Inside Higher Ed: ‘Harlem vs. Columbia University’
In 1968 and 1969, students at Columbia University protested against a number of the university’s policies and plans, accusing the institution of racism and imperialism — the latter for the military ties that connected the university to the Vietnam War. Most notably, they opposed Columbia’s intended construction of a gymnasium in nearby Morningside Park, a small green space utilized by the area’s largely black and Puerto Rican residents.
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Tagged Books, Columbia U, Protests
Inside Higher Ed: Anatomy of a Flawed Hire
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators was in a vulnerable state as it hired a new president late in 2007.
The group had been through the grinder of New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo’s inquiry into student loan malfeasance, partly because of NASFAA leaders’ own missteps and partly because of the politician’s opportunism. Questions about the association’s own practices had led it to agree to a settlement in which it adopted a new code of conduct, a decision that divided the association’s members.
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Posted in Administration, Job market
Tagged financial aid, hiring
AP: Germany: 100 professors suspected of Ph.D. bribes
BERLIN — German prosecutors are investigating about 100 professors across the country on suspicion they took bribes to help students get their doctoral degrees, authorities said Saturday.
The investigation is focused on the Institute for Scientific Consulting, based in Bergisch Gladbach, just east of Cologne, which allegedly acted as the intermediary between students and the professors, said Cologne prosecutor’s spokesman Guenther Feld.
Inside Higher Ed: Israeli Academic Criticized for ‘Los Angeles Times’ Op-Ed
An Israeli academic who is prominent in his country’s peace movement is under intense criticism for publishing an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times calling for a boycott of Israel. Neve Gordon, who teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University, writes that Israel has become an apartheid state and that outside pressure is the only way his country will ever allow the creation of a Palestinian state. While many Israelis, particularly in academe, share Gordon’s belief that Israel should not stand in the way of a Palestinian state, there is, not surprisingly, a wide consensus in Israel that boycotts are not appropriate. And in Israel academe, which has been a boycott target for some British and other academics, that opposition to a boycott movement is strong. Haaretz reported that after the article appeared, Israel’s consul-general in Los Angeles wrote to the president of Ben-Gurion, Rivka Carmi, to say he was hearing from donors to the university who were vowing to stop giving. Carmi denounced the essay, as did Israel’s education minister, who called it “repugnant and deplorable,” the newspaper reported. Amid the uproar, Gordon qualified his call for a boycott in a statement to YNet News, saying that he wanted a boycott to be “graded” and “sensitive,” starting with products made by Israeli settlements on the West Bank.
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Posted in Faculty, Free speech
Tagged Boycott, Israel, Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Inside Higher Ed: Lawmaker, University Get Caught
Conflict of interest issues continue to befuddle universities and their legislative patrons.
Last month, The Virginian-Pilot ran an article raising questions about the hiring of Phillip Hamilton, a powerful Republican member of the House of Delegates, to lead a new Center for Teacher Quality and Educational Leadership at Old Dominion University. The reason for the questions was that Hamilton had been the key legislator in obtaining state funds for the center. Both Hamilton and the university denied that there was any conflict of interest, telling the newspaper that discussions of his working at the center came only after the legislation had passed, and that he was well qualified and so couldn’t be excluded.
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Posted in Ethics
Tagged Conflict-of-interests, Ethics, Old Dominion U
Inside Higher Ed: Colleges Review ‘Community’
Some loved it. Some hated it. But everyone is a critic.
Last week, community college employees and attendees got their first look at “Community,” NBC’s new sitcom about a group of students at a fictional two-year institution. Ever since the network announced in May that it would be airing a new comedy focusing on life at a community college, many in academe expressed concern that the show might unfairly characterize this set of institutions and its students. Among those in the community college world who do not like what they have seen in the show’s early ads, there has been some debate over whether to actively fight the show, ignore it or try to make something positive come out of it.
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Posted in Campus Life
Tagged community colleges, NBC, Television show
Times-Picayune: New Nicholls mascot has many alumni up in arms
With his chiseled face, military-style cap and saber poised for action, the recently unveiled mascot at Nicholls State University was supposed to convey a new and improved public image, signaling a break from the past and an end to the mascot controversy that has dogged the Thibodaux campus for years.
The Chronicle: Winner, Creepiest Athletics Logo
The best college sports mascots and logos strike fear into the hearts of competitors, but Nicholls State University has managed to terrify its own alumni with its revamped logo.
“It looked like a Nazi soldier — a very angry Nazi soldier,” Hollie Garrison, a Nicholls alumna, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “My jaw dropped. I was speechless. I kind of thought it was a joke.”
Let’s hope the controversy has settled by next week, when Nicholls State unveils the new uniform of its mascot, Col. Tillou, named for the former Louisiana governor and Confederate officer Francis Redding Tillou Nicholls.
The Chronicle: Lessons of a Dual Hire
Two Career Couples Illustration Careers
By Rebecca Manderlay
It’s been three years since I first wrote about the search my husband, “Tom,” and I undertook for long-term positions in academe. Since then, in the pages of The Chronicle, I’ve seen my own thoughts, dreams, and anxieties reflected time and again: the hope and pride of mailing out applications, the thrill of invitations to interview, the disappointment of not being chosen, the awful feeling of “Why not me?”
