California: Administrators’ pay hike raises ire of CSU faculty; Students turned away because of funding

San Diego Union-Tribune: Administrators’ pay hike raises ire of CSU faculty
Students turned away because of funding

Some California State University faculty members are angry the system has awarded pay raises of up to 19 percent to high-level administrators while turning away students because of inadequate funding.

The raises represent a fraction of the CSU system’s proposed $5.1 billion budget and were approved during the course of the year.

At a time when the 23 campuses are under pressure to trim budgets, and 10,000 applicants are being shut out by a newly enforced enrollment cap, the salary increases seem ill-advised to some.

Tennessee Takes First Annual ‘Turkey at the Top’ Award

HowTheUniversityWorks.com: Tennessee Takes First Annual ‘Turkey at the Top’ Award

Turkey at the top is always intensely competitive. This year’s contenders included first runner-up Robert Felner, the U of Louisville dean indicted for conspiracy to commit fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion in what the feds allege are repeated acts of embezzlement of grant monies amounting to over $2 million. Not content with these escapades, Felner racked up 31 grievances and complaints in his 5 years at the “U of L” but was consistently backed against the faculty by upper administration, especially Provost Shirley Willihnganz and President James Ramsey, who spent extravagantly on lawyers and consultants to prop up his administration despite what numerous accounts (including this one and others that I’ve privately confirmed) termed an “onslaught” of complaints from faculty, staff and students alleging “unsavory behavior, ranging from sexual harassment to workplace intimidation.” This pair continued the authoritarian regime of wall-to-wall administrative solidarity and secrecy established by their high-living predecessors, former provost Carol Garrison and former president John Shumaker—later found sharing lavish hotel rooms and limousines at public expense, while jetting to trysts in the University of Tennessee’s private plane.

Kentucky: Felner Investigation Continues At University Of Louisville

WLKY.com: Felner Investigation Continues At University Of Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — New information on the University of Louisville’s investigation into the actions of former dean Robert Felner has come to light.

On Wednesday, the university’s communications chief said committees continue to consider changes that could prevent similar financial fiascos from happening in the future.

Students at Canadian University Stir Controversy by Pulling Out of Cystic-Fibrosis Event

The Chronicle News Blog: Students at Canadian University Stir Controversy by Pulling Out of Cystic-Fibrosis Event

The student-government association at Carleton University, in Ottawa, is drawing widespread criticism for withdrawing from a nationwide fund raiser for cystic fibrosis after deciding the disease was not “inclusive” enough, The Charlatan, Carleton’s student newspaper, reported.

Beyond the Ivied Halls, Endowments Suffer

The New York Times: Beyond the Ivied Halls, Endowments Suffer

Harvard has a nearly $37 billion endowment, the largest among universities in the United States. It has been marketing its $1.5 billion stake in buyout and venture capital firms.

Among institutional investors, school endowments aggressively embraced private equity, real estate partnerships, venture capital, commodities, hedge funds and other so-called alternative investments over the last few years. Endowments with more than $1 billion in assets reported 35 percent of their holdings in these types of investments on average last year, a much greater portion than big public pension funds, for example.

Harvard freezes staff hiring, scrutinizes faculty searches

The Boston Globe: Harvard freezes staff hiring, scrutinizes faculty searches

The dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences has called for an immediate freeze on staff hiring and strongly encouraged department heads to consider canceling faculty searches.

Toronto: Support the Strike at York University

InfoShop News: Toronto: Support the Strike at York University

Fire Your BossStarting Nov 6, 2008, CUPE 3903, the union representing contract faculty, teaching and research assistants at York University in Toronto, Canada, went on an all-out legal strike. Significant issues include wage increase corresponding with cost of living increase, funding guarantees for graduate students (who also form significant number of workers at York U), improved working conditions (which mean improved learning conditions for students), and job security for contract faculty (some of whom have been teaching for several years on a sessional basis, carrying 1.5-2 times the load of the permanent faculty at 50-75% of the cost for YorkU). Find a summary of all outstanding issues at: http://cupe3903.tao.ca.

New York: UCCC faculty union gets 2-year contract

Daily Freeman: UCCC faculty union gets 2-year contract

KINGSTON — The Ulster County Legislature has approved a two-year contract with the Ulster County Community College Faculty Association that gives full-time faculty members 3.5 percent salary increases in each of the pact’s two years.

