Author Archives: E Wayne Ross

Students at Cedarville U. Suspend Newspaper to Protest Censorship

The Chronicle: Students at Cedarville U. Suspend Newspaper to Protest Censorship

Editors of the student newspaper at Cedarville University, a Baptist institution in Ohio, opted to suspend publication of the semester’s final issue on Thursday to protest tightening censorship by the administration.

“Because of the increasing amount of pressure to print only specific things, the editors decided not to print a last issue,” said Rebecca High, a graduating senior and editor of the newspaper’s Viewpoints section.

AAUP Warns Colleges Not to Rescind Speaker Invitations

The Chronicle News Blog: AAUP Warns Colleges Not to Rescind Speaker Invitations

Gary Rhoades, general secretary of the American Association of University Professors, today issued a statement warning colleges and universities not to rescind invitations to speakers in the face of controversy.

California Attorney General Says Anti-Affirmative Action Measure Is Unconstitutional

The Chronicle News Blog: California Attorney General Says Anti-Affirmative Action Measure Is Unconstitutional

San Francisco — A landmark ballot measure banning affirmative action in public hiring, contracting, and college admissions, approved by California voters in 1996, violates the U.S. Constitution’s equal-protection guarantees, Attorney General Jerry Brown said on Wednesday in a letter to the state’s Supreme Court.

UW-Stevens Point chancellor resigns amid turmoil surrounding traffic accident

AP: UW-Stevens Point chancellor resigns amid turmoil surrounding traffic accident

MADISON, Wis. — University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Chancellor Linda Bunnell announced her resignation today amid criticism from students and donors and questions about how she handled a traffic accident.

Bunnell, who has been chancellor since 2004, said she was stepping down effective May 31. The announcement was an abrupt turnaround from last week, when she said she planned to lead the central Wisconsin school known for its environmental programs another five years.

Turmoil at French universities could leave students facing missed year

The Guardian: Turmoil at French universities could leave students facing missed year

French universities, paralysed by three months of student blockades and staff strikes, were warned by the government to resume teaching yesterday or risk damaging France’s image on the world stage.

Since February, various universities have been thrown into chaos by the biggest higher education revolt in modern French history, surpassing the protests of May 1968 in terms of the numbers of academic staff who have gone on strike.

Ala. college president accused of plagiarism

AP: Ala. college president accused of plagiarism

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The president of Jacksonville State University, whose use of a ghostwriter for newspaper columns caused a stir two years ago, now has been accused of plagiarizing his doctoral dissertation at the University of Alabama.

The claim surfaced in a lawsuit filed against William Meehan which alleges that he submitted a dissertation that was copied in part from another professor’s work around the time Meehan became JSU president in 1999.

An Associated Press review found similarities between the two papers, and an expert hired by the JSU professor suing Meehan over another issue concluded his dissertation was plagiarism.

2-Year Colleges Can Win Over Adjuncts With Benefits, Study Suggests

The Chronicle: 2-Year Colleges Can Win Over Adjuncts With Benefits, Study Suggests

A new study of community-college faculty members suggests that offering adjuncts benefits like dental insurance does a lot to keep them showing up to work with a smile.

Adjunct faculty members who receive dental, health, disability, or life insurance are not only more likely to feel satisfied with their benefits packages—as would be expected—but they are also substantially more likely to feel satisfied with their salaries than are other adjuncts earning the same amount, the study found.

Bush Gone, NYU Scrambles to Escape Anticipated NLRB Ruling

howtheuniversityworks.com: Bush Gone, NYU Scrambles to Escape Anticipated NLRB Ruling

While I was on the road, I heard from NYU students and faculty about the administration’s plan to restructure graduate education in response to the appointments of Liebman and Solis, which most observers feel will trigger a reversal of the absurd Brown decision, to which Liebman provided a scathing dissent. (That was the ruling that the Bush mob unapologetically used to overturn the landmark, unanimous, and bipartisan GSOC-UAW ruling that forced NYU to the table.)

AAUP: Online Education Based on ‘Slave Labor’

Times Daily: Online study ups workload for instructors

Debbie Benson can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to teach.

