Author Archives: E Wayne Ross

Colleges in Gaza Reopen but Face More Than $20-Million in Repairs

Posted on February 6, 2009 | Comments Off on Colleges in Gaza Reopen but Face More Than $20-Million in Repairs

The Chronicle: Colleges in Gaza Reopen but Face More Than $20-Million in Repairs

Palestinian colleges in Gaza have resumed examinations and started repairing more than $20-million in damage to buildings, equipment, and infrastructure caused by Israeli bombing raids during the recent invasion of the tiny coastal territory.

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Posted in International

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No shit: how I lost my one-of-a-kind collection and my girlfriend, too

Posted on February 6, 2009 | Comments Off on No shit: how I lost my one-of-a-kind collection and my girlfriend, too

Times Higher Education Supplement: No shit: how I lost my one-of-a-kind collection and my girlfriend, too

For his PhD, Daniel Bennett had built a unique set of faecal samples from a rare lizard. When it was destroyed, he really hit bottom

To some people it might have been just a bag of lizard shit, but to me it represented seven years of painstaking work searching the rainforest with a team of reformed poachers to find the faeces of one of the world’s largest, rarest and most mysterious lizards. I didn’t realise just how much my bag of lizard shit meant to me until it was “accidentally” incinerated at the University of Leeds early in the third year of my PhD.

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Posted in Academics

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One Man’s Worthless Bag of Dung Is Another’s Priceless Research

Posted on February 6, 2009 | Comments Off on One Man’s Worthless Bag of Dung Is Another’s Priceless Research

The Chronicle News Blog: One Man’s Worthless Bag of Dung Is Another’s Priceless Research

Daniel Bennett has vowed to sue Britain’s University of Leeds for incinerating 77 pounds of feces he collected from the rare butaan lizard during seven years of doctoral research in the rain forests of the Philippines.

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Posted in Academics

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Bill Could Boot Ayers From U of I

Posted on February 6, 2009 | Comments Off on Bill Could Boot Ayers From U of I

Illinoishomepage.net: Bill Could Boot Ayers From U of I

Bill Could Boot Ayers From U of I
Reported by: Stacey Morgan / WCIA 3 News

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A controversial U of I professor could be out of a job if one lawmaker has his way. William Ayers was called a radical and a terrorist for bombing government buildings to protest the Vietnam war.

But Senator Larry Bomke from Springfield doesn’t think he should be teaching in Illinois. He wants anyone who’s committed an act of violence against the United States or Illinois to be banned. While Ayers falls on that list, Bomke says he’s not picking on him.

“It’s not specifically for him,” says the Senator. “And it may be that he embellished whether they did or didn’t do these bombings, and if that’s the case than the shoe doesn’t fit. But if the shoe fits, well, then he should be gone. ”

Bomke says he probably wouldn’t have even known that Ayers was working for the U of I had it not been for the presidential election. You may remember, the Republican Party tried to connect President Obama with Ayers after they served on two boards together.

So far this bill has only been introduced to the Senate. It now sits in committee.

Ayers is expected at the U of I Champaign-Urbana Campus in March. He will be living with students in Allen Hall.

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Posted in Government

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Arizona: ASU workers on layoff list may get hit by furloughs, too

Posted on February 6, 2009 | Comments Off on Arizona: ASU workers on layoff list may get hit by furloughs, too

Arizona Republic: ASU workers on layoff list may get hit by furloughs, too

Some Arizona State University employees who are being laid off will face a double whammy under the university’s new furlough policy.

In response to the state’s ongoing budget crisis, the university was forced to eliminate up to 550 positions through attrition and layoffs, a number that could grow by an additional 1,000 jobs. The process of issuing 90-day layoff notifications began several months ago.

Last week, ASU President Michael Crow announced plans to require each of the university’s 12,000 employees to take up to 15 unpaid days off by June 30, which would save $24 million.

