West Virginia U. President Will Resign to End Degree Controversy

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The Chronicle: West Virginia U. President Will Resign to End Degree Controversy

Michael S. Garrison, the embattled president of West Virginia University who endured repeated calls for his ouster over a degree improperly awarded to a politically connected figure, announced this morning that he would resign, effective September 1.

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Posted in Administration

Turkish court upholds college head scarf ban

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AP: Turkish court upholds college head scarf ban

By SUZAN FRASER – Jun 5, 2008

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s top court ruled Thursday that Islamic head scarves violate secularism and cannot be allowed at universities, deepening a divide between the country’s Islamic-oriented government and secular institutions.

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Posted in Diversity, International

Ohio: Retired professor sues UC

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Cincinnati Enquirer: Retired professor sues UC

After 40 years teaching architecture at the University of Cincinnati, David Niland felt he earned the right to criticize UC over changes to its curriculum.

But after he took that criticism to faculty meetings and student sessions, UC told Niland, in unusually blunt terms, to stay away from the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) where the program is housed.

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Posted in Faculty, Legal issues

Adjunct Professors Vote to Unionize at Maryland’s Montgomery College

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The Chronicle News Blog: Adjunct Professors Vote to Unionize at Maryland’s Montgomery College

Part-time faculty members at Montgomery College, in Maryland, have voted overwhelmingly in favor of union representation by the Service Employees International Union Local 500.

The 365-to-105 vote was a first for part-time instructors in the state, the union said in a news release. About 1,000 adjuncts teach about half of all courses offered at Montgomery College, the union said.

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Posted in Contingent labor, Unions

Washington: Sit-in Over a Student Group’s Suspension

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Inside Higher Ed: Sit-in Over a Student Group’s Suspension

Members of Students for a Democratic Society occupy building at Evergreen State after college officials punished the group. Students claim a violation of free speech; administrators cite violations of rules.

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Posted in Protests

new letter from human rights and academic groups is calling for the U.S. government to take stronger steps to assure that students in Gaza are permitted by Israel to leave for education elsewhere

Posted on June 12, 2008 by | Comments Off on new letter from human rights and academic groups is calling for the U.S. government to take stronger steps to assure that students in Gaza are permitted by Israel to leave for education elsewhere

Inside Higher Ed: A new letter from human rights and academic groups is calling for the U.S. government to take stronger steps to assure that students in Gaza are permitted by Israel to leave for education elsewhere. The letter was sent to Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, by Human Rights Watch, the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association, and the Committee for Human Rights of the American Anthropological Association. “Gaza’s students need to have access to higher education abroad,” the letter says. “Opportunities in the Gaza Strip are currently quite limited. Many degrees are not at all available in the four universities there. For instance, there are no undergraduate degrees in languages other than Arabic, English, and French, and no master’s degrees in law, journalism, and information technology. Doctoral degrees are not offered at all. Israel rarely permits professors and lecturers from outside Gaza to enter to teach there.”

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Posted in Students

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

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

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Posted in Working conditions

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

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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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Posted in Working conditions

6 ears of Ph.D. work denied, so he sues

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Chicago Sun-Times: 6 years of Ph.D. work denied, so he sues
UIC | Says profs showered him with praise, then dropped bomb

June 2, 2008

Peter Beckway spent six years working toward a Ph.D. in English literature, racking up nearly all A’s, winning a prestigious teaching assistantship, and earning a 3.88 grade-point average.

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Posted in Legal issues

The Union Impact and Non-Impact

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Inside Higher Ed: The Union Impact and Non-Impact

One of the major growth areas for academic unions in recent years has been among adjunct professors. More of them are forming unions – either in their own units or with their tenure-track counterparts. In recent weeks, adjunct unions have won recognition at Henry Ford Community College. As this movement has grown, all three major faculty unions in the United States have adopted a goal of seeing colleges create more tenure-track lines and of reversing the “casualization” of the faculty.

The trends together raise an obvious question, especially since the union movement in higher education is far more successful in some areas than others: Does the presence of unions minimize or even prevent the erosion of tenure-track faculty?

The answer of two University of Michigan social scientists — who are themselves active in the labor movement — is No. An article they have published in the new issue of Labor Studies Journal (abstract available here) compared the faculty make-up in Canada and the United States (the former being far more unionized) and among unionized and non-unionized colleges in the United States. The scholars found “to our surprise and disappointment” that unionization doesn’t seem to protect the tenure track.

