The New York Times: California Warns of Layoffs at Schools
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Public school employees throughout California are being warned of extensive job cuts as local officials face a deadline for issuing layoff notices to educators.
The State Department of Education estimates that preliminary notices will be given to 26,500 teachers by the Sunday cutoff. An additional 15,000 bus drivers, janitors, secretaries and administrators are also expected to receive the written warnings.
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Posted in Budgets & Funding
Tagged California, Government, K-12, Layoffs
World University News: CHINA: Hong Kong professor denied entry into Macau
A Hong Kong professor and two pro-democracy politicians have been barred from Macau, raising serious concerns about academic freedom. AFP News reported that Johannes Chan, Dean of the University of Hong Kong’s law faculty, was turned away by immigration officers on 28 February when he went to give a speech at the University of Macau.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Academic freedom, China, Democracy, Faculty, Government, Hong Kong, Macau
World University News: FRANCE: Concessions but strike continues
Government ministers have made a further concession to striking lecturers and researchers, postponing introduction of contentious teacher-training reforms by a year. But by the weekend, the six-week strike showed no sign of abating with ongoing university closures and protest actions, including nationwide demonstrations on Wednesday in the tens of thousands. Meanwhile, President Nicolas Sarkozy came under attack by education unions for “tackling the problem” during a lunch with senior academics and researchers.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Tagged France, Strikes, Students, teacher education
The Chronicle News Blog: Nursing Student Sues After U. of Louisville Expels Her for Online Posts About Patients
A former nursing student at the University of Louisville sued the institution in federal court yesterday, alleging that it had violated her free-speech and due-process rights by expelling her for her posts on MySpace, where she wrote about her patients, gun rights, and abortion, among other issues.
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Posted in Free speech
Tagged Free speech, Kentucky, Legal issues
PageOneKentucky.com: Explosive Problem for the University of Louisville – Nursing Student Expelled for MySpace Blog
On Thursday, March 5th we learned that a nursing student at the University of Louisville was expelled because of a post on her MySpace account.
And it’s official. A law suit was filed today alleging the University has violated rights to free speech.
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Posted in Free speech
Tagged explusion, Free speech, Kentucky, Legal issues, Students
The Chronicle News Blog: New Mexico Regent Who Was Criticized by Faculty Will Step Aside From Board’s Presidency
The president of the Board of Regents of the University of New Mexico has agreed to step aside from his leadership role “to avoid being a distraction” as the state’s governor works to improve relations between faculty members and the institution’s leaders, Gov. Bill Richardson announced today.
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Posted in Governance
Tagged Governance, trustees
Inside Higher Ed: Tenure Flashpoint in Kentucky
After three months of debate, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System’s Board of Regents is scheduled to vote today on whether or not to get rid of tenure for all new faculty hires.
The proposed revision of the system’s employment policy would grandfather in individuals who have already been granted tenure and those who are in tenure track positions before July 1, 2009. If the revision passes, all full-time faculty members hired on or after this date would be offered term contracts that lengthen as instructors work for the system.
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Posted in Tenure & Promotion
Tagged community colleges, Kentucky, tenure, Working conditions
Globe and Mail: Memorial University lacks independence, report says
The tug-of-war between the Newfoundland and Labrador government and Memorial University over the selection of the school’s next president continued yesterday with a new report that calls for an end to provincial involvement in appointing university leaders.
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Posted in Government
Tagged Administration, Governance, Job searches
Seattle Times: Spokane college sued for blocking anti-abortion display
The Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Spokane Falls Community College student after she and other students were denied permission to put on an anti-abortion event on campus and were told they might be expelled if they proceeded.
Spokane Falls Community College student Beth Sheeran and several fellow Christian students wanted to put up an anti-abortion display and distribute fliers on campus in January to mark the 36th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.
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Posted in Legal issues
Tagged abortion, Free speech, Students
AP: Peking Uni transfers outspoken prof to west China
BEIJING (AP) — University authorities reassigned an outspoken Beijing law professor to teach in remote western China — a move he said Thursday may be retaliation for his signing a landmark petition calling for political reform.
