How Class Works – 2010 Conference at Stony Brook – June 3-5, 2010. The call for papers will go out in late spring next year.
Please also find attached the current call for papers for the 2009 Working Class Studies Association biannual conference “Class Matters” at the University of Pittsburgh June 3 – -6, 2009. Contact co-chairs Nick Coles or Charlie McCollester for the 2009 conference at or .
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Posted in CFPs
Kalamazoo Gazette: Western Michigan University professors press contract talks
KALAMAZOO — Disappointed by the lack of progress in contract talks, Western Michigan University professors voted Friday to allow its union negotiating team to take whatever “job actions” it deems necessary to pressure the administration.
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Posted in Campaigns & Contracts
Burlington Free Press: UVM faculty contract reached
The faculty union at the University of Vermont has reached a tentative agreement with the administration on a new three-year contract for full-time employees.
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Details of the pact were not released pending ratification, according to a news release issued by United Academics. A vote by the members of United Academics’ full-time unit, numbering about 650, will take place in the next several weeks.
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Posted in Campaigns & Contracts
News Journal: UD student wins lawsuit over free speech
Federal judge awards $10 in damages, upholds suspension on other grounds
A University of Delaware student has won his legal argument that his free speech rights were violated by the school when it suspended him for content on his Web page, but he essentially lost his lawsuit seeking damages.
A federal judge ruled that Maciej Murakowski’s Web page of sex jokes, among other topics, was sophomoric and offensive but was protected speech, not a threat to others and not a violation of the school’s policies.
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Posted in Free speech
Providence Journal: Ky. probe spurs URI to review center files
Officials at the University of Rhode Island say they are inspecting the finances of a research center on the Kingston campus founded by a former academic administrator now under federal investigation in Kentucky for fraud.
Robert Felner, former director of URI’s School of Education, has been under investigation by the U.S. Postal Service and the Secret Service since June for alleged misappropriation of federal grants. Federal agents visited the campus on at least two occasions this summer, looking for information on Felner.
URI officials say the investigation has prompted them to review the finances of the National Center on Public Education and Social Policy, which Felner established at URI in the late 1990s. Robert A. Weygand, URI’s vice president of administration, says he hopes to issue a report of the findings at the end of this week.
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Posted in Administration, Corruption, Legal issues
AFP: Zimbabwe teachers strike for better pay: union
The state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper said the government agreed to a pay rise for civil servants backdated to August to cushion the effect of the country’s run-away inflation.
“Negotiators reached an agreement with transport and housing allowances emerging as major points,” the newspaper said.
But Majongwe denounced the measure as “piecemeal”.
“The strike is not about housing and transport allowances. It is about the general welfare of the teachers and their families including their parents who need to be looked after,” he said.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Zimbabwe: Pupils Sent Home as Teachers Strike Continues
Several boarding schools have been forced to send students back home because of the continuing teachers’ strike. Teachers embarked on a ‘work boycott’ when schools opened on Tuesday, demanding salary increases that are commensurate with the hyper-inflationary environment.
As a result of the unstable Zimbabwean dollar, the teachers are asking for a salary equivalent to US$800. Some have said this is too high and is not likely to be met by the bankrupt Mugabe regime.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
WKYC: Students walk out after Newton Falls teachers strike
NEWTON FALLS — Matt Koleszar said he’s been looking forward to his senior year all summer, but said he just couldn’t stay in class Friday morning.
“We all just sat in a room and watched TV, so I came home,” he said.
Koelszar wasn’t alone. Only about a third of Newton Falls’ 1,500 students attended classes after teachers began walking the picket lines.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
MyNorthwest.com: Talks break off in Bellevue teachers’ strike
The union for striking Bellevue teachers says talks broke off Thursday evening and no new negotiations are scheduled.
The strike began Tuesday when no contract agreement was reached before the scheduled start of classes.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
The Independent: Teachers prepare for autumn of discontent
Britain’s biggest teachers’ union is gearing for an autumn of discontent in schools by planning a further national strike over pay later this term.
