Tallahassee Democrat: Graham sues over tuition
Former Gov. Bob Graham sued the Legislature on Friday, setting up a constitutional showdown over control of the state’s public universities.
The suit asks a Leon County circuit judge to declare that the Board of Governors has the power to set tuition, not lawmakers. Voters in 2002 approved a constitutional amendment that created the board to oversee the state’s university system.
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Posted in Government
St Louis Post Dispatch: Pols-turned-professors? New law gets 3rd degree
What does it take to become a college professor? In Missouri, a bachelor’s degree and eight years in the state Legislature might do it.
A bill recently signed into law by Gov. Matt Blunt does not guarantee that former legislators will be hired as professors, but it bars public universities from rejecting them for faculty positions just because they lack a graduate degree.
Some politicians and faculty members don’t like the idea of special treatment for politicians.
“We all pay a lot of dues to get where we are, and the dues are graduate school,” said Lana Stein, chairwoman of the political science department at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Said Sen. Jeff Smith, D-St. Louis, an adjunct professor with a doctorate degree: “It doesn’t look good when legislators with term limits open up job opportunities for ourselves after retirement.”
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Posted in Government
The Chronicle News Blog: Cabinet Appointees in New Mexico Get Pay From Universities
Three appointees of Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico are receiving paychecks from state universities, raising concerns among some state senators about possible conflicts of interest, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
The University of New Mexico will pay a portion of the annual salaries of the state’s higher-education secretary, Reed Dasenbrock, and of the state’s health secretary, Alfredo Vigil.
Mr. Dasenbrock, who is set to receive a total salary of $257,250, will receive almost $100,000 from the university, according to the newspaper. He left his position as provost at the institution to take the state job. Under an agreement with the university, he will receive the $100,000 as payment for an unused yearlong sabbatical.
Mr. Vigil, whose annual salary will be $175,000, will get $60,000 from the university, the Journal said. Under the agreement with him, the university will pay him for the teaching and community services he performs at the institution’s medical school.
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Posted in Government
Los Angeles Times: A law targeting ‘diploma mills’ expires, leaving legislators grappling with how best to protect students.
Landmark California reforms enacted nearly 20 years ago to protect unwary students from “diploma mills” making false promises about how their training will lead to good-paying jobs, expired at midnight Saturday.
A stopgap measure to extend the protections — while debate continues on a long-range solution — could be passed in several weeks by legislators grappling with how best to protect students and improve the operations of the state agency that oversees trade schools.
There is intense debate about what to do next. Consumer advocates think that legislation to create a new regulatory scheme is not strong enough, while the trade association representing the schools maintains that it is too draconian.
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Posted in Academics
Boston Globe: Embattled UMass chancellor could be next in line for top LSU job
The embattled chancellor of the University of Massachusetts flagship campus is a finalist for the top job at Louisiana State University, according to a person familiar with LSU’s presidential search.
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Posted in Administration
The Chronicle: Tenure Shrugged: A Scholar’s Affinity for the Philosophy of Ayn Rand Cost Him His Job
Scholars who adhere to the objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand receive an unfair degree of hostility from both left and right, says a historian who lost his job at Ashland University because of his views.
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Posted in Academic freedom, Academics, Tenure & Promotion
The Seattle Times: UW settlement to give part-timers catch-up raise
The University of Washington has settled a class-action lawsuit with part-time faculty, agreeing to pay them $500,000 in merit raises for the past six years.
As part of the settlement, the UW also will give returning part-time instructors a 6 percent pay increase next year, an amount which the university estimated at about $290,000.
The settlement affects nearly 1,000 part-time UW lecturers who have taught at least one quarter for two consecutive years between 2000 and 2007.
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Posted in Contingent labor, Salary/Economic Benefits
Inside Higher Ed: Showdown on Partner Benefits
Governors theoretically call special legislative sessions to deal with crises or windfalls that are so time-sensitive and pressing that they can’t wait for the next regular session. The idea is that with a limited agenda, legislators can focus on whatever vital issue — a budget shortfall is most common — requires the special session.
In Kentucky today, the General Assembly will convene in a special session called by Gov. Ernie Fletcher. One item on the agenda is typical of those that tend to produce special sessions — an energy company is considering locating in Kentucky, if certain incentives are provided. But it’s the other items Governor Fletcher added to the agenda that have some in higher education very worried and others very excited.
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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits
Post-Gazette: State universities, faculty union avert strike with tentative 4-year contract
A tentative agreement was reached late last night between state universities and their faculty members, preventing the first faculty strike in the history of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.
An announcement posted around 11:20 p.m. on the Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties Web site read “Classes on as scheduled for tomorrow” in big bold letters.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Philadelphia Inquirer: 14 Pa. schools, faculties close to agreement
The 14 Pennsylvania-owned universities and their faculty appear to be close to a tentative agreement on a four-year contract.
Neither union officials nor state officials late last night would confirm details from the 12-hour bargaining session yesterday, but both said classes for about 25,000 summer school students, including those at West Chester and Cheyney, would convene today.
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Posted in Campaigns & Contracts
Las Vegas Sun: Teamsters vs. teachers union
They used words like “crisis,” “confront,” and “throwing down the gauntlet.” The enemy was described as ineffectual and weak.