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Posted in Budgets & Funding

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Deportation effort begins against Goucher teacher from Rwanda

Posted on February 6, 2009 | Comments Off on Deportation effort begins against Goucher teacher from Rwanda

Baltimore Sun: Deportation effort begins against Goucher teacher from Rwanda
Academic denies genocide allegations

U.S. immigration authorities have begun deportation proceedings against a Rwandan academic who was suspended by Goucher College amid allegations that he had participated in the African country’s 1994 genocide.

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Posted in Government

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Backtracking Brandeis President: ‘I Screwed Up’

Posted on February 6, 2009 | Comments Off on Backtracking Brandeis President: ‘I Screwed Up’

Inside Higher Ed: Backtracking Brandeis President: ‘I Screwed Up’

President Obama has given college presidents a management strategy for controversy: admit it when you screw up.

Jehuda Reinharz, president of Brandeis University, sent out an e-mail message to his campus Thursday that partially pulled back from the university’s plans to sell its art collection and shut down its art museum. “I take full responsibility for causing pain and embarrassment in both of these matters. To quote President Obama, ‘I screwed up,’ ” Reinharz’s e-mail message said.

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Posted in Administration

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Salary Cap for Bailout Recipients Fires Up Critics of College Presidents’ Pay

Posted on February 6, 2009 | Comments Off on Salary Cap for Bailout Recipients Fires Up Critics of College Presidents’ Pay

The Chronicle News Blog: Salary Cap for Bailout Recipients Fires Up Critics of College Presidents’ Pay

Not that anger over presidential pay ever went out of style, but President Obama’s new pay limit for CEO’s has provided ammunition to critics of college presidents’ salaries.

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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits

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Prof fired for giving all A+s

Posted on February 6, 2009 | Comments Off on Prof fired for giving all A+s

Globe and Mail: Professor makes his mark, but it costs him his job

OTTAWA — On the first day of his fourth-year physics class, University of Ottawa professor Denis Rancourt announced to his students that he had already decided their marks: Everybody was getting an A+.

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Posted in Faculty

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Strikes Disrupt French Universities

Posted on February 3, 2009 | Comments Off on Strikes Disrupt French Universities

The Chronicle News Blog: Strikes Disrupt French Universities

Universities across France experienced widespread disruptions today, in response to calls from faculty unions and student groups to protest plans for reforming the higher-education system. The government’s proposals provoked opposition from the outset, which intensified recently over moves to modify a law governing the hiring and promotion of researchers engaged in teaching. The change would allow universities to dictate how those staff members allocated their time between teaching and other activities.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

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Arizona: ASU settles lawsuit filed by woman in rape case

Posted on February 3, 2009 | Comments Off on Arizona: ASU settles lawsuit filed by woman in rape case

Arizona Republic: ASU settles lawsuit filed by woman in rape case

The settlement of a lawsuit filed by a former student who said she was raped in her dorm room will cost Arizona State University $850,000 and revamp the way the three state universities respond to complaints of sexual harassment and violence.

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Posted in Legal issues

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SUNY Expected to Pick University of Cincinnati Leader as Chancellor

Posted on February 3, 2009 | Comments Off on SUNY Expected to Pick University of Cincinnati Leader as Chancellor

The New York Times: SUNY Expected to Pick University of Cincinnati Leader as Chancellor

The trustees of the State University of New York are poised to select Nancy L. Zimpher, the president of the University of Cincinnati, to be the next chancellor of SUNY, the nation’s largest public university system, according to people involved in the process. They said an announcement could come within days.

Nancy L. Zimpher, 62, would fill a leadership void that has stretched for nearly two years.

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Posted in Administration

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Professor Accused of Genocide

Posted on February 3, 2009 | Comments Off on Professor Accused of Genocide

Inside Higher Ed: Professor Accused of Genocide

Goucher College has suspended a visiting French professor from teaching after the Baltimore institution was presented with charges that he was directly involved in the 1994 genocide in his home country of Rwanda. While some view the charges as credible — he strongly denies them — some human rights officials are dubious, wondering if the professor is really in trouble back home over controversial statements he made questioning whether what took place in Rwanda was a genocide.