Leaders of the National Union of Teachers last night unanimously backed a motion calling for a further ballot of its membership in England and Wales on the stoppage.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Ynetnews.com: Gaza Strip: Hamas disperses teachers’ strike
Educators loyal to the Islamic Jihad protest Hamas involvement in academic institutions. Meanwhile Hamas slams doctors’ strike, claims several have died due to lack of medical treatment
Hamas security forces forcefully dispersed a crowd of 150 teachers loyal to the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
The teachers were protesting against Hamas’ involvement in the education system, and the firing of teachers loyal to rival faction Fatah. The Islamic Jihad vehemently denounced the scattering of the demonstration.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Mercer Island Reporter: Bellevue teachers strike
Teachers from across Bellevue gathered behind picket signs today, striking in solidarity for higher wages and a more flexible curriculum. The districtwide strike, which was announced at a teacher union meeting on Sept. 1, left more than 1,600 students without classes on the first scheduled day of school.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Courier-Journal: U of L’s Ramsey apologizes over Felner incident
‘A lot of individuals’ hurt, U of L chief acknowledges
University of Louisville President James Ramsey offered apologies this week to those hurt by former education dean Robert Felner, telling the school’s Faculty Senate that “I should have never let that happen.”
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“I do understand — fully understand — didn’t appreciate it soon enough, but I fully understand that there are a lot of individuals who have been hurt,” Ramsey said during the Wednesday meeting.
The Courier-Journal obtained an audio tape of the meeting through an open-records request.
“There are a lot of individuals who have been deeply scarred, and a lot of individuals who are very disappointed in their university. I am deeply regretful of that, and I alone have to take responsibility for that, and I do. … I should not have ever let that happen, and it did happen,” Ramsey said.
The Faculty Senate, which is composed of 70 members, including a student representative, is the faculty representative body at the university. It is responsible for reviewing policies and documents affecting the faculty and making recommendations to the administration.
Felner, who resigned from U of L on June 30 to become chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, is the focus of a federal investigation that was sparked by his alleged misappropriation of a $694,000 grant at U of L. No charges have been filed.
The investigation was triggered by the university, which handed the matter over to federal investigators.
Felner backed out of the Wisconsin job after the federal investigation became public June 20. U.S. Attorney David Huber has indicated the investigation could continue into October.
The investigation brought to light issues surrounding Felner’s leadership at U of L’s College of Education and Human Development and at other institutions he worked at before coming to Louisville in 2003.
Former faculty, staff, students and alumni have complained that Felner harassed, intimidated and retaliated against those who did not agree with him.
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Posted in Administration, Legal issues, Working conditions
The Chronicle: If Kent State Beats Goals, Professors Will Profit
The university will offer cash bonuses to professors when institutional goals for fund raising, research dollars, and student retention are met.
Kent State University is trying a new and unusual tactic to improve its status, retention rate, and fund raising—paying cash bonuses to faculty members if the university exceeds its goals in those areas.
The bonuses are built into a contract, approved last month, that covers 864 full-time, tenure-track faculty members who teach and do research on the university’s eight campuses. Proposed by Lester A. Lefton, Kent State’s president, the “success bonus pool” will be divided among faculty members if the Ohio institution improves retention rates for first-year students and increases the research dollars it generates and the private money raised through its foundation.
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Posted in Corporate University
Inside Higher Ed: ‘Teach Them to Challenge Authority’
Stanley Fish may be telling academics to keep their opinions to themselves, but Gregory S. Prince Jr. thinks it is time for colleges to stop trying to make their classrooms neutral. Prince, the former president of Hampshire College, argues for professors to take all kinds of positions — as a tool for challenging their students. His new book, Teach Them to Challenge Authority: Educating for Healthy Societies (Continuum) outlines this view, and Prince responded via e-mail to questions about the work.
Q: What’s wrong with a neutral stance in the classroom?
A: A neutral stance in the classroom is appropriate as one of many pedagogical approaches. When it becomes the only pedagogical approach, it deprives students of the chance to learn how to challenge those who have power over them — a skill that is essential in any career, that is essential for the health of any institution and that is critical in a democratic society. Higher education should have been very concerned that at a place like Enron, where almost all of its senior departmental and corporate leadership were college educated, only two at most challenged what was taking place.
