Financial Crisis Forces Illinois Seminary to Make Radical Cuts

Posted on April 25, 2008 by | Comments Off on Financial Crisis Forces Illinois Seminary to Make Radical Cuts

The Chronicle News Blog: Financial Crisis Forces Illinois Seminary to Make Radical Cuts

An Episcopalian seminary outside Chicago has stopped accepting new students and has told its professors that their appointments will be terminated next year, according to the Episcopal News Service.

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Posted in Economics

UK: Schools shut amid public pay fury; 400,000 workers walk out; 2.5 million students affected

Posted on April 24, 2008 by | Comments Off on UK: Schools shut amid public pay fury; 400,000 workers walk out; 2.5 million students affected

BBC: Schools shut amid public pay fury
Teachers on strike
Thousands of striking teachers have marched in England and Wales

Nearly a third of schools in England and Wales have been disrupted, and one in 10 closed completely during the biggest teachers’ strike in 21 years.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said thousands of members had heeded its strike for a 4.1% pay rise.

Meanwhile, thousands of civil servants also walked out, disrupting government departments and the coastguard service.

The public sector unions have not ruled out further strikes against the government’s 2% pay target.

Up to 400,000 teachers, lecturers, civil and public servants walked out on Thursday in a one-day protest at what they said were below-inflation wage rises.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

CFP: Beyond the Academy

Posted on April 24, 2008 by | Comments Off on CFP: Beyond the Academy

CALL FOR CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS

Beyond the Academy
June 10-11, 2008
Arlington Campus of George Mason University.

Meeting just outside the nation’s capital in the midst of a presidential campaign year, public scholars from across the country will discuss the ways in which their work is more than “academic,” how it helps strengthen democratic institutions and public life and can bring about civic change.

To be considered for the program, send a 450-550 word abstract by Monday, April 28 to nmcafee@gmu.edu with the subject line “public scholars.” Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Reclaiming the civic mission of the university
  • The incentive structure of university scholarship
  • The self-understanding of scholars and their relationship to the public
  • How to be the public’s allies in democratic work
  • What kind of research does a democratic public need?
  • Organic vs. traditional scholarship: How does Milton matter?
  • Assessing the engaged campus movement
  • Independent scholars, the academy, and the public
  • Advocacy versus Engagement
  • The multiple ways communities, individuals and non-academic institutions contribute to public knowledge (e.g., film festivals, literary festivals, literacy initiatives)

For more information go to: http://beyondtheacademy.wordpress.com/

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
CO-CHAIRS: Noelle McAfee, George Mason University; Claire Snyder, George Mason University

COMMITTEE MEMBERS: David Cooper, Michigan State University; Maria Farland, Fordham University; Sharon Meagher, University of Scranton; Scott Peters, Cornell University; Mary Stanley, Independent Scholar; John Stuhr, Vanderbilt University; Nancy Thomas, The Democracy Imperative; Debi Witte, Kettering Foundation.

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Posted in CFPs

Where Particles Collide, Sexism Is Rampant, Study Finds

Posted on April 24, 2008 by | Comments Off on Where Particles Collide, Sexism Is Rampant, Study Finds

The Chronicle New Blog: Where Particles Collide, Sexism Is Rampant, Study Finds

A study of postdoctoral researchers involved in a major particle-physics experiment reveals pervasive gender discrimination there, according to a physicist who formerly worked on the experiment at the Fermi National Acceleratory Laboratory, known as Fermilab.

The study, which was conducted by Sherry Towers, looked at the work output of 57 postdoctoral physicists associated with Fermilab’s DZero collaboration, an experiment that includes some 700 physicists around the world. Her review documented how many internal papers each postdoctoral researcher had written and compared that figure with the number of times that each was allowed by the collaboration to make presentations at academic conferences. Such presentations help advance the careers of young physicists.

Fermilab data suggest that female postdocs had to be three times as productive as male postdocs in order to be granted the opportunity to present work at academic conferences, according to Ms. Towers.

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Posted in Equity

$250,000 Prize Awarded to Penn Professor, a Fierce Critic of Speech Codes

Posted on April 24, 2008 by | Comments Off on $250,000 Prize Awarded to Penn Professor, a Fierce Critic of Speech Codes

The Chronicle New Blog: $250,000 Prize Awarded to Penn Professor, a Fierce Critic of Speech Codes

Alan Charles Kors, a historian at the University of Pennsylvania who has been a longtime scourge of political correctness, speech codes, and other issues in higher education, has been awarded a $250,000 prize by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. The citation for the Bradley Prize, to be presented in June, recognizes Mr. Kors as both a scholar of European intellectual history and a defender of free speech.