“I really never saw myself in a college classroom, but I got part-time jobs at Northwest-Shoals (Community College) and the University of North Alabama in 1991, and I’ve been doing that ever since,” said the English instructor.

UK: No charges against students after anti-terror raid

BBC: No charges after anti-terror raid

Police release 12 terror suspects

All 12 men arrested over a suspected bomb plot in the UK have now been released without charge by police.

Eleven – all Pakistani nationals – have been transferred to UK Border Agency custody and face possible deportation.

Chicago State University faculty group seeks ouster of trustees

Chicago Tribune: Chicago State University faculty group seeks ouster of trustees
Faculty Senate asks Gov. Pat Quinn to stop trustees from hiring a president

Chicago State University faculty took the unusual step Tuesday of asking Gov. Pat Quinn to remove the university’s board of trustees.

The unanimous request from the Faculty Senate, which comes days before trustees plan to announce their decision on the next university leader, also asks Quinn to stop the board from hiring a president.

Fired Professor Seeks $200-Million in Lawsuit Against Columbia U.

The Chronicle: Fired Professor Seeks $200-Million in Lawsuit Against Columbia U.

A professor who was fired for plagiarism by Columbia University is suing the institution and her accusers for $200-million, alleging that she was the victim of an “academic lynching.”

Madonna G. Constantine, a former professor of psychology and education at Columbia’s Teachers College, was fired last July after an investigation found that she had plagiarized the work of two former students and a former colleague. Earlier last year, in an interview with The Chronicle, Ms. Constantine maintained that in fact it was her work that had been plagiarized and that her accusers had been motivated by professional envy.

Mystery donor strikes again

AP: Mystery donor keeps giving to woman-run colleges

The mystery college donor has struck again — this time at Binghamton University in New York, whose financial aid office phone started ringing off the hook as word of an anonymous $6 million contribution spread across campus.

Binghamton is the latest of at least a dozen universities to receive donations totaling more than $60 million in recent weeks. The gifts have arrived with the same, highly unusual stipulation: not only must the donor must remain anonymous, but not even the college can know who it is or try to find out.

The recipient colleges seem to have almost nothing in common except this: so far, all are led by women.

Press & Sun-Bulletin: BU gets $6M mystery donation
Money to go toward scholarships, tuition aid

It appears the mystery donor has struck again.

This time, Binghamton University is the lucky school.

BU has received an anonymous $6 million donation, the largest individual gift in school history. The money, and the circumstances surrounding it, seem to follow a most unusual script.

“To have this come out of the blue, it really takes your breath away,” said BU President Lois DeFleur.

The gift came with two strings attached: BU had to promise it will not attempt to uncover the identity of the donor; and most of the money must be used for scholarships and student aid.

That follows the pattern of a mysterious benefactor, who in recent weeks has given more than $48.5 million to at least nine universities across the United States, including $8 million to Purdue University and $7 million to the University of Iowa.

Louisville Says Doctorate Earned in Semester Is Legit

Inside Higher Ed: Louisville Says Doctorate Earned in Semester Is Legit

The University of Louisville has concluded that a much-questioned doctorate it awarded — for one semester of study — was legitimate, The Louisville Courier-Journal reported. The doctorate was awarded to John Deasy in 2004 — and appears to violate university rules about residency requirements. Deasy, as a school superintendent, had given money to a research center headed by the then-dean of Louisville’s education college, who then went on to chair Deasy’s dissertation committee, leading to questions about the legitimacy of the degree. But the university found that the “totality of the circumstances” indicated an appropriate process. At the same time, Louisville announced that it is tightening the procedures about exemptions from normal procedures for doctorates. The former dean, Robert Felner, was for years popular with administrators even as he angered many professors. In October, he was indicted on 10 counts of mail fraud, money-laundering and income-tax evasion related to charges that he fraudulently obtained grants for Louisville and the University of Rhode Island. He has denied wrongdoing.