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Posted in Faculty

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Kenyan teachers call off strike

Posted on February 2, 2009 | Comments Off on Kenyan teachers call off strike

BBC: Kenyan teachers call off strike

The strike affected millions of Kenyan primary school children

Teachers in Kenya have ended a 10-day strike after the government offered to double their salaries over the next three years.

The strike by more than 200,000 primary school teachers led to the closure of most primary schools in the country.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

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Massachusetts: Judge orders teachers to pay $100,000 for 2007 strike

Posted on February 2, 2009 | Comments Off on Massachusetts: Judge orders teachers to pay $100,000 for 2007 strike

Wickedlocal.com: Judge orders teachers to pay $100,000 for 2007 strike

Quincy teachers who went out on strike illegally in June 2007 have been ordered by a judge to pay a $100,000 fine.

The settlement amount represents an estimate of what the strike cost the school department, between grievances filed by other school unions – whose members lost workdays – and in things such as wasted food and pay for police officers assigned to watch over picket lines.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

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Hawaii: Courts confront issue of tests’ constitutionality

Posted on February 2, 2009 | Comments Off on Hawaii: Courts confront issue of tests’ constitutionality

Star Bulletin: Courts confront issue of tests’ constitutionality

Federal courts around the country have been split on whether drug testing of public school teachers is constitutional. In Hawaii, the state Supreme Court has yet to rule on the issue.

The U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, which prohibits “unreasonable searches and seizures,” is the basis for the constitutional challenges, but federal courts disagree whether the government has a “special interest” or legitimate basis for subjecting public employees to the tests.

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Posted in Legal issues

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Former Marshall U. Official Reaches Preliminary Settlement in Defamation Lawsuit

Posted on February 2, 2009 | Comments Off on Former Marshall U. Official Reaches Preliminary Settlement in Defamation Lawsuit

The Chronicle New Blog: Former Marshall U. Official Reaches Preliminary Settlement in Defamation Lawsuit

A former athletics compliance officer at Marshall University says he has reached a settlement in his federal defamation lawsuit against the university, in West Virginia.

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Posted in Legal issues

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Warren National U., Formerly Known as Kennedy-Western U., to Shut Down

Posted on February 2, 2009 | Comments Off on Warren National U., Formerly Known as Kennedy-Western U., to Shut Down

The Chronicle News Blog: Warren National U., Formerly Known as Kennedy-Western U., to Shut Down

Warren National University will be no more at the end of March, seven months after it suspended new admissions.

In a lengthy, convoluted explanation on its Web site, the university blamed the decision to close its doors on a failed accreditation bid and the general economic downturn.

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Posted in Economics

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An NLRB Victory for Grad Employees

Posted on February 2, 2009 | Comments Off on An NLRB Victory for Grad Employees

The Chronicle: An NLRB Victory for Grad Employees

cross-posted from howtheuniversityworks.com

Last week’s appointment of Wilma Liebman to chair the NLRB is extremely welcome news to graduate employees and other academic workers.

The author of a scathing dissent to the Bush mob’s truculent Brown decision, Liebman adds serious credibility to hopeful interpretations of the Cabinet-level nomination of Hilda Solis.

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Posted in Contingent labor, Unions

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Kansas: University student graduated against her will, kicked out of dorm

Posted on February 2, 2009 | Comments Off on Kansas: University student graduated against her will, kicked out of dorm

Pantagraph.com: University student graduated against her will, kicked out of dorm

McClatchy Newspapers

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Brenda Councillor admits she was a rabble-rouser on the campus of Haskell Indian Nations University.

But it still came as a shock when she discovered over the holidays that she had had been graduated — and kicked out of her dorm room — against her will.

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Posted in Students

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