Mr. Kors drew notice in 1998 as a co-author of The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty on America’s Campuses, a withering attack on “campus Stalinists” bent on enforcing left-wing views. He and his co-author, Harvey A. Silverglate, subsequently founded an organization dedicated to protecting what they described as victims of political correctness. The group, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, has since made a name for itself as an outspoken critic of campus speech codes and advocate for people said to have violated the codes. —Andrew Mytelka

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Posted in Free speech

A Deadhead’s Dream for a Campus Archive

Posted on April 24, 2008 by | Comments Off on A Deadhead’s Dream for a Campus Archive

The New York Times: A Deadhead’s Dream for a Campus Archive

SAN FRANCISCO — It may be the ultimate collection of paraphernalia of a band known for its fondness of paraphernalia, legal and otherwise.

The Grateful Dead, whose songs celebrated personal freedom, American idealism and mind-altering drugs, will donate a cache of their papers, posters and props on Thursday to the University of California, Santa Cruz, which plans to use the musical miscellany as part of a research center to be known as Dead Central.

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Posted in Academics

Guinness names teen world’s youngest professor

Posted on April 24, 2008 by | Comments Off on Guinness names teen world’s youngest professor

Newsday: Guinness names Northport teen world’s youngest professor

Alia Sabur was appointed as a full-time faculty Professor at Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea as research liaison with Stony Brook University.

Sabur was three days shy of her 19th birthday in February when she became a professor at Konkuk University, in Seoul. The previous record was held by a student of physicist Isaac Newton, Colin Maclaurin, who set the mark in 1717

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Posted in Faculty

Thomas Friedman pied by anti-capitalists at Brown

Posted on April 24, 2008 by | Comments Off on Thomas Friedman pied by anti-capitalists at Brown

Inside Higher Ed: Brown Condemns Pie Attack

Brown University is condemning the actions of two people — at least one of whom is a student — who threw a pie-like substance Tuesday night at Thomas Friedman, a columnist for The New York Times who was speaking on the campus. Friedman took a few minutes to clean himself up, but continued his talk. Michael Chapman, vice president for public affairs and university relations, issued a statement in which he said: “Freedom of speech is prized on a university campus. While Brown students are encouraged to express their opinions on any subject and in a variety of forums, the university does not tolerate such assaults against a speaker or disrupting the right of others to hear a speaker’s perspectives.” The statement said that one of those involved was apprehended and identified as a student. “The university will review this incident through its non-academic disciplinary system to determine the appropriate response.” The Providence Journal reported that the incident involved paper plates with shamrock-colored whipped cream. After they were thrown at Friedman, one of those protesting threw in the air leaflets that criticized Friedman, saying: “Thomas Friedman deserves a pie in the face because of his sickeningly cheery applause for free market capitalism’s conquest of the planet, for telling the world that the free market and techno fixes can save us from climate change. From carbon trading to biofuels, these distractions are dangerous in and of themselves, while encouraging inaction with respect to the true problems at hand.” (The whole episode was caught on video here.)

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Posted in Protests

Texas higher education board rejects ‘creation science’ degree proposal

Posted on April 24, 2008 by | Comments Off on Texas higher education board rejects ‘creation science’ degree proposal

Dallas Morning News: Texas higher education board rejects ‘creation science’ degree proposal

AUSTIN — A bid by the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research to train future science teachers — focusing on creationism instead of Darwin’s theory of evolution — was flatly rejected by Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board members on Wednesday.

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Posted in Academics

Liberation (of Adjuncts) Theology

Posted on April 24, 2008 by | Comments Off on Liberation (of Adjuncts) Theology

Inside Higher Ed: Liberation (of Adjuncts) Theology

Adjunct faculty members and their advocates put forth lots of arguments for improving the benefits paid to those off the tenure track. But Marquette University’s theology faculty has come up with an unusual argument that involves a power higher than a college president.

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Posted in Contingent labor

In S.C., a Native Son Comes Full Circle

Posted on April 24, 2008 by | Comments Off on In S.C., a Native Son Comes Full Circle

Inside Higher Ed: In S.C., a Native Son Comes Full Circle

After all, he was born in Denmark, S.C., home of the historically black Episcopal institution, and he even graduated from the college’s affiliated high school in 1962. For the past 15 years, Sellers has driven an hour and 15 minutes — each way, each day — between Denmark, where he still lives, and Columbia, where he is director of the African American studies program at the University of South Carolina. So in a real sense, when his duties commence this fall, he’ll be coming home both figuratively and literally.

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Posted in Administration

Data on Minority Doctorates Suppressed

Posted on April 24, 2008 by | Comments Off on Data on Minority Doctorates Suppressed

Inside Higher Ed: Data on Minority Doctorates Suppressed

If you are conducting a faculty search, or trying to diversify the professoriate, or want to see whether various programs to do so have succeeded, the Survey of Earned Doctorates has always been a key source of information. They survey will tell you, for example, how many Latinos earned doctorates in chemistry (23 for the last year available), or how many black people earned doctorates in political science (34). If you watch the trends from year to year, and also pay attention to the total number of doctorates awarded (1,170 in chemistry to U.S. citizens, and 506 in political science), you have an instant sense of the changing or stagnant demographics of your pool.

