Author Archives: E Wayne Ross

Former University of Michigan dental student awarded $1.72M

Posted on December 3, 2008 | Comments Off on Former University of Michigan dental student awarded $1.72M

Ann Arbor News: Former University of Michigan dental student awarded $1.72M

A jury awarded $1.72 million Tuesday to a former University of Michigan dental student who said she was illegally kicked out of school.

Alissa Zwick claimed she was thrown out of the dental school in 2005 because of a feud between the associate dean, Dr. Marilyn Lantz, and two faculty members.

A jury in federal court in Detroit said Zwick’s due-process rights were violated when she was dismissed after her third year. She had a “B” average but was told she wasn’t performing well in clinical classes.

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Posted in Legal issues

Cleveland Clinic Discloses Doctors’ Industry Ties

Posted on December 3, 2008 | Comments Off on Cleveland Clinic Discloses Doctors’ Industry Ties

The New York Times: Cleveland Clinic Discloses Doctors’ Industry Ties

The Cleveland Clinic plans to announce this week it has begun publicly reporting the business relationships that any of its 1,800 staff doctors and scientists have with drug and device makers.

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Posted in Corporate University

Tenure on the Chopping Block

Posted on December 3, 2008 | Comments Off on Tenure on the Chopping Block

Inside Higher Ed: Tenure on the Chopping Block

Amid state budget concerns, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System may eliminate tenure for all new faculty members and instead offer short-term renewable contracts. System leaders say the plan will give them a flexibility they need, but many professors fear a potential loss of academic freedom and job security.

The system’s Board of Regents will discuss a proposed revision of its employment policy during its next meeting this Friday. The proposed policy revision would grandfather in those individuals who either have already been granted tenure or are on a tenure track prior to July 1, 2009. Currently, the system has 168 faculty members on the tenure track, and they would either have tenure granted or denied by 2014.

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Posted in Tenure & Promotion

Report on Breadth of Adjunct Use and Abuse

Posted on December 3, 2008 | Comments Off on Report on Breadth of Adjunct Use and Abuse

Inside Higher Ed: Breadth of Adjunct Use and Abuse

The use of adjuncts is well known among academics, but many believe that these instructors are utilized primarily in certain areas (such as the humanities) or certain types of institutions (such as community colleges). But a report being released today by the American Federation of Teachers suggests that the breadth and depth of adjunct use is greater than many realize — such that they are teaching a majority of public college and university courses, and are a major force in a wide range of disciplines.

The report — “Reversing Course: The Troubled State of Academic Staffing and a Path Forward” — is designed to publicize the extent of adjunct use with a mind toward encouraging more colleges to either improve the pay they offer adjuncts or shift more of their positions to the tenure track. Along those lines, the AFT is releasing a new tool that allows colleges to calculate the costs of changing staffing policies. The goal is to show that modest changes may be possible — even in tight budget years like this one — and that over time, such changes could have a meaningful impact on the makeup of faculties and the compensation of adjuncts.

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Posted in Contingent labor

Macedonia: Teachers’ strike continues, more radical steps expected next week

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Macedonia: Teachers’ strike continues, more radical steps expected next week

Makfax Vesnik: Teachers’ strike continues, more radical steps expected next week

Skopje /28/11/ 07:51

The teachers’ strike continues for the fifth day on Friday with announcements for more radical protests as of the next week.

The Union and the Government were unable to close the gap between their positions at the meeting held on Thursday.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Australia: Was the IRC right to cancel the SA teachers’ strike

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Australia: Was the IRC right to cancel the SA teachers’ strike

The Independent Weekly: Was the IRC right to cancel the SA teachers’ strike

The Rann Government enters the Industrial Relations Commission for arbitration with the Education Union next week. It could be a long, drawn-out process, with the union predicting it will take 10 to 12 months to reach a resolution.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Ontario: Teachers union holds out for less money

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Ontario: Teachers union holds out for less money

Globe and Mail: Teachers union holds out for less money

Here’s an intelligence test drawn from real life.

Your employer offers you a reasonably generous pay raise every year for four years, but asks that you accept the terms by a certain date. If you don’t accept it, the offer will be withdrawn and a discounted offer put on the table.

The question is, do you accept the original generous offer or say, “No thanks, I’ll settle for something less”?

That, in a nutshell, is the predicament facing Ontario’s 73,000 public elementary school teachers this weekend as the four-year labour peace in the province’s education sector threatens to unravel.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Israel: Teachers’ Association threatens strike over reform plan

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Israel: Teachers’ Association threatens strike over reform plan

Ynetnews.com: Teachers’ Association threatens strike over reform plan

Chairman Ran Erez says Education Ministry trying to impose plan’s wage, employment clauses without Association’s consent

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Israel: Teachers’ Association threatens strike over reform plan

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Israel: Teachers’ Association threatens strike over reform plan

Ynetnews.com: Teachers’ Association threatens strike over reform plan

Chairman Ran Erez says Education Ministry trying to impose plan’s wage, employment clauses without Association’s consent

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Georgia: Lawmaker suggests merging historically black colleges

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Georgia: Lawmaker suggests merging historically black colleges

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Lawmaker suggests merging historically black colleges

Republican Seth Harp wants to save money by putting them with white-majority schools

The chairman of a key state Senate committee wants the University System to consider merging historically black public colleges with nearby white-majority schools to save money.

