers voted.
Providence Journal: 15 teacher contracts remain unresolved in R.I.
With just days to go before the start of school, a high number of school districts have unsettled teacher contracts, an indication of the tough financial times facing communities, say education and union officials.
NarcoNews: The Learning Curve of the Teachers vs. the Honduras Coup
AUGUST 23, 2009, SABA, HONDURAS: The classrooms were empty but the assembly hall was full. Last Thursday afternoon, more than two hundred striking schoolteachers and other members of the civil resistance from the northeastern state of Colón gathered at the city high school to chart their next steps.
Arab News: PA dismisses teachers, arrests Hamas loyalists
RAMALLAH: Hamas on Saturday said that the West Bank-based government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has dismissed 17 Palestinian teachers following recommendation from the Palestinian Authority security forces.
Toronto Sun: Oh, no, not another strike!
Toronto’s public high school teachers still don’t have a new contract, but at least they’re still talking
Free Press: Detroit unions threaten to strike over cuts
They rally in protest over plans that call for furloughs, layoffs and labor concessions
Public employees and members of several Detroit labor unions threatened to strike Wednesday in response to Mayor Dave Bing’s plans to trim the city’s budget through furloughs, layoffs and union concessions. Representatives from AFSCME Local 207, the Detroit Federation of Teachers and the activist group By Any Means Necessary threatened to strike if Bing and Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb continue to lay off people and threaten bankruptcy and wage and benefit cuts.
Detroit News: Editorial: Strike would damage chance for recovery
A strike by public employees in Detroit would hurt recovery chances for the city and region
The last thing Detroit needs is a strike by its public employees. The city and region are reeling from the shrinkage of the domestic auto industry and declining tax revenues. A labor walkout would seriously hurt the chances of this area to join in any economic recovery in the rest of the nation.
Nigeria: ASUU Strike Threatens National Interest
Lagos Civil Society Alliance of Nigeria, a Kaduna-based rights group, has appealed to Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to embrace dialogue with the Federal Government and suspend its six-week-old strike in the interest of students.Addressing a press conference in Lagos, the group’s convener, Bashir Abdul, expressed concern over ASUU’s plight, but pleaded with the university dons to rev…
The Post (Zambia): PTUZ calls for reimbursement of teachers’ salaries
NEWLY formed Professional Teachers Union of Zambia (PTUZ) interim president Osward Matandiko has challenged teacher unions to reimburse teachers salary deductions they are suffering as a result of taking part in the recent strike action. Matandiko said Basic Education Teachers Union of Zambia (BETUZ), Secondary Education School Teachers Union of Zambia (SESTUZ) and Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) had huge financial reserves from which they could pay their members the deductions that the government had slapped on them for taking part in the strike.
Bucks County Courier Times: Teachers contract talks at a standstill
Teachers will weigh their options at a Sept. 2 union meeting. Less than a month before school starts, the North Penn School District and its teachers union are still deadlocked over a new contract.
Business Day (Nigeria): Teachers Strike: FG pulls out of talks
Hopes of getting the university students back to school have been dashed as the Federal Government negotiating team announced its official withdrawal from the ongoing re-negotiation exercise with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on the ongoing industrial action. Gamaliel Onosode leader of the federal government team who announced government withdrawal from the exercise also urged the Governing Councils of Federal Universities to recall their staff that are on strike and provide an enabling environment for teaching, research and community services for those who are willing to work.
Onosode said until the Union suspends its current strike, it will not continue because of non availability of enabling environment for governing councils to continue the negotiation with their employees.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Tagged BCTF, British Columbia, Bucks County (PA), Canada, Detroit, East Bay (CA), Honduras, K-12 issues, Nigeria, Oakland, Palestine, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Toronto, Wichita, Zambia
The Californian: Hartnell board cuts president’s salary
Hartnell College President Phoebe Helm and other administrators took a cut in pay Tuesday following a closed session vote by the board of trustees. The board approved a 10 percent salary reduction for Helm and 5 percent cut for administrators and other nonunion staff.
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Posted in Administration, Salary/Economic Benefits
Tagged Hartnell C, salary cuts, Salary/Economic Benefits, University presidents
Philadelphia Inquirer: Temple says faculty stalling contract talks
Temple University has filed an unfair-labor-practice complaint against the faculty union, accusing it of failing to continue negotiating a contract because of disagreement over union membership fees.
Socialist Worker: Contract fight at Manhattan School of Music
NEW YORK–After winning a hotly contested union certification battle in May, some 150 teachers of the Manhattan School of Music’s Pre-college Division–all of whom are trained as classical or jazz musicians–will enter into collective bargaining negotiations with the administration this fall.
South Coast Today: Faculty union and administration not on same page at UMass Dartmouth
When the fall semester begins at UMass Dartmouth next week, it won’t just be the physics students who will be getting a lesson in friction. The university’s administration and largest professional union aren’t seeing eye to eye over the most recent round of budget cuts and consolidations and, almost to a person, faculty and staff describe the situation as “tense” and “confusing.”
