Inside Higher Ed: Skepticism of Faculty and Tenure
A new poll by Zogby Interactive may not cheer professors. A majority of the public believes that political bias by professors is a serious problem and doubts that tenure promotes quality.
To critics of the professoriate, the poll is but more evidence of the gap between academics and the public, but some experts on public opinion about higher education have questions about the value of the new findings.
Comments Off on Skepticism of Faculty and Tenure
Posted in Faculty, Tenure & Promotion
The Chronicle News Blog: Corruption Scandal at Italian University Sweeps Up a Dozen People
Rome — Denouncing a “media pillory” that has deprived him of the presumption of innocence, the rector of a public university in southeastern Italy has resigned amid a criminal investigation into a large-scale university construction project. Oronzo Limone, who had been rector of the University of Salento since 2001, is under investigation by prosecutors and the police for irregularities in the approval of a humanities center to be located in a former tobacco factory in the city of Lecce.
Comments Off on Corruption Scandal at Italian University Sweeps Up a Dozen People
Posted in International
Zogby Poll: Most Think Political Bias Among College Professors a Serious Problem
Four in 10 said the problem is “very serious;” Tenure seen as harmful to teaching quality
As legislation is introduced in more than a dozen states across the country to counter political pressure and proselytizing on students in college classrooms, a majority of Americans believe the political bias of college professors is a serious problem, a new Zogby Interactive poll shows.
Nearly six in 10 – 58% – said they see it as a serious problem, with 39% saying it was a “very serious” problem.
The online survey of 9,464 adult respondents nationwide was conducted July 5-9, 2007, and carries a margin of error of +/- 1.0 percentage points.
Predictably, whether political bias is a problem depends greatly on the philosophy of the respondents. While 91% of very conservative adults said the bias is a “serious problem,” just 3% of liberals agreed. Conservatives have long held that college campuses are a haven for liberal professors. The activist group Students for Academic Freedom, founded by conservative activist David Horowitz, has promoted state legislation invoking a “Students Bill of Rights” on campuses to protect conservative students from academic reprisals by professors who hold contradictory beliefs.
Comments Off on Zogby Poll: Most Think Political Bias Among College Professors a Serious Problem
Posted in Faculty
allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: University Students Threaten More Protests Over Evictions
Over 4000 students at the University of Zimbabwe were left homeless after armed police gave them 30 minutes to leave their halls of residence on Monday. A day later one member of the students union told Newsreel they were meeting Wednesday to map out their response. Zwelithini Viki the outgoing Information and Publicity Secretary in the SRC said thousands of students, some of whom come from places like Bulawayo, Mutare and Beitbridge, are stranded in the capital. Some are already sleeping out in the open. The Zimbabwe National Students Union announced it had managed to get a few students accommodated by various churches in the Mount Pleasant area.
Comments Off on Zimbabwe: University Students Threaten More Protests Over Evictions
Posted in International, Students
Haaretz: Higher education reform group to recommend 70% tuition hike
The Shochat Committee’s report on higher education reforms is to recommend that tuition be raised by about 70 percent, to NIS 14,800, and that the higher education budget increase by NIS 2.5 billion over five years, according to senior committee members.
The report is due to be submitted Monday to the cabinet, which must approve the recommendations before they can be implemented.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Education Minister Yuli Tamir said in May, in the wake of a 41-day student strike protesting the recommendations, that they would discuss the committee’s findings with student associations before the cabinet votes on them.
Senior university officials said over the past few days they were happy with the recommendation to increase the higher education budget, but college and university students have warned that they will not stand for a tuition hike.
The Times: University researchers to be vetted to tackle bio-terror threat
Researchers at universities and biotech companies would be vetted under counter-terrorism plans to be put forward by the European Union today.
Brussels will propose an EU system of security clearance for researchers to combat infiltration by bio-terrorists.
Institutions such as research hospitals should also be vetted to strict EU standards before being allowed to carry out sensitive experiments, according to plans already being drawn up by Brussels before the arrest of bomb suspects in Britain working as doctors.
Wide-ranging proposals on tackling bio-terrorism published today will also include the suggestion that all science undergraduates take lessons in ethics to raise awareness of the ways in which their work could be exploited by terrorists.
Comments Off on EU: University researchers to be vetted to tackle bio-terror threat
Posted in Faculty, Government
San Francisco Chronicle: Faculty angry with president over music center — price has spiraled to $100 million
Sonoma State University’s longtime president is under attack by faculty members for his seemingly single-minded quest to build a world-class music center, a dream critics say is siphoning money and staff time away from the campus’ day-to-day academic needs.
The Green Music Center at Sonoma State was first proposed as a small choral hall to serve students. But after campus President Ruben Armiñana visited the famed Tanglewood concert hall in Massachusetts in 1996, he was inspired to think big for his small campus in Rohnert Park.
Comments Off on California: Faculty angry with president over music center — price has spiraled to $100 million
Posted in Administration
The Chronicle: Jury Orders Fresno State U. to Pay Ex-Coach $5.85-Million in Discrimination Case
A jury has ordered California State University at Fresno to pay $5.85-million to a former women’s volleyball coach who sued the institution for sex discrimination.
Lindy Vivas coached the volleyball team from 1990 until 2004, when Fresno State opted not to renew her contract. University officials have said the decision was based on her “unwillingness to improve the volleyball program,” specifically its noncompetitive schedule, unsuccessful postseason performance, and low attendance at games, by their measure.
Comments Off on Jury Orders Fresno State U. to Pay Ex-Coach $5.85-Million in Discrimination Case
Posted in Equity, Legal issues
Denver Post: Threats by religious group spark probe at CU-Boulder
University of Colorado police are investigating a series of threatening messages and documents e-mailed to and slipped under the door of evolutionary biology labs on the Boulder campus.
The messages included the name of a religious-themed group and addressed the debate between evolution and creationism, CU police Cmdr. Brad Wiesley said. Wiesley would not identify the group named because police are still investigating.
“There were no overt threats to anybody specifically by name,” Wiesley said. “It basically said anybody who doesn’t believe in our religious belief is wrong and should be taken care of.”
Comments Off on Creationists Threaten Evolutionary Biologists at U. of Colorado
Posted in Uncategorized
The Kansas City Star: MU announces plan to boost faculty salaries
The University of Missouri-Columbia wants to reduce spending by $6 million and earn another million dollars so it can boost faculty salaries.
Chancellor Brady Deaton on Monday announced a three-year financial plan focused on retaining and recruiting top faculty by bringing MU salaries to a competitive level with other public research universities.
Comments Off on Missouri: MU announces plan to boost faculty salaries
Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits
The Chronicle News Blog: Lawsuit Accuses San Francisco State U. of Violating Rights of College Republicans
The College Republicans at San Francisco State University sued it today for alleged violations of the group’s First Amendment rights.
As part of an anti-terrorism rally at San Francisco State last year, members of the political group’s campus chapter stomped on makeshift flags of Hamas and Hezbollah, which the U.S. government considers terrorist organizations. (Both flags include Arabic script spelling the word “Allah,” but the lawsuit says the plaintiffs did not know that.) The university investigated the College Republicans and conducted a disciplinary hearing, though ultimately it found no violation of its code of student conduct.
Comments Off on Lawsuit Accuses San Francisco State U. of Violating Rights of College Republicans
Posted in Students
Sun-Sentinel: Some question judgment of FAU president in accepting free cruise
Florida Atlantic University President Frank Brogan accepted a $7,362 Caribbean cruise in late 2005from Barry Kaye, a major donor whose relationship with the university has faced scrutiny in recent months.
Kaye, a Boca Raton insurance magnate, has pledged a total of $17 million to FAU, but has also recently sought to do business with the school.
Comments Off on Some question judgment of FAU president in accepting free cruise
Posted in Administration
The Chronicle: Unions for Graduate Students Are Allowed in Cases Involving Foundations Attached to Public Universities
Graduate students who work at private, nonprofit research foundations attached to public universities have the right to unionize, according to a recent pair of decisions by the National Labor Relations Board.
The decisions represent a rare expansion of bargaining rights for graduate students under the current labor board, appointed by President Bush, but the expansion is limited: The rulings’ authors took pains to distinguish the research assistants in these cases from graduate teaching assistants at private universities.
The cases involve private research foundations at the State University of New York and the City University of New York.
Comments Off on Unions for Graduate Students Are Allowed in Cases Involving Foundations Attached to Public Universities
Posted in Contingent labor, Organizing, Unions
The Guardian: Iranian Police Raid Pro-Democracy Group
Iranian police and plainclothes security agents broke up a sit-in marking Monday’s anniversary of a bloody raid on a Tehran university dormitory, then stormed the offices of the country’s main pro-democracy student group, student leaders said.
Fifteen students and a mother were beaten and detained, they said. There was no confirmation by the government, which rarely comments on such arrests.
Comments Off on Iranian Police Raid Pro-Democracy Group
Posted in International
Inside Higher Ed: Court Rejects Discrimination Case
A former research associate professor at the University of Utah cannot sue the institution for employment discrimination because, in the position she held, she did not meet the legal definition of an employee, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit sided with Utah in a lawsuit filed by Diane Xie, after concluding that Xie could not challenge the university’s decision not to renew her contract because the university had little control over her daily activities, did not pay her a salary, and did not require her to teach, among other factors.
Comments Off on Utah: Prof’s discrimination suit blocked
Posted in Legal issues
Miami Herald: Suit filed over state schools’ tuition rates
Florida legislators should be stripped of their power to set tuition at the state’s 11 public universities, a lawsuit filed Friday by former Gov. Bob Graham and a group of university professors says.
Graham, a former U.S. senator, said the cost of going to Florida International University and other schools should be set by the 17-member state Board of Governors and that it is unconstitutional for legislators to annually set tuition rates. The Board of Governors was created by voters in 2002 to oversee the state university system.
Comments Off on Florida: Suit filed over state schools’ tuition rates
Posted in Government
Inside Higher Ed: Salt in the Wounds on Solomon Amendment
Law schools say Pentagon is trying unfairly to go beyond recruiting rights Supreme Court assured it.
Comments Off on Salt in the Wounds on Solomon Amendment
Posted in Government
The Guardian: Secret list of universities facing collapse
A secret list of nearly 50 universities and colleges at risk of financial failure has been drawn up by government officials since tuition fees were introduced, the Guardian has learned.
Comments Off on UK: Secret list of universities facing collapse
Posted in Administration
The Chronicle: Court Rules Against Campus Preacher in Free-Speech Lawsuit
A preacher who contended a university in Kentucky had violated his right to free speech lost the latest round of a series of legal battles with colleges last week.
Comments Off on Kentucky: Court Rules Against Campus Preacher in Free-Speech Lawsuit
Posted in Free speech
The Chronicle: Same-Sex Partners of Pennsylvania-System Professors Will Receive Health Benefits if New Contract Is Approved
Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities will provide health-care benefits to same-sex partners of their faculty members, according to the terms of a tentative contract deal struck last week.
Comments Off on Same-Sex Partners of Pennsylvania-System Professors Will Receive Health Benefits if New Contract Is Approved
Posted in Equity, Salary/Economic Benefits
