Category Archives: Working conditions

The Chronicle: Universities Should Spend More of Their Own Money on Young Researchers, American Academy Says

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The Chronicle: Reinstated Instructor at Cal State-Fullerton Reflects on Encounter With ‘Loyalty Oath’

Wendy Gonaver, a lecturer in American studies at California State University at Fullerton, won a major victory on Monday, when she and the university agreed on the conditions under which she would sign a “loyalty oath” required under California law.

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The Chronicle: Cal State-Fullerton and Lecturer Reach Agreement Over State Loyalty Oath

A simmering dispute over whether a lecturer at California State University at Fullerton could teach there without signing a loyalty oath required of state employees by the California Constitution has been taken off the boil by an agreement announced on Monday.

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Grand Rapids Press: Calvin board OKs gun policy for campus police

GRAND RAPIDS — It’s official: Calvin College this fall will become the first private college in the region to allow safety personnel with a police background to carry handguns on campus.

College trustees approved the use-of-force policy this weekend after a lengthy question-and-answer session about the rules, said Bastian Knoppers, who chairs the 30-member board.

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Times-Picayune: House panel OKs concealed weapons on college campuses

BATON ROUGE — Despite opposition from student government leaders and top state education officials, a House committee Thursday took the first step toward allowing authorized concealed weapons on college campuses.

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Inside Higher Ed: Divorce: Grounds for Dismissal

He and his wife are divorcing. And, because he’s choosing not to discuss the terms of that first separation with his employers — to determine whether the divorce falls within what the college considers to be appropriate Scriptural parameters — he’s resigning from Wheaton in what he calls “a mutually agreed-upon separation. And the alternative of it would be to be fired.”

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The Chronicle: Texas Tech Faculty Members Challenge Report’s View of Their Teaching Time

A controversial growth plan at Texas Tech University took center stage on Wednesday as faculty members challenged a report, commissioned by the chancellor, that concluded that one of the reasons tuition was rising was that faculty members weren’t spending enough time in the classroom.

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Avalanche-Journal: Tech Horn professors tell Hance of concerns with growth plan

Some of Texas Tech’s most prestigious professors are concerned about their chancellor’s drive to increase the student body from 28,000 to 40,000 by 2020.

They especially are concerned about his assistant’s recent suggestion the university could save millions if officials cut back the number of hours faculty are excused from teaching to pursue scholarly activities and simultaneously enrolled more students in more classes.

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Inside Higher Ed: Office Staff Feeling Overworked

Eighty-four percent of clerical and technical employees say that unrealistic workloads are a concern at their college, and nearly that many report their quality of work suffers as a result, according to a survey from the American Federation of Teachers.

The group’s “Office Employee Workload Survey,” presented Friday at the AFT-National Education Association Higher Education Conference, looked at 638 responses, 155 of which came from college employees, most of whom are from community colleges. (The report notes that the Web-based, self-selecting survey shouldn’t be viewed as scientifically accurate, but rather as illustrating broad workload issues.)

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The Guardian; Teacher unions take aim at spiralling workload

Teachers’ increasing workload and its impact on their work-life balance, poor pupil behaviour in the classroom and continuing opposition to the government’s school academies programmes are all high on the agendas of the three teacher unions, which are due to hold their annual conferences over the next two weeks.

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The Chronicle: Spring Forward, Fall Back (and Take a Nap)

As daylight saving time returns next week and robs us of an hour’s sleep, weary academics may be tempted to lie down for a nap.

Those who succumb are likely to snooze on the sly.

Sure, “power napping” enjoyed a brief vogue in the 1990s, but in America’s time-is-money culture naps never really stood a chance against caffeine as a socially acceptable way to recharge. And while academe has its own rhythms, few faculty members are willing to admit to daytime dozing.

“It could feed into certain stereotypes about professors,” says Chon A. Noriega, a professor of cinema and media studies and director of the Chicano Studies Research Center at the University of California at Los Angeles.

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The Journal (Queen’s University): Professors pressed for time
‘There aren’t a lot of spare resources around these days’

Rosemary Jolly wants to have an African studies department at Queen’s but simply doesn’t have time to work in a new program.

Jolly is an English professor who specializes in Southern African literature and cultures.

“The resource constraint is not just money—the resource constraint is people like me who would love to teach in an African studies department,” she said. Jolly—who’s only teaching one class for the next four years because of her participation in research projects—is one of a number of professors who specialize in Africa that are already involved in too many different areas.

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Sunderland Echo: Teachers’ union slams assaults

Two attacks a week are carried out on Wearside teachers, new figures have revealed.
A total of 109 attacks were reported in 2007 – and the statistics do not include verbal confrontations, which could still be deemed as an assault in the eyes of the law.

Union leaders have slammed the attacks, saying schools need to be safe.
Howard Brown National Union of Teachers Sunderland branch secretary, said: “All assaults on teachers are unacceptable – the same way all assaults on pupils are unacceptable.

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The Chronicle: When Mascots Attack

Mascot-on-mascot violence.

Is it a growing problem? A couple of videos making the rounds on the Internet suggest that it might be. In one, we see the University of Houston’s cougar and the University of Oregon’s duck battle it out on the sidelines. In another, viewers witness Coastal Carolina University’s chanticleer getting the best of James Madison University’s Duke Dog.

Butts are kicked! Fake punches are thrown! Egos are slightly bruised!

To see the videos, go to http://chronicle.com/multimedia

You will be shocked. Or mildly amused. One or the other.

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Des Moines Register: Regents vote to arm campus police

The Iowa Board of Regents approved 6-to-2 a campus security plan that would require sworn police officers at Iowa’s public universities to carry firearms.

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The Chronicle: Some Southern California Colleges Cancel Classes for the Week as Wildfires Blaze On

Several universities and colleges in Southern California have canceled classes for the week as wildfires exacerbated by high temperatures and fierce winds continue to scorch the region.

A half-million residents of the region were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday, and President Bush declared a state of emergency in seven counties to help speed up federal emergency relief.

Some colleges in San Diego County, one of the hardest hit areas, had already canceled some classes earlier this week (The Chronicle, October 23), and decided on Tuesday to cancel them for the rest of the week. Most of the colleges were not in immediate danger, and some sheltered people and animals displaced by the fires.

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Inside Higher Ed: Pepperdine University was closed Monday and will be closed today because of fires raging nearby, shutting off roads to the Malibu campus. University officials have said that students and employees on the campus are safe, but have been urged to stay put. Several other Southern California colleges are also closed. Among them: California State University at San Marcos, MiraCosta College, the Palomar Community College District, San Diego State University the University of California at San Diego and the University of San Diego.

The Chronicle: At Least 6 Southern California Campuses Close Amid Smoke and Congestion From Fires

Dangerous wildfires and hazardous air quality from their smoke and ash caused a number of colleges and universities in the San Diego and Los Angeles areas to close on Monday, with at least a couple of institutions unsure of when they would reopen.

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The Chronicle News Blog: University Redresses Wardrobe Malfunction by Dropping Draconian Dress Code

Power of the press? After The Chronicle published an article this morning on Tri-State University’s proscriptive new faculty and staff dress code, professors at the Indiana university were told that they may now show up for work in scuffed shoes, wrinkled shirts, and, for those still possessing hair, Mohawks.

The dress code was intended to “elevate who we are as an institution,” said David Finley, the university’s vice president for academic affairs, not to alienate employees. He announced today that the October 1 policy had been rescinded while administrators review with faculty members what wardrobe best befits a Tri-State professor. —Paula Wasley

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