California: CSU Students Urge Gov To Reconsider Education Cuts

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CBS5.com: CSU Students Urge Gov To Reconsider Education Cuts

(BCN) Students and faculty at three California State University campuses were to call and fax Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office Thursday to urge him to reconsider an expected budget cut to the university system.

Banks of phones and fax machines are set up today at CSU Monterey Bay, Sacramento State, and Cal State Los Angeles so that students and faculty can call and deliver a common message: “The California State University is part of the solution to an economic downturn; don’t cut it!” according to a statement released by the California Faculty Association.

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Posted in Budgets & Funding, Protests, Students

New York: Culinary Institute faculty votes ‘no confidence’ in school president

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Daily Freeman: Culinary Institute faculty votes ‘no confidence’ in school president

HYDE PARK – Instructors at the Culinary Institute of America say the school’s president, Timothy Ryan, has created an environment of oppression that is harming the students, faculty and reputation of the institution.

The faculty recently passed a resolution, 85-9, expressing “no confidence” in Ryan as president. There are about 125 full-time members of the Culinary Faculty Association.

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Posted in Faculty

Quebec: TA strike leaves trail of bad blood at McGill

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The Gazette: TA strike leaves trail of bad blood at McGill

Where’s the logic? McGill University takes pride in its reputation as one of the premier schools in North America, maybe the world – an image built on academic standards and professors with alphabet soup after their names.

McGill finds itself embroiled in a labour dispute with teaching assistants. It fires strikers from their other jobs on campus, citing a strict interpretation of the Quebec Labour Code.

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Posted in Contingent labor, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Students

Contract extension for Trent U faculty ratified

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Contract extension for Trent U faculty ratified

Trent University’s board of governors has ratified an extension to the existing 2005-08 collective agreement with the Trent University Faculty Association (TUFA).
The terms of that agreement are now in effect until June 30, 2009.
TUFA members voted in favour of the extension back on march 31, 2008.
Both the university and TUFA, which has 340 members, have agreed that negotiations for a new collective agreement will begin no later than March 1, 2009.

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Posted in Campaigns & Contracts

Teachers in Zimbabwe have fled from their schools

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African Press International: Teachers in Zimbabwe have fled from their schools

Harare (Zimbabwe) – Hundreds of rural schools in Zimbabwe are battling to reopen for the new term this week because most teachers have fled local violence.

War veterans and militias have reportedly unleashed a reign of terror in the countryside, and although many victims are said to be opposition supporters, ordinary teachers have also borne the brunt.� Teachers unions say the major targets of the violence are members who were presiding officers during the elections. These are being accused of rigging the elections in favour of MDC (the opposition Movement for Democratic Change), said Raymond Majongwe, secretary-general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, PTUZ.

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Posted in International

UK: Fallout from the teachers’ strike

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The Independent: Education Diary: Fallout from the teachers’ strike

* The fallout from the teachers’ strike has produced a flurry of activity. The ATL says it has had a surge of membership enquiries. The NASUWT says it has, too, and that this always happens when another union takes a strong position. The NUT is boasting of its own surge. Membership at Royston High School in Barnsley is said to have swelled to include more than 80 per cent of staff. The NUT can even boast the scalp of Tony Mitchell, who was previously Royston’s NASUWT rep for 20 years.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Tanzania: Teachers’ Strike Postponed After Maghembe Meeting

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The Citizen (Dar es Salaam): Tanzania: Teachers’ Strike Postponed After Maghembe Meeting

The Teachers Union of Tanzania yesterday announced the postponement of its nationwide strike that would have began on May 1.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

UK: Teachers’ strike: unions speak out

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Western Mail: Teachers’ strike: unions speak out

Philip Dixon, director of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers:

The issue for last week’s schools strike was clear: dissatisfaction with the teachers’ pay award for 2008.

Although unhappy with the amount on offer, members of the ATL did not choose to strike. A survey of its members in England and Wales found less than a quarter were in favour of industrial action.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

UK: National headteachers union says inspections discourage candidates from moving up

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inthenews.co.uk: Ofsted ‘deterring’ headteacher applications

National headteachers union says inspections discourage candidates from moving up

A new study commissioned by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has concluded that potential candidates are less likely to apply for a headship position due to Ofsted inspections.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Alberta: School support staff set for strike vote

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The Calgary Herald: School support staff set for strike vote

The Calgary Board of Education’s second largest union could be headed for a strike as support workers vote next week on whether to launch job action.

