World University News: NIGERIA: Lecturers slam Harvard training deal
An agreement struck between Harvard University and the Governors’ Forum in Nigeria for the world-leading US university to teach governors of states in African the fundamentals of good governance has been rejected by lecturers. They described the agreement as wasteful and unproductive, called for its cancellation and suggested governance training take place at home.
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Posted in Corporate University, Government
World University News: GERMANY: Students strike for education
Students at secondary and higher education institutions staged campaigns throughout Germany calling for a better education policy last week. The ‘education strike’ focused on a new, six-semester bachelor degree courses and plans to shorten secondary education without any substantial reform of contents in either sector.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes, Students
World University News: IRAN: Post-election violence spreads to universities
Violence spread from Tehran to the outer provinces and several universities reported clashes between students and security forces, according to UPI. Chancellor of Shiraz University, Mohammad Hadi Sadeghi, resigned from his post last Wednesday after riot police stormed a library and fired tear gas inside.
World University News: CANADA: Phone-calling politician under attack
Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council was reviewing its support for a conference on the Middle East, in the wake of a letter-writing campaign by B’Nai Brith Canada. But there were calls for Minister of State for Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear’s resignation, after he phoned the SSHRC asking it to consider another peer review of the conference’s application.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Canada, research funding
FACE/AFT: Wisconsin Academics Get Expansive Bargaining Bill
After 40 long years of advocacy and a roller coaster ride of hopes raised, then dashed, academic employees in the University of Wisconsin system finally have the right to decide whether they will be represented by a union. On June 29, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle signed the 2009-2011 biennial budget, which includes a provision extending collective bargaining rights to more than 20,000 UW faculty, academic staff and research assistants.
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Posted in Unions
Tagged Collective bargaining, Wisconsin
The Chronicle News Blog: Antioch Alumni Strike Deal to Take Control of Closed College
An Antioch College alumni group has hammered out a deal to take control of the shuttered college, which is now owned by Antioch University. After years of decline, Antioch College declared financial exigency and suspended operations in 2007.
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Posted in Budgets & Funding
Tagged Antioch, Budgets & Funding
The Chronicle News Blog: Report Assails Israeli Policy That Keeps Palestinian Students From Leaving Gaza
Jerusalem — An Israeli human-rights group says that new restrictions imposed by Israel on Palestinian students trying to leave the Gaza Strip to study abroad include a demand that they be personally escorted by foreign diplomats.
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Posted in Students
Tagged Gaza, Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Chronicle News Blog: Oregon Set to Adopt Legislation That Helps Adjunct Faculty Members
The governor of Oregon is expected to sign a bill that includes principles of the American Federation of Teachers’ Faculty and College Excellence campaign. The legislature approved the bill over the weekend, as the State Senate voted unanimously to make Oregon the first state to enact such a law.
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Posted in Contingent labor
The Chronicle: Sartorial Study Suggests Professors Should Wear What They Want
How academics dress for a lecture doesn’t affect how students perceive them — at least in the long run.
The Herald: UCSB teacher who sent Gaza e-mail cleared by panel
The Associated Press
SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—An academic committee at University of California, Santa Barbara has found no reason to discipline a professor who sent an e-mail that compared Israel’s offensive in Gaza to the Holocaust.
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged faculty discipline, UCSB
AP: Mousavi Web site: 70 professors detained in Iran
Seventy university professors were detained in Iran in a widening government crackdown on protesters, according to a Web site affiliated with Iran’s key opposition figure, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who says he was robbed of victory in a rigged presidential election.
The professors were detained on Wednesday, immediately after meeting with Mousavi, said the Kalemeh site, which is affiliated with the opposition leader. The report said it is not clear where the detainees were taken.
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Posted in Protests
Tagged Government, Iran, professors detained, Protests
The Chronicle News Blog: Worse Than an F: Canadian University Pioneers New Grade for Failure
Students bent on cheating should steer clear of Simon Fraser University. If they are caught, they could end up with a grade that breaks new ground in the realm of academic failure.
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Posted in Uncategorized
The Chronicle News Blog: Arizona Lawmakers Agree to Put on Ballot a Proposed Ban on Affirmative-Action Preferences
Arizona is set to become the first state in which a proposed ban on affirmative-action preferences will be put on the ballot by the legislature, rather than through petitions submitted by voters.
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Posted in Diversity
Tagged affirmative action, Arizona, ballot measures
Journal Sentinel: Faculty disclose outside payments
Some UW doctors get 6-figure sums from drug, medical firms
At least 11 doctors with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health received more than $50,000 from drug or medical device companies last year, including seven who pulled in six-figure amounts, according to records obtained by the Journal Sentinel.
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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits
Tagged Corporate University, Drug companies, research funding, Salary/Economic Benefits
Kansas City Star: Audit uncovers questionable financial practices at K-State
A scathing audit of Kansas State University reveals a pattern of undisclosed payments, conflicts of interest, poor accounting and possible tax problems for the school, several of its former employees and its athletic department.
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged audit, Conflict-of-interests, Ethics, Kansas State U, questionable spending
The Chronicle: Sharing the Pain: Cutting Faculty Salaries Across the Board
Broad Pay Cuts Make Deep Dents in Morale
Greensboro College has many of the intimate hallmarks of a small, private, liberal-arts college.
Professors give their cellphone numbers to students and routinely provide extra help to those who need it. Classes at the North Carolina institution average 14 people. And one of the students featured on the college Web site is a biology major who plays on the tennis and volleyball teams and says she is grateful that professors are willing to work around her hectic schedule. The college motto is “You belong here!”
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Posted in Budgets & Funding, Salary/Economic Benefits
Tagged Budgets & Funding, Layoffs, salary cuts, Salary/Economic Benefits
The Chronicle: In Hard Times, Colleges Search for Ways to Trim the Faculty
Why Certain Departments Fall Under the Budget Ax
The Jones Theatre at Washington State University is getting a $500,000 face-lift this summer. A construction crew has already ripped out its 500 orange and blue seats and is replacing them with new ones covered in a wine-colored fabric. The theater’s walls are being painted a light beige, and a new set of black velour curtains will grace the stage.
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Posted in Budgets & Funding
Tagged Budgets & Funding, Department closures, Faculty, Job cuts, vertical cuts
The Chronicle News Blog: Colorado State U. Board of Governors Broke Open-Meetings Law, Judge Rules
Colorado State University’s governing board violated the state’s open-meetings law when it selected one of its members as the sole finalist for chancellor in a private session, a state judge has ruled, according to The Coloradoan.
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Posted in Governance
Tagged Colorado State U, Governance
Boston Globe: 2 former Tufts administrators admit big thefts from university
Two former administrators for Tufts University have pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $1 million from the school and spending it on items such as gourmet steaks, high-end fashion, and foreign travel, Middlesex prosecutors said yesterday.
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Administration, crime, theft, Tufts U
San Francisco Chronicle: UC faculty attacks regents in scathing letter
In a rare move, faculty representatives from the University of California openly criticized UC regents in a scathing letter Wednesday accusing the governing board of inaction during the worst budget crisis ever faced by the 10-campus system.
The UC Faculty Association all but declared the 26-member board AWOL, noting a two-month gap between meetings as the university faces cuts of more than $800 million this year and next as part of the state’s effort to close a $24.3 billion budget gap.
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Posted in Budgets & Funding
Tagged Budgets & Funding, Faulty, Governance, Regents, U of California
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