Graduate-Student Stipends Jump at U. of Chicago

Posted on February 8, 2007 by | Comments Off on Graduate-Student Stipends Jump at U. of Chicago

The Chronicle News Blog:
Graduate-Student Stipends Jump at U. of Chicago
While no one will accuse graduate students of getting rich, being one at the University of Chicago just got a little easier. The university has announced one of the more generous stipend packages for incoming students. Starting in the fall, the typical student in the social sciences or the humanities will get a five-year package that includes a $19,000-a-year stipend, health insurance, and two summers of $3,000 in research support. Officials say they hope the money will shorten the time it takes students to finish their doctorates.

Comparing stipends across the country is difficult because universities each handle the issue differently. A 2004 survey by The Chronicle found wide disparities in stipends, depending on the field and the institution.

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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits

MIT Will Study Status of Minority Faculty Members, as Black Professor Begins Hunger Strike

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The Chronicle: MIT Will Study Status of Minority Faculty Members, as Black Professor Begins Hunger Strike

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will formally examine the hiring, advancement, and experiences of minority faculty members, in a move announced just days before a black professor started a hunger strike on Monday over the denial of his bid for tenure.

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Posted in Tenure & Promotion

Maricopa Community Colleges Investigation

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East Valley Tribune: Maricopa Community Colleges Investigation

The embattled chancellor of Maricopa community colleges Wednesday fired two college presidents, saying he has lost “confidence” in their leadership as a fraud scandal has enveloped the system.

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Posted in Administration

Gallaudet Won’t Punish Protesters

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Inside Higher Ed:

Gallaudet University’s new president, Robert R. Davila, announced on his blog that the institution would not seek additional punishments against students who were arrested for protesting the selection of Jane Fernandes — who never took office when trustees rescinded their job offer as the protests grew. “No student who was arrested will receive additional punishment in any way or form,” Davila wrote. “We feel that they have already had an experience that they will always remember and that’s enough. We don’t think anything else is necessary.”

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Posted in Protests

Tenure Reform Comes to Yale

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Inside Higher Ed: Tenure Reform Comes to Yale

A special panel studying tenure policies at Yale University released its recommendations on Tuesday — with several ideas that are key to faculty members in New Haven and others that experts hope could be influential elsewhere.

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Posted in Tenure & Promotion

Ex-Penn State player, Portland settle discrimination complaint

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Sports Illustrated: Ex-Penn State player, Portland settle discrimination complaint

A former Penn State women’s basketball player on Monday settled a discrimination lawsuit against longtime coach Rene Portland, more than a year after claiming that Portland had a “no lesbian” policy on her team.

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon and the lawyer for former player Jennifer Harris said the agreement called for settlement terms to remain confidential.

“I’m proud to have brought this case, and I’m thrilled that we have been able to resolve it,” Harris said in a statement.

In a December 2005 lawsuit, Harris accused Portland of “humiliating, berating and ostracizing” her, and claimed she was told that she needed to look “more feminine.” The suit alleged that Portland tried to force Harris, who says she is not gay, to leave the team.

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Posted in Equity

Canada: Trio of resignations shock university system

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Globe and Mail: Trio of resignations shock university system

Wanted: people with outstanding