The CBE Staff Association — which represents about 3,450 employees, including lunchroom supervisors, secretaries, information technology support workers and speech pathologists — will hold a strike vote Wednesday.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Australia: Teachers fined $1500 over stop-work day ‘may strike again’

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The West Australian: Teachers fined $1500 over stop-work day ‘may strike again’

The teachers’ union has refused to rule out more strike action after it was fined $1500 yesterday for refusing to call off a stop-work meeting which forced 35 schools to close for a day in February.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Zimbabwe violence targets teachers

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The Press Association: Zimbabwe violence targets teachers

Teachers have become targets in Zimbabwe’s post-election violence, union officials have said.

Zimbabwe’s opposition and international and local human rights groups have accused the ruling party, its militant allies and the army of waging a campaign of terror since President Robert Mugabe came in second in presidential elections March 29.

Electoral officials said a second round of voting is necessary because neither Mr Mugabe nor his rival Morgan Tsvangirai won a simple majority, and there are fears of increased violence in the lead-up to the run-off.

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Posted in International

After scandal, students are leaving Oral Roberts University

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San Diego Union-Tribune: After scandal, students are leaving Oral Roberts University

TULSA, Okla. – As Oral Roberts University prepares to hand out diplomas to its Class of 2008, Anna Siebring, a junior, will be mailing out applications to transfer to another school.

Siebring, a government major, is among many students having second thoughts about staying at Oral Roberts after six months of scandal at the evangelical Christian university.

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Posted in Ethics

Asian Higher Education Leaders Offer Advice to Break the Bamboo Ceiling

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Diverse Magazine: Asian Higher Education Leaders Offer Advice to Break the Bamboo Ceiling

When Dr. Ratna Naik was offered the job of dean of physics at Wayne State University, she was reluctant to accept. Coming from a culture that valued silence and the voices of men over women, Naik was afraid of speaking to large groups and wondered if anyone in a department with two women among 30 faculty members would listen to her anyway. After a year, she took the position.

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Posted in Diversity

Virginia: School nixes cage fights

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Washington Times: School strikes cage fights

WISE, Va. (AP) — The University of Virginia-Wise has stopped mixed martial arts events, following a recent cage fight in which several people were injured.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Arcade academics

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Washington Times: Arcade academics

CATONSVILLE, Md. (AP) — “Using SLERP on quarternians is the best way to avoid gimble lock,” the lecturer recently told a class at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County.

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Posted in Academic freedom

Missouri: Group fails to get enough signatures for anti-affirmative action amendment

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Kansas City Star: Group fails to get enough signatures for anti-affirmative action amendment

JEFFERSON CITY | A group seeking to bar many state affirmative action programs missed a Sunday deadline to submit its initiative petition.

Missouri had been one of five states California businessman Ward Connerly and his supporters had targeted for an effort to strike down affirmative action laws.

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Posted in Equity

Closure in an Ethics Case

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Inside Higher Ed: Closure in an Ethics Case

With a settlement in a case involving two Southern Illinois University at Carbondale professors, their faculty union and the state, an unusual dispute over ethics and quick test taking appears to have reached a conclusion.

The deal acknowledges that the faculty members complied with state law when they passed a mandatory state ethics test in 2006, and that they won’t be disciplined for finishing the exam too quickly.

Marvin Zeman, one of the professors who sued the state, said he feels vindicated by the settlement, and that “as far as we’re concerned, it’s a complete victory.”

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Posted in Ethics

When Equity Official Takes Anti-Gay Stance

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Inside Higher Ed: When Equity Official Takes Anti-Gay Stance

At many colleges, human resources officials are leaders in promoting equity and diversity among those who study and work together. And while colleges periodically debate views of various officials that are seen as biased against various groups, it is highly unusual for the head HR official at a university to be the source of such a controversy.

But at the University of Toledo, a column in a local paper by Crystal Dixon, the associate vice president of human resources, has set off such a debate and resulted in her being placed on a paid leave, pending possible further action.

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Posted in Equity

Is Phyllis Schlafly Worthy of an Honorary Doctorate?

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Inside Higher Ed: Is Phyllis Schlafly Worthy of an Honorary Doctorate?

Most of the graduating seniors at Washington University in St. Louis weren’t even born when Phyllis Schlafly led the successful campaign in the 1970s to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment. But they will get to learn about her at commencement ceremonies next week when the university awards her a doctorate of humane letters.

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Posted in Academics