Hartford Courant: UConn Rattled By Union Drive For Doctors
Doctors are getting nervous about changes in health care, too, especially the ones at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington. Everybody’s on edge as the health center administration adopted a dangerous strategy against the doctors when it distributed an e-mail Thursday seeking to impede a movement by doctors to form a union.
Sudbury Star: LU reaches deal with non-faculty staff union
Laurentian University reached a tentative agreement with the union representing about 250 non-faculty staff on Sunday morning.
Sun Journal: Union, USM may have agreement
LEWISTON – One of four unions working without a contract for the University of Maine System has reached a tentative agreement on a new deal.
Sun-Sentinel: Brogan, FAU faculty union duke it out to governor
Florida Atlantic University President Frank Brogan’s relationship with the faculty union isn’t improving much in his final weeks in office. Brogan, who plans to leave FAU by mid-September to become chancellor of the state university system, sent a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist saying he’s “disappointed by the level of vitriol,” that United Faculty of Florida has expressed on its blog.
India Express: IIT, IIM faculty to get better pay
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the revision of pay scales of faculty, design, scientific and other academic staff of the centrally funded institutions including IITs and IIMs with retrospective effect from January 1, 2006.
Indiana Daily Student: IU officials decide to continue with employee bonus plan
IU will continue with its plan to distribute up to $500 per person to faculty and staff making less than $30,000 a year despite a meeting between IU officials and union leaders July 31.
San Diego News Network: California Budget Crisis Diaries: Lawsuit targets Schwarzenegger
Legislative leaders may be out for summer session but their vacation can’t be too sunny. The cuts throughout the budget – which was signed into law July 28 – are gradually sinking in. Some agencies still don’t understand the impacts, while others continue to receive IOUs, and now, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is facing a lawsuit.
San Francisco Chronicle: Execs still get raises as UC cuts staffing, pay
On the same July day that the UC Board of Regents cut $813 million from UC budgets – setting in motion pay cuts, layoffs and campus cutbacks – the board quietly approved pay raises, stipends and other benefits for more than two dozen executives.
The Crimson: FAS Cuts Janitor Hours
School officials say the moves save jobs, but union calls reductions ‘drastic,’ ‘unnecessary’
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences implemented work hours reductions for over 100 janitors in July—a move that FAS officials say will help cut costs while avoiding layoffs, but union representatives say will devastate worker living standards.
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Posted in Unions
Tagged Campaigns & Contracts, Florida, Florida Atlantic U, Harvard U, India, Indiana U, janitors, Laurentian U, Manhattan School of Music, Ontario, Organizing, Temple U, U of Maine, UConn, UMass Dartmouth, Unions
Sydney Morning Herald: India is losing interest in our universities, say agents
AUSTRALIA’S elite universities are set to pay a high price for the Indian student crisis as middle-class parents, concerned for their children’s safety, opt for degree courses in Britain, New Zealand, the United States and Canada.
Two months of media reports about attacks on young Indians and allegations of rampant racism in Australian suburbs are having a serious impact, Indian education agents say.
Report from Korean University Irregular Professors Union, Chairman Kim Youngkon:
Korea University laid off 88 irregular professors in July. Professors who have doctorate are except from the law that protects regular professors’ employment rights. Irregular professors lecture 4.2 hours a week average in Korea.
Korean irregular professors have no status in Korean Higher Education Law. Korean irregular professors want the Higher Education Law to be revised.
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Posted in Job market, Protests, Unions
Tagged Korea, Korea University, Layoffs, Protests, Unions
The New York Times: Senator Moves to Block Medical Ghostwriting
A growing body of evidence suggests that doctors at some of the nation’s top medical schools have been attaching their names and lending their reputations to scientific papers that were drafted by ghostwriters working for drug companies — articles that were carefully calibrated to help the manufacturers sell more products.
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Tagged Academics, ghostwriting, medical research
AAUP’s CBC Executive Committee Issues Resolution
AAUP: Washington, D.C.— Recently, the AAUP’s Collective Bargaining Congress (CBC) Executive Committee issued the following resolution.
Turn it around; don’t give it away
Recent decades have witnessed: (a) a systematic shift of institutional monies from educational to administrative expenditures; (b) a disjuncture between rapidly rising tuition versus overused and underpaid contingent faculty and graduate student employees; (c) a growing gap between rising numbers of Full Time Equivalent students and the numbers of tenure-track faculty; and (d) a growing gap between faculty/academic professional and senior administrative salaries. Each of these patterns work to the detriment of educational quality, institutional effectiveness, student access and success, and broad social benefit.
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Posted in Budgets & Funding, Salary/Economic Benefits
Tagged AAUP, salary cuts, Salary/Economic Benefits
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