In making the suggestion Monday, Senate Higher Education Committee Chairman Seth Harp (R-Midland) immediately ran into opposition from supporters of the black schools who say they serve an important role as independent campuses.

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Posted in Government

Lincoln Buys For-Profit College

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Lincoln Buys For-Profit College

Inside Higher Ed: Lincoln Educational Services Corp. said Monday that it had completed its $11.4 million purchase of Briarwood College, a two-year for-profit college that offers bachelor’s and associate degrees on its residential campus in Connecticut. Lincoln operates 34 campuses in 17 states, most of which are nationally accredited. Briarwood is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

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Posted in Corporate University

Saskatchewan: Black eye for FNUniv

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Saskatchewan: Black eye for FNUniv

Leader-Post: Black eye for FNUniv

A new controversy greets the embattled First Nations university

Canada’s university teachers are blackballing the First Nations University of Canada as a potential employer.

The 65,000-member Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has censured the FNUniv., the first time the association has imposed such sanctions on an institution in 29 years.

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Posted in Governance

Canadian Faculty Group Censures First Nations U. Over Governance

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Canadian Faculty Group Censures First Nations U. Over Governance

The Chronicle News Blog: Canadian Faculty Group Censures First Nations U. Over Governance

The Canadian Association of University Teachers has censured the First Nations University of Canada, in Saskatchewan, the first time in nearly 30 years that the organization has voted to boycott a college or university.

First Nations is the only aboriginally controlled university in Canada. By imposing censure, the association asks that all professors, including those in other countries, not accept faculty jobs at First Nations, nor invitations to speak there or participate in its conferences.

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Posted in Governance

Texas: UTMB layoffs included 127 faculty

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Texas: UTMB layoffs included 127 faculty

The Galveston County Daily News: UTMB layoffs included 127 faculty

Published November 30, 2008
GALVESTON — Experts in molecular medicine, researchers on infectious diseases and well-known surgeons were among the 127 University of Texas Medical Branch faculty members laid off after Hurricane Ike.

The doctors, professors and researchers were among 3,000 layoffs at the medical branch.

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Posted in Budgets & Funding, Faculty

Colleges Are Accused of Giving Little Consideration to Alternatives to Affirmative Action

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Colleges Are Accused of Giving Little Consideration to Alternatives to Affirmative Action

The Chronicle News Blog: Colleges Are Accused of Giving Little Consideration to Alternatives to Affirmative Action

Many colleges have largely disregarded the U.S. Supreme Court’s admonition to seriously consider other options before using race-conscious admissions policies, argues a forthcoming Catholic University Law Review article co-written by a former federal civil-rights official.

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Posted in Equity

Christmas Wins Another Round

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Christmas Wins Another Round

Inside Higher Ed: Christmas Wins Another Round

There may be a war against Christmas, but the holiday is holding its own at public universities. On Wednesday, facing widespread criticism, the president of Florida Gulf Coast University reversed a ban on religious holiday decorations on the campus. This is the second year in a row that a public university has initially called off Christmas decorations but then abruptly changed course following criticism. Last year, Missouri State University restored a Christmas tree to a prominent place on the campus.

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Posted in Working conditions

Tennessee: Scrutiny for a Presidential Spouse

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Tennessee: Scrutiny for a Presidential Spouse

Inside Higher Ed: Scrutiny for a Presidential Spouse

Carol Petersen, wife of the system president, John Petersen, was recently banned by the university’s board from any contact with donors or staff members at the university following an incident in which she is alleged to have treated a donor rudely, leaving the donor in tears. The ban was lifted only after John Petersen wrote a letter to the university pledging that his wife’s activities would be conducted only as a volunteer and with no authority over anyone. President Petersen also acknowledged that the incident and its handling would be part of his five-year review, currently being conducted by his board. The situation escalated to a point that the state’s governor, Phil Bredesen, was informed.

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Posted in Administration

UC restores labor program governor tried to cut

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on UC restores labor program governor tried to cut

San Francisco Chronicle: UC restores labor program governor tried to cut

UC President Mark Yudof agreed this week to fund labor and employment research programs at UC Berkeley and UCLA that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had sought to eliminate by removing their funding from the state budget in September.

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Posted in Academics, Budgets & Funding

New Mexico: College of Santa Fe Looks to State as Deal With Laureate Collapses

Posted on December 2, 2008 | Comments Off on New Mexico: College of Santa Fe Looks to State as Deal With Laureate Collapses

The Chronicle News Blog: College of Santa Fe Looks to State as Deal With Laureate Collapses

The State of New Mexico might need to take over a struggling private college there after its discussions to be acquired by a for-profit provider fell through.

The College of Santa Fe was in talks with Laureate Education for it to assume the college’s debt and assist in marketing the college, in affirming its brand, and in recruiting more students.

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Posted in Government

N.E. colleges see profit in China’s multitudes

Posted on November 28, 2008 | Comments Off on N.E. colleges see profit in China’s multitudes

Boston Globe: N.E. colleges see profit in China’s multitudes

BEIJING – Some elite American universities come to China to scout the smartest students possible. Other lesser known schools, particularly small private colleges around New England, arrive here with a far different motive: profit.

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Posted in Corporate University