ORU lawsuit: Roberts offers sharing of data

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Tulsa World: ORU lawsuit: Roberts offers sharing of data

He endorses “complete financial transparency.”

Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts said he wants “complete financial transparency” at the university if he is allowed to return to his position.

In an interview with the Tulsa World on Friday, Roberts answered criticism by tenured faculty members and others that ORU withheld information about its finances. He also discussed his practice of reimbursing the ministry for personal expenses, a student center that was never built and the possible sale of the university’s television station.

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Posted in Legal issues

Students judge faculty promotion

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Gauntlet News: Students judge faculty promotion

While students may stress over endless exams and papers, professors confront their own fears when it’s time to face the faculty promotions committee.

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Posted in Tenure & Promotion

Acadia offers students $275 for strike

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CBC: Acadia offers students $275 for strike

The Nova Scotia university that was strikebound for three weeks is giving a $275 credit to most full-time students.

Full-time international students will get a $375 credit, Acadia University announced Monday.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Poland: Teachers’ union threatens strike action over pre-retirement eligibility

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eironline: Teachers’ union threatens strike action over pre-retirement eligibility

The Polish Teachers’ Union announced in May 2007 that it would hold a warning strike if teachers did not receive guarantees of special pre-retirement benefits, known as bridge benefits. The union also demanded pay increases and greater public spending on education at local level, in addition to calling for a new minister for education.

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Posted in International, Strikes & Labor Disputes

Strike fever spreading in France

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_44249329_roadblock_ap203b.jpgBBC: Strike fever spreading in France

As happens from time to time in France, militancy is in the air again.

Passengers crowd the platform at the Gare de L’Est Metro station in Paris
Only one Metro line was running in the French capital

The resolve of the railway workers – on strike for almost a week now – seems to have encouraged others to stick up for their rights too.

Lessons at a lycee in Lille were suspended after students blocked access to the secondary school in protest at university reforms.

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Posted in International, Strikes & Labor Disputes

Serbia: Teachers go on strike

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B92: Teachers go on strike

BELGRADE — Three teachers’ unions have organized a strike, after talks with the Serbian government regarding pay increases fell through.

Classes for the three representative teachers’ unions, who are demanding an increase in wages, will last only 30 minutes today.

The strike is being organized by the Education Union of Serbia, the Independent City Union and an association of Serbian teachers, after failing to reach an agreement on wages with the government.

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Posted in International, Strikes & Labor Disputes

Thousands rally for Israeli teachers

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JTA: Thousands rally for Israeli teachers

At least 100,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square to support the ongoing strike by teachers.

Signs reading “no education, no future” and “Cheapening education will cost enormously” waved in the crowd as musical recording stars performed Saturday night.

The strike entered its 39th day on Sunday. Most high schools and junior high schools have been closed throughout the work stoppage. The teachers are striking for, among other things, a dramatic raise in pay and smaller class sizes.

Union head Ron Erez, chairman of the Secondary School Teachers Organization, told the crowd, “Education is closing gaps, education is fighting violence,” saying “that is our struggle. It’s a shame the government doesn’t understand that. We are not against them, we are for them and we want to tell them the land is shaking, this volcano is erupting.”

Education minister Yuli Tamir is under fire to end the strike. Before the rally she said, “If the process fails, it will be my failure and I will be held accountable.”

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Israel: Teachers’ union talks with treasury end without result

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Haaretz: Teachers’ union talks with treasury end without result

Despite high hopes, Teachers’ union talks with treasury ended Sunday evening without result.

Secondary School Teachers Union head Ran Erez, Education Minister Yuli Tamir and a treasury official resumed talks with the mediation of Ofer Eini, the chairman of Histadrut labor federation.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Zimbabwe Teachers Union Threatens Strike If Members Are Politically Harassed

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VOA: Zimbabwe Teachers Union Threatens Strike If Members Are Politically Harassed

The head of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said Monday that the organization will strike if its members are harassed on political grounds in the runup to national elections which the government has slated for March 2008.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Australia: Teachers’ strike won’t hurt Labor: union

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The Age: Teachers’ strike won’t hurt Labor: union

THE head of Victoria’s powerful teacher union has dismissed concerns that a 24-hour strike tomorrow — three days before the election — will hurt federal Labor’s campaign.