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Posted in Academics
AP: Ex-Tenn. professor guilty of passing military data
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal jury convicted a retired University of Tennessee professor Wednesday of passing sensitive information from a U.S. Air Force contract to two foreign research assistants from China and Iran.
Jurors deliberated about six hours before finding plasma physics expert J. Reece Roth guilty Wednesday on 18 counts of conspiracy, fraud and violating the Arms Export Control Act.
Prosecutors in the Knoxville trial said Roth gave the two graduate students access to sensitive information while they researched a plasma-guidance system for unmanned aircraft.
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Posted in Legal issues
Penn Law and Human Rights Groups Seek Release of Iranian Scholar
PHILADELPHIA (Sept. 3, 2008) – The University of Pennsylvania Law School and two human rights groups today called on the government of Iran to release an Iranian legal scholar scheduled to teach in the U.S.
Mehdi Zakerian, an assistant professor of human rights at an independent university in Tehran, was reportedly detained by the Iranian government in mid-August while he awaited U.S. visa clearance to travel to Philadelphia as a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. The Iranian government has not released any information about his location or condition, nor have any formal charges been brought against him.
“Professor Zakerian is a leading scholar on human rights in the Islamic world,” said Michael A. Fitts, dean of Penn Law. “His scholarship is at the forefront of international and human rights law and we remain hopeful that we can welcome Professor Zakerian to our classrooms.”
Zakerian was detained in Tehran by governmental authorities on or about Aug.15, according to Iranian Human Rights Voice, which reports that he has been “in a ministry of intelligence detention center for the past two weeks.” (http://www.ihrv.org/inf/?p=783).
Penn Law was joined by the non-governmental organizations International League for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch in calling for Zakerian’s release.
Zakerian is “one of the leading thinkers on human rights in the Middle East whose writings have helped us all better understand the relationships between human rights and Islam,” said William Burke-White, a professor at Penn Law and an expert in international law. “Professor Zakerian’s detention appears to be part of a broader crackdown on independently minded academics at leading institutions across Iran.”
Zakerian is chairman of the Iranian International Relations Society and a senior researcher at the Center for the Strategic Studies of the Middle East. He is the editor of the journal, International Studies, published quarterly in both Farsi and English, which is devoted to issues of international affairs and human rights. In 2002, Zakerian was a fellow at the Hague Academy of International Law in The Hague, Netherlands.
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Posted in International
Inside Higher Ed: CUNY faculty approve contract
Faculty members at the City University of New York overwhelmingly approved a new contract, the professors’ union announced Wednesday. The vote was 93 percent to 7 percent. Some adjunct faculty members pushed to reject the contract, which they said didn’t do enough for them in terms of either wages or job security. But many faculty members — including some who were critical of the pact — said that the deterioration of New York State’s budget picture would have made it dangerous to open negotiations again. Details about the contract may be found on the Web site of the Professional Staff Congress, which is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers.
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Posted in Campaigns & Contracts
LEO Weekly: Change agent, class clown or criminal?
The University of Louisville posted a nationwide job search in 2003, looking to find a new dean to oversee the College of Education and Human Development. The man they found for the job: Robert Felner.
Given Felner would eventually become the subject of dozens of grievances during his tenure at Louisville — not to mention the target of a federal investigation — a few requirements listed in the job ad now seem more than a little ironic: a record of successful interaction with faculty, staff and students; strong interpersonal, organizational and communication skills, and the ability to work effectively with internal and external constituents; a high standard of professional integrity and a strong sense of professional ethics.
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Posted in Administration, Legal issues
The Virginian-Pilot: ODU suspends presidential search after finalist withdraws
The Old Dominion University Board of Visitors has temporarily suspended its search for a new president, ODU Rector Marc Jacobson said in an e-mail Friday.
The board didn’t specify how long the search process will be on hold.
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Posted in Administration
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