The Chronicle: U. of Louisville Says a Controversial Ph.D. Will Stand

The University of Louisville has concluded a seven-month investigation into the awarding of a Ph.D. in a case with connections to a former education dean who now faces federal fraud charges, and has decided that the degree will stand, The Courier-Journal reported.

The recipient, John E. Deasy, received the degree in 2004 after having been enrolled in the university for a single semester. Two years earlier, he had been involved in directing a $375,000 grant to a research center that was run by Robert Felner, who was then dean of Louisville’s College of Education and Human Development. Mr. Felner — who stepped down last summer from the Louisville job, as well as from a chancellor’s post he was planning to take in Wisconsin — served as chairman of Mr. Deasy’s dissertation committee.

Before his short stint at Louisville, Mr. Deasy had earned at least 50 credits toward a doctorate at three other institutions, including the University of Rhode Island, where Mr. Felner taught until 2003.

Kentucky: U of L affirms one-semester doctoral degree

Courier-Journal: U of L to allow educator to keep doctoral degree

The University of Louisville announced today that it will allow a former school superintendent to keep a 2004 doctoral degree about which questions had been raised.

The announcement ends a more than eight-month-long review to determine whether the degree was improperly award to John Deasy, who now works for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Former U of L Education Dean Robert Felner, who is facing federal fraud charges in connection with the alleged misuse of federal grant money, was Deasy’s adviser and chairman of his dissertation committee.

New Hampshire: Layoffs Introduce a College Town to Uncertainty

The Chronicle: Layoffs Introduce a College Town to Uncertainty

One of the most popular lunch spots on a small downtown strip here is a place called Lou’s, a 62-year-old diner with a checkerboard linoleum floor, a dessert case filled with diet-busting baked goods, and, since this fall, a bailout special on the menu. On a recent day, it was a generous serving of meatloaf, with mashed potatoes and corn, for $6.95.

Marquette U. Faculty Calls on University to Focus on Adjunct Equity

The Chronicle News Blog: Marquette U. Faculty Calls on University to Focus on Adjunct Equity

Marquette University’s Faculty Council has issued a report urging the university to focus on its use of adjuncts, which the report says “risks engendering an institutional dependency on the exploitation of adjunct labor.”

UCLA Scientists Plan Counterprotest in Favor of Animal Testing

The Chronicle News Blog: UCLA Scientists Plan Counterprotest in Favor of Animal Testing

A group of students and scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles will try to beat animals-rights protesters at their own game tomorrow by demonstrating in favor of using animals for research purposes, which they consider crucial to developing live-saving medical breakthroughs.

Labor Leaders Call for Collective Efforts to Reduce Reliance on Adjuncts

The Chronicle: Labor Leaders Call for Collective Efforts to Reduce Reliance on Adjuncts

The strain on university budgets from the economic crisis should serve as a catalyst for faculty unions and college administrators to build more mutual trust so they work together to reverse higher education’s reliance on adjunct labor, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said here on Monday.

Kentucky: More ‘No Confidence’ Votes in Board That Killed Tenure

Inside Higher Ed: More ‘No Confidence’ Votes in Board That Killed Tenure

A handful of faculty and staff boards have passed votes of “no confidence” in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System’s Board of Regents following its controversial decision last month to eliminate tenure for all new faculty hires. April 16, the Executive Council of Kentucky Community College Faculty and Staff Alliance (KCCFSA) – a labor group associated with the American Federation of Teachers – unanimously censured the board. The next day, four faculty councils overwhelmingly passed “no confidence” votes in the Michael B. McCall, system president, and the regents. These votes took place at Mayville, Elizabethtown, Hopkinsville and Bluegrass Community Colleges. These votes follow a vote two weeks ago by the faculty of Southeast Kentucky Community College. Now, 5 of the system’s 16 colleges have passed “no confidence” resolutions. Faculty advocates say votes at even more institutions are planned for this Friday. Barbara Ashley, KCCFSA executive director, said these resolutions mark the first time since the founding of the Kentucky system that any votes of “no confidence” have been taken against the governing board or a system administrator. McCall and the regents have offered no response to these recent votes.