Australia: Schools in chaos over teacher strike confusion

The Advertiser: Schools in chaos over teacher strike confusion

CLASSROOMS were left empty across South Australia yesterday as confusion reigned over the cancelled teachers’ strike.

The order by the Industrial Relations Commission to cancel the full-day strike came too late on Thursday night for many parents who had already made arrangements for their children.

Nepal: Teachers call off school strike

eKantipur.com: Desh Tilak still in soup
Teachers call off school strike

Kantipur Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 23 – Maoist-aligned Nepal Institutional School Teachers’ Union (ISTU) has withdrawn its strike after three days.

It had enforced the strike in private schools of the Kathmandu Valley to protest the sacking of 18 teachers of Battisputali-based Desh Tilak Secondary School.

Australia: Teachers to continue action despite strike ban

ABC News: Teachers to continue action despite strike ban

The teachers’ union says next week’s planned rolling stoppages will not go ahead in South Australia, but it is determined to continue its industrial campaign into next year.

Tanzania: Teachers suspended for joining illegal strike

Daily News: Teachers suspended for joining illegal strike

A head teacher of Balili “A” Primary School in Bunda District, Mr Toto Bwire, has been suspended from duty and several other teachers interdicted for having participated in a strike that took place countrywide on November 17, this year.

: Macedonia Teachers Urged Against Strike

BalkanInsight.com: Macedonia Teachers Urged Against Strike

24 November 2008 Skopje _ Macedonia’s Government on Sunday called on workers in the education sector to reconsider their decision to strike for bigger benefits amid the deepening world financial crisis.

Macedonia: Teachers go on general strike

Makfax vesnik: Teachers go on general strike

Teachers as well as employees in science and culture sector will go on general strike Monday demanding pay rise, said Education and Science Union (SONK).

Kentucky: Felner trial likely to be delayed

Courier-Journal: Felner trial likely to be delayed

The trial of former University of Louisville education dean Robert Felner and his colleague Thomas Schroeder is expected to be delayed until next year after their attorneys filed motions seeking additional time to review the government’s evidence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Calhoun said in response to the motions that the government did not oppose the delay.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney David Huber said today that a new date has not been be set by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III. The current trial date is Dec. 22.

Motions filed by the defense indicated that the prosecution turned 17,299 pages of documents over to them this month, and more documents are expected in the coming weeks.

Japan: Komazawa U. racks up ¥15.5 billion in derivatives losses

Japan Times: Komazawa U. racks up ¥15.5 billion in derivatives losses

Komazawa University, a major private university, has incurred losses of roughly ¥15.5 billion in the trading of financial derivative products, impacted by the global financial crisis, officials at the university said Wednesday.

California: CSUN must cut 1,100 students

Los Angeles Daily News: CSUN must cut 1,100 students

Faced with an increasingly bleak financial outlook, California State University officials said Thursday that they would have to slash enrollment at the 23-campus system by up to 10,000 students next year – the first-ever cut of its type.

Iowa: Chain of Grief for a Flagship University

The New York Times: Chain of Grief for a Flagship University

IOWA CITY — Famous as a literary powerhouse, with its Writers’ Workshop and award-winning newspaper, the University of Iowa has been the gloomy setting of more trouble and tragedy lately than could fit in a single book.

Stanford professor leads Obama transition team

San Francisco Chronicle: Stanford professor leads Obama transition team

Darling-Hammond, a teacher-friendly educator, has been tapped by President-elect Barack Obama to head his transition team on education policy.

Her name appears on some – not all – of the guessing-game lists put out by education observers speculating about who Obama will pick to head the huge U.S. Department of Education. And she is the subject of an online petition begun by a teacher in Hawaii that’s attracted thousands of people – many of them teachers – urging the president-elect to choose her.

An Authoritative Word on Academic Freedom

New York Times: An Authoritative Word on Academic Freedom

More than a few times in these columns I have tried to deflate the balloon of academic freedom by arguing that it was not an absolute right or a hallowed principle, but a practical and limited response to the particular nature of intellectual work.

Now, in a new book — “For the Common Good: Principles of American Academic Freedom,” to be published in 2009 — two distinguished scholars of constitutional law, Matthew W. Finkin and Robert C. Post, study the history and present shape of the concept and come to conclusions that support and deepen what I have been saying in these columns and elsewhere.