Dozens of Victorian schools will be crippled tomorrow morning when thousands of teachers walk off the job on the second-last day of VCE exams as they push for a 30% wage rise and better working conditions.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Economist Says U.S. Spends Too Much on Higher Education

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The Chronicle News Blog: Economist Says U.S. Spends Too Much on Higher Education

A paper released today by Richard K. Vedder, a professor of economics at Ohio University and founder of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, argues that, contrary to popular belief, the United States is too invested in its universities, and much of that investment is wasted. Mr. Vedder also says that most incremental appropriations to higher education lead to higher spending rather than lower tuition, and new funds often go to noninstructional purposes, such as administrative salaries, student services, fancy recreation facilities, intercollegiate athletics, and research.

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Posted in Economics

LLB or JD? Fierce debate a matter of degree

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The Globe and Mail: LLB or JD? Fierce debate a matter of degree

When Bill Flanagan hit the send button on an e-mail message last Friday, the dean of law at Queen’s University knew there was a pretty good chance he would get some angry replies. What he didn’t anticipate, however, was that reaction to his message would flood e-mail inboxes around the planet with embarrassing anti-American sentiment.

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Posted in Academics

Occidental president decides to step down

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Los Angeles Times: Occidental president decides to step down

After only 17 months in the post, Susan Westerberg Prager announced her resignation Monday as president of Occidental College amid reports at the Eagle Rock campus that she had clashed with the school’s board of trustees over not being an aggressive-enough leader.

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Posted in Administration

Another Call for Assessment

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Inside Higher Ed: Another Call for Assessment

As college associations unveil new ways for colleges to report on what they do, and Congress debates how much accreditors should ask of colleges, an effort has been going on for months to craft a national statement on student learning and assessment.

Drafts of the document leaked to Inside Higher Ed, by educators concerned about the statement’s direction, suggest that colleges commit to “gather evidence” about the success of students in meeting certain education goals; that the evidence should be shared widely and used by accreditors; and that in some cases this material should be used to compare institutions. “Such information and evidence allows comparisons, where appropriate, between and among institutions and may suggest areas for improvement,” the draft says. At the same time, the document asserts that the “primary responsibility for achieving excellence” rests with colleges, and not outside bodies.

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Posted in Accountability

Fears as far-Right expected at Oxford debate

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The Independent: Fears as far-Right expected at Oxford debate

Police are bracing themselves for violent clashes between university students and far-Right groups after the Holocaust-denying historian, David Irving, and the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, were invited to speak at the Oxford Union.

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Posted in Academics, Free speech

Israel: Teachers union chief leaves PM’s office without meeting Olmert

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Haaretz: Teachers union chief leaves PM’s office without meeting Olmert

The heads of the Secondary School Teachers Association (SSTA) left the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Friday after dropping by unannounced in hopes of meeting face-to-face with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Israel: Teachers union: Talks to end strike ‘progress on several fronts’

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Haaretz: Teachers union: Talks to end strike ‘progress on several fronts’

In the wake of the budding agreement between the Finance and Education ministries and the Secondary School Teachers Association, giving teachers a pay increase of 8.5 percent, elementary-school teachers will also receive this raise in return for working more.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Decline of the Tenure Track Raises Concerns

Posted on November 19, 2007 by | Comments Off on Decline of the Tenure Track Raises Concerns

The New York Times: Decline of the Tenure Track Raises Concerns

Professors with tenure or who are on a tenure track are now a distinct minority on the country’s campuses, as the ranks of part-time instructors and professors hired on a contract have swelled, according to federal figures analyzed by the American Association of University Professors.

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Posted in Tenure & Promotion

Oxford Union faces boycott over invite to Holocaust denier

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The Independent (UK): Oxford Union faces boycott over invite to Holocaust denier

The Defence Secretary, Des Browne, is leading a group of politicians and public figures who are boycotting an increasingly divided Oxford Union over the decision by its president to host a talk involving the Holocaust-denying historian David Irving and the BNP leader, Nick Griffin.

The event, entitled Free Speech Forum, which is planned for next Monday, has provoked uproar at the university and beyond. Some Oxford students say they have received death threats and fear they will be targeted by far-right groups.

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Posted in Free speech

Hunger strick at Columbia ends

Posted on November 19, 2007 by | Comments Off on Hunger strick at Columbia ends

Inside Higher Ed:

The hunger strike of a small group of students at Columbia University ended Friday night with a joint statement from the protesting students and the university administration. Exactly what was gained from the 10-day strike is unclear. Some of those protesting have talked of new commitments to improve the way some ethnic studies courses are taught, but university officials have noted that those improvements were already on the institution’s agenda. While some of the hunger strikers’ goals — such as the prevention of hate crimes — had broad student support, others did not. An editorial in the student newspaper Friday morning ran an editorial questioning whether the hunger strikers spoke for students as a whole and urging them to stop the strike.

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Posted in Protests