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Posted in Job market, Working conditions
Tagged dual careers, jobs, Working conditions
AP: University leader warns of more steep budget cuts
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—University of California President Mark Yudof warned Thursday that more budget cuts were in store for the 10-campus system when federal stimulus money runs out next year.
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Posted in Budgets & Funding
Tagged Budgets & Funding, U of California
Inside Higher Ed: Damning Report on Illinois Scandal
When the Chicago Tribune revealed in May that the University of Illinois had used a “clout” admissions system — in which trustees and senior administrators pressured admissions officers on behalf of politically connected applicants — the university insisted that its admissions system was fundamentally fair and running well.
The Chronicle: Report Calls on All U. of Illinois Trustees to Resign
After spending nearly two months investigating an admissions scandal laced with political favoritism at the University of Illinois, a state-appointed panel issued its final report on Thursday, calling for the resignation of all members of the Board of Trustees, an overhaul of the admissions process, and new ethics policies for the board.
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Posted in Scandals
Tagged Admissions, Scandal, trustees, U of Illinois
Wheeling Register-News: WJU President Fired
Following closed door meetings this week, the Wheeling Jesuit University Board of Trustees has fired university president the Rev. Julio Giulietti, who has been at the helm since 2007.
According to reliable sources, the WJU Board of Directors had failed to reach a two-thirds majority vote to oust Giulietti, the university’s eighth president in its 55-year history. According to sources, the Board of Directors has 17-18 members. Sources added that the two-thirds majority was nearly achieved.
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Posted in Administration
Tagged Termination, University presidents, West Virginia, Wheeling Jesuit U
Bloomberg.com: Harvard Licenses Clothing Line Amid ‘Preppy’ Upswing
Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) — Harvard University, the world’s richest school, licensed its name to a maker of designer clothes to take advantage of a taste for seersucker, khakis, loafers and other “preppy” attire.
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Posted in Corporate University
Tagged clothing, Corporate University, Harvard U
Chicago Tribune: Ex-dean calls herself ‘victim’ of admissions scandal
After testimony on University of Illinois abuses, Heidi Hurd left message praising chancellor she had criticized
A former University of Illinois law school dean has made a final effort to distance herself from an admissions scandal, writing a lengthy letter to the state panel charged with investigating the practices.
Heidi Hurd — who testified before the Illinois Admission Review Commission nearly a month ago — sent a 15-page letter late last week in which she describes herself as a “victim” of the school’s clout lists, not a “perpetrator,” and details her efforts to push back against them.
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Posted in Administration, Ethics, Scandals
Tagged Admissions, Scandal, U of Illinois
San Francisco Chronicle: UC to lend state millions to kick-start plans
The cash-strapped University of California – forced to lay off employees, cut pay and offer fewer classes because of deep cuts in state funding – has now agreed to lend the state nearly $200 million.
Seriously.
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Posted in Budgets & Funding
Tagged Budgets & Funding, capital projects, loans, U of California
Boston Globe: Second professor accuses police of bias
A second black Harvard professor accused the Cambridge police of racism yesterday in wrongfully arresting him outside his home nearly three years ago.
S. Allen Counter, a prominent Harvard Medical School professor and head of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, spoke about his arrest on assault and battery charges in an editorial published yesterday with The Bay State Banner. The disclosure follows last month’s high-profile arrest of renowned African-American scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.
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Tagged Harvard U, Police, racial bias
ABC News: Union in talks to call off teacher strike
The IRC ordered the Queensland Teachers Union and the State Government into arbitration to resolve their long-running wage dispute
The IRC ordered the Queensland Teachers Union and the State Government into arbitration to resolve their long-running wage dispute. (ABC News)
The Queensland Teachers’ Union has begun talks with members about calling off plans for a 48-hour strike in central Queensland schools next week.
The Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) this afternoon ordered the union and the State Government into arbitration to resolve their long-running wage dispute.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Tagged Australia, Queensland, Strikes & Labor Disputes
Mid-Day: Teachers’ strike in Mumbai
An indefinite strike has been called for on August 4, by the Mumbai Region Junior College Teachers’ Union, general secretary Sudhir Parajpe confirmed. The strike is against the Sixth Pay Commission which primary, secondary and junior college professors claim hasn’t fulfilled their demands. A total of 12 lakh teachers are going on strike of which 4 lakh are primary school teachers, 3 lakh are secondary teachers while junior college professors and non-teaching staff account for around 40,000 each.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Tagged India, Strikes & Labor Disputes
Sydney Morning Herald: Uni strike would hit exam results
UNIVERSITY lecturers are preparing to take statewide industrial action, including marking bans that could disrupt students’ exam results.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Tagged Australia, Strikes & Labor Disputes
Reuters: California public union OKs strike authorization
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California’s largest state employees’ union voted on Saturday to approve a strike authorization measure to protest furloughs of state workers and pressure state officials to ratify its labor contract.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Tagged Budgets & Funding, California, strike authorization, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Unions
Honolulu Advertiser: As unions struggle, leaders’ pay goes up
Labor executives in Islands averaged 9.4% salary hike last year
At a time of rising unemployment and declining membership at some unions, many local labor leaders took home healthy pay increases in 2008.
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A computer-assisted study by The Honolulu Advertiser found that top executives of the state’s 27 largest unions and labor organizations earned an average of $135,135 last year, a 9.4 percent increase from the year-earlier period.
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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits
Tagged Budgets & Funding, pay, Salary/Economic Benefits, Unions
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