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Posted in Unions

Cal State-Fullerton and Lecturer Reach Agreement Over State Loyalty Oath

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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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Posted in Working conditions

Protest for More University Seats Leaves 41 Dead in India

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Times of India: Talks hope fades, 2 more Gujjars killed

SAWAI MADHOPUR: Just when everyone thought the 8-day-old Gujjar agitation would be resolved, the whole thing took a turn for the worse with the talks process collapsing even before it got off the blocks and two more Gujjars being killed in police firing.

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Posted in Protests

Britain Delays Planned Deportation of Academic Who Downloaded Al Qaeda Document

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The Press Association: Lecturer’s deportation on hold

May 31, 2008

The deportation of a university worker who was arrested under the Terrorism Act has been put on hold.

Lawyers acting for Hicham Yezza, who was due to be returned to Algeria on Sunday, said the Home Office had cancelled his deportation after a judicial review was sought at the High Court in London.

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Posted in Academic freedom

Budget protest takes L.A. teachers out of classrooms

Posted on June 7, 2008 by | Comments Off on Budget protest takes L.A. teachers out of classrooms

Los Angeles Times: Budget protest takes L.A. teachers out of classrooms

In a one-hour demonstration at the beginning of the day, instructors pick
et outside schools. Many parents join in. The district reports no safety problems.

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Posted in Budgets & Funding, K-12 issues, Protests

Norway: Teachers and Health Workers Strike

Posted on June 4, 2008 by | Comments Off on Norway: Teachers and Health Workers Strike

The New York Times: Norway: Teachers and Health Workers Strike

Nearly 5,000 Norwegian teachers and health workers walked off the job, joining 3,300 others who had been on strike since Monday in a dispute over pay. What began as a narrowly focused action is likely to escalate further next week, according to Anders Folkestad, head of the Confederation of Unions for Professionals, about half of whose 270,000 members are teachers. The teachers’ strike has already affected nearly 30,000 students.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Cyprus: Strike cancelled

Posted on June 4, 2008 by | Comments Off on Cyprus: Strike cancelled

Cyprus Observer: Strike cancelled; lessons started

With the end of the strike by the Cyprus Turkish Secondary Education Teachers’ Union (CTSETU) lessons in secondary schools started after 11 school days.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Alberta: Strike to shut two schools

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Calgary Herald: Strike to shut two schools

Calgary public schools are bracing for disruption when support workers launch a two-day strike next week.

While the majority of schools will remain open during the walkout, parents of severely special needs children have been left scrambling after learning two specialized schools for the disabled — Christine Meikle School and Emily Follensbee School — will be closed during the strike.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Nigeria: Teachers Give Ultimatum for National Strike

Posted on June 4, 2008 by | Comments Off on Nigeria: Teachers Give Ultimatum for National Strike

AllAfrica.com:

Teachers Give Ultimatum for National Strike

Vanguard (Lagos)

President Umaru Yar’Adua’s achievement of industrial peace, seems set for disruption as the Nigeria Union of Teachers yesterday issued a 21 day ultimatum to the federal government on its failure to put in place a Teachers Salary Scale.

The National Executive Council of the union which met in Abuja stated, ” By this decision NEC -in – session hereby issues a 21 – day ultimatum for the implementation of the TSS with effect from Wednesday 28th May, 2008″.

It also directed ” a warning strike for three days with effect from Wednesday 11th June, to Friday, June 13, 2008″.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Australia: Teachers to strike over pay dispute

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ABC News: Teachers to strike over pay dispute

The Education Union is seeking a 21 per cent pay rise over three years for teachers.

The Education Union is seeking a 21 per cent pay rise over three years for teachers. (ABC News: file photo)

Public school teachers in South Australia are preparing for strike action after the Education Union yesterday voted to step up its industrial campaign.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

WVU panelists stand by report

Posted on June 2, 2008 by | Comments Off on WVU panelists stand by report

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: WVU panelists stand by report

They question president’s claim M.B.A. program rife with records inconsistencies

West Virginia University’s revelation that there were problems with the records of about 10 percent of the Executive M.B.A. degrees the university has awarded in recent years is inconsistent with an investigative panel’s finding that the school does not have a pervasive record-keeping problem, four members of the panel said yesterday.

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Posted in Administration