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Posted in Diversity, Equity

Wealthy Colleges Show Drop in Enrollments of Needy Students

Posted on April 24, 2008 by | Comments Off on Wealthy Colleges Show Drop in Enrollments of Needy Students

The Chronicle: Wealthy Colleges Show Drop in Enrollments of Needy Students

Elite colleges have made headlines in recent years with financial-aid plans aimed at enrolling more low-income students. But despite those efforts, the proportion of financially needy undergraduates at the nation’s wealthiest colleges and universities actually dropped between the 2004-5 and 2006-7 academic years, according to a Chronicle analysis of federal Pell Grant data.

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Posted in Equity

Evergreen College suspends SDS chapter

Posted on April 23, 2008 by | Comments Off on Evergreen College suspends SDS chapter

The Olympian: Evergreen suspends student organization

Democratic society violated on-campus ban of concerts

The Evergreen State College has suspended Olympia Students for a Democratic Society for the remainder of the school year and placed the organization on probation until January 2009 for violating the on-campus concert ban imposed by the administration after a Feb. 15 riot following an on-campus concert.

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Posted in Students

British Columbia: Axe Falls at Malaspina University College

Posted on April 23, 2008 by | Comments Off on British Columbia: Axe Falls at Malaspina University College

Axe Falls at Malaspina University College

NANAIMO, BC, April 18 /CNW/ – Malaspina expects to offer significantly
fewer courses this fall. The Malaspina Faculty Association has learned that
layoff notices will be going out on Monday morning to 15 employees at
Malaspina. While the Faculty Association is working with management at
Malaspina University-College and is hopeful that layoffs can be rescinded, if
these cuts are not reversed, they will likely result in the end of degree
programs in Computer Science and Earth Sciences.

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Posted in Economics

UK: The first national walk-out in 21 years threatens schools and students

Posted on April 23, 2008 by | Comments Off on UK: The first national walk-out in 21 years threatens schools and students

The Economist: Schools strike
Truanting teachers

The first national walk-out in 21 years threatens schools and students

THE last time teachers around the country downed chalk, Wham! and Boy George topped the charts, shoulder-pads and bubble perms were the height of chic and Margaret Thatcher was heading towards her third election victory. Then, as now, the teachers’ complaint was pay, and a war of attrition ended in 1987 after two years of intermittent strikes. Today’s beleaguered government will be hoping that the April 24th walk-out planned by one of the two biggest teaching unions, the National Union of Teachers (NUT), is not the start of a similarly protracted row.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

UK: College lecturers to strike

Posted on April 23, 2008 by | Comments Off on UK: College lecturers to strike

Bury Free Press: College lecturers to strike

West Suffolk College lecturers are among those going on strike over pay and conditions on Thursday.

Four out of every five lecturers – members of The University and College Lecturers’ Union – are expected to stand on a picket line in front of the college.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Malta: MUT to order strike if violence in schools continues

Posted on April 23, 2008 by | Comments Off on Malta: MUT to order strike if violence in schools continues

Malta Independent: MUT to order strike if violence in schools continues

The Malta Union of Teachers yesterday made it clear that it will not tolerate further violent incidents against its members and is ready to order industrial action, including a strike.

The warning came after another case of violence against teachers which took place on Thursday at the Naxxar Boys’ Secondary School.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Flunking the tenure test

Posted on April 23, 2008 by | Comments Off on Flunking the tenure test

Washington Times: Flunking the tenure test
Commentary
By Doug Schneider

As pointed out in Ben Stein’s new documentary, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”: “If professors value their careers, they will keep their mouths shut.”

This is the perfect example of liberal bias and political correctness ruling the day on college campuses… and why the Collegiate Network established the Campus Outrage Awards. Each year the Collegiate Network highlights the five most egregious examples of political correctness run amok on American college campuses.

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Posted in Commentary

At U. of Georgia, Furor Over Clarence Thomas

Posted on April 23, 2008 by | Comments Off on At U. of Georgia, Furor Over Clarence Thomas

Inside Higher Ed: At U. of Georgia, Furor Over Clarence Thomas

It’s not hard to imagine that a campus visit by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative jurist and strong opponent of affirmative action, would inspire protests from more liberal students and professors. Yet Thomas has made a number of visits to the University of Georgia, the flagship public institution in his home state, without too much of an uproar. But controversy finally came when he accepted an invitation to give the undergraduate commencement address this year.

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Posted in Diversity, Equity, Free speech