He Weifang said administrators at elite Peking University in Beijing approached him earlier this year about transferring to the Central Asian border region of Xinjiang. Though the school frequently sends professors to remote schools for stints, He said he was given no explicit reason for the move.
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Posted in Faculty
Tagged China, Free speech
Hurriyet: 200 years after Darwin, 83 years after Scopes
ANKARA – A last-minute decision to pull Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, off the cover of a top Turkish scientific journal and the chief editor off the job has fueled criticism that Turkey’s national research council is too politicized.
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Posted in Academic freedom
Tagged Academic freedom, Academics, Darwin, evolution, Journals, Termination, Turkey
The Chronicle: Colorado State U. Skips Search Firm in Hunt for Nontraditional Chancellor
Officials at the Colorado State University system want a different kind of chancellor, and they think they can find one without the help of a search firm
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Posted in Administration
The Telegraph: University departments ‘facing closure’
University departments are facing closure over a lack of funding. Liverpool University is considering shutting its politics and communications studies, philosophy, and statistics departments.
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Posted in Budgets & Funding
Tagged Academics, Department closures, Job cuts
Houston Chronicle: UTMB hospital to remain on Galveston Island
AUSTIN — The University of Texas Medical Branch hospital and medical school, devastated last year by Hurricane Ike, will remain on Galveston Island, according to a plan approved Tuesday.
But the plan by the University of Texas Board of Regents depends on significant funding from the state and federal governments, philanthropic sources and perhaps even a taxpayer-funded hospital district to succeed, officials said.
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Posted in Budgets & Funding
Tagged Infrastructure
The Chronicle: Ward Churchill’s Day in Court Arrives
The trial in Ward Churchill’s lawsuit against the University of Colorado got under way here on Tuesday with lawyers for the opposing sides painting starkly different pictures of both the controversial ethnic-studies professor and the circumstances surrounding his dismissal by the university in 2007.
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Posted in Academic freedom
Tagged Academic freedom, Legal issues, Tenure & Promotion, Termination, Ward Churchill
The Chronicle News Blog: Animal-Rights Activists Claim Responsibility for Arson of UCLA Professor’s Car
The FBI is investigating yet another attack on a university researcher involved in animal experimentation.
A car was burned on Saturday outside the home of the researcher, an associate professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of California at Los Angeles, an FBI spokesman said. No one was physically injured in the attack, the spokesman said.
A group called the Animal Liberation Front posted a message on its Web site from an entity calling itself the Animal Liberation Brigade claiming responsibility for the arson attack. The statement said the professor “addicts monkeys to methamphetamines and other street drugs” and promised future attacks that cause “a lot more damage than to your property” if the experimentation continues.
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Posted in Protests
Tagged activism, Animal rights, Criminal investigation, Faculty, Protests
The New York Times: Doctoral Candidates Anticipate Hard Times
Chris Pieper began looking for an academic job in sociology about six months ago, sending off about two dozen application packets. The results so far? Two telephone interviews, and no employment offers.
Washington Post: UDC Chief Wants to Cut Undergrad Major in Education
Low Graduation Rates Prompt Change as Sessoms Proceeds With an Institutional Overhaul
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The University of the District of Columbia plans to shut down its struggling undergraduate education department, which, officials say, is out of touch with current thinking on how to train teachers and fails to graduate the vast majority of its students.
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Posted in Academics
Tagged Academics, DC, Degrees, Standardized tests
Los Angeles Times: Pasadena-based plan for online university draws interest, skepticism
An Israeli entrepreneur hopes to start a global, very-low-cost institution soon. But by dispensing with professors, it’s already a tough sell for some.
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Posted in Corporate University
Tagged Corporate University, Distance Education, Faculty, Online
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Neoliberalism and Higher Education
The New York Times: Neoliberalism and Higher Education
By Stanley Fish
I’ve been asking colleagues in several departments and disciplines whether they’ve ever come across the term “neoliberalism” and whether they know what it means. A small number acknowledged having heard the word; a very much smaller number ventured a tentative definition.
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Posted in Commentary
Tagged Commentary, Neoliberalism, Stanley Fish