And so the battle lines were drawn, and Teamsters Local 14 launched its offensive last week on the Clark County Education Association.
“The Teamsters have never walked away from a fight – we’re about to get into a big one,” said Gary Mauger, chief executive of Local 14, at a news conference announcing the union’s plans.
At stake is the right to represent the 18,000 teachers working in the Clark County School District. Between now and November 2008, when Teamsters plan to file a formal challenge to the teachers union, the two organizations will engage in a struggle that promises to turn on substance as well as style.
Early story line: The Teamsters are a union with muscle that believes the teachers’ representation has not been aggressive enough in challenging a state unwilling to appropriately fund public education. Any teacher not satisfied with the status quo should consider a change.
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Posted in Unions
Haaretz.com: U.S. university presidents visit Israel to strengthen academic ties
A delegation of American university presidents arrived in Israel Monday on a visit organized by the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Project Interchange. The project aims to explain Israel’s policies to the leaders of U.S. academic institutions and to strengthen scientific collaboration between the two countries.
The visit takes place amid attempts to impose an academic boycott of Israel and controversy over Israel on U.S. campuses between the right and the left.
The delegation, including representatives of Rice University, Houston; the University of California, San Diego; the universities of Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, South Carolina and Virginia, met yesterday with Education Minister Yuli Tamir. The guests expressed interest in student exchanges with Israeli universities, but noted the language barrier as an obstacle to American students. Tamir said the Education Ministry would support the establishment of English-language programs for the universities’ visiting students.
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Posted in Administration, International
The Chronicle News Blog: No Strike in Pennsylvania as Professors and System Reach Tentative Agreement
Negotiators for the union representing the 5,500 professors at Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities and for the state-university system reached a tentative agreement late Monday, averting a strike that would have affected 25,000 summer students. The agreement must be ratified by the union and the system’s governing board before it can take effect.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
The University of Michigan has become the latest institution to alter a domestic partner health benefits plan to comply with court rulings finding that such plans can violate state policies against gay marriage. Michigan’s revised plan, designed to keep benefits in place during an appeal of a court ruling in that state, creates a broad category of “Other Qualified Adult” whom a Michigan employee can cover with his or her benefits. By not designating this person as a domestic partner, the university hopes to comply with a February ruling by an appeals court that found the old benefits recognized same-sex partners in a way that violated the state ban on gay marriage. Michigan State made a similar shift in its benefits, as did the University of Kentucky, in response to an opinion from that state’s attorney general.
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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits
The Chronicle News Blog: U. of Florida Freezes Hiring
Citing a projected deficit of as much as $30-million, the University of Florida announced today an immediate freeze on hiring. The freeze applies to faculty and staff positions at all university units statewide, although exceptions will be considered for positions paid for through nonstate sources, such as clinical revenue, contracts, and grants. No layoffs are planned.
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Posted in Faculty
Independent Online (Cape Town): Deal doesn’t make teachers happy
Seventeen unions have ended the biggest and longest public sector strike in South Africa’s history – but teachers haven’t ruled out another strike this year.
Some teacher unions, led by the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu), have indicated they would not sign the agreement because it fell short of their demands.
And, with the deal done, Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi left for Ghana to attend the AU’s Peer Review Mechanism conference, taking place this weekend.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Independent Online: Teachers to pay price for ‘principled action’
The country’s biggest and longest public sector strike may be over, but many public servants have a long way to go to recover from financial losses incurred through their action.
The government is determined to recoup money lost during the strike by enforcing the no work, no pay rule and deducting amounts from the salaries of striking employees.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
Voice of America: University Teachers in Nigeria Suspend Strike
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, the ASUU, a representative body for teachers of state-owned universities in Nigeria, says the strike was suspended to give the new Nigerian administration a chance to address its grievances.
Union president Abdullahi Sule-Kano says President Umaru Yar’Adua’s personal intervention and appeals from the public also weighed in on reaching a decision to call off the action. He said the government has agreed to address some of the issues the teachers raised.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
New Zealand Raido International: Fiji teachers still set to strike
The Fiji Teachers Union says public servants are still preparing to strike despite the Public Service Commission’s attempts to discourage workers doing so.
The PSC says it has cancelled all leave for public servants ahead of this month’s planned strikes against a 5 percent pay cut for all public servants and the reduction in their retirement age to 55.
The general secretary of the Fiji Teachers Union, Agni Deo Singh, says it is illegal to cancel workers leave.
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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes
The Guardian: Oxford academics voice hostility on boycott
This article was corrected on Monday July 2 2007
In this article we said that UCU delegates voted for “a comprehensive and consistent boycott of all Israeli academic institutions, as called for by Palestinian trade unions in response to Israel’s ’40-year occupation’ of Palestinian land”. This should have said that delegates voted for “the circulation to all branches and local associations of the boycott call from a Palestinian trade union organisation ‘for information and discussion'”. This has been corrected.
Oxford University academics have voted overwhelmingly to call a ballot on whether to boycott Israeli universities and expressed opposition to the general value of boycotts.
The University and College Union sparked international controversy last month when members voted to debate the possibility of boycotting Israeli academics at their annual conference.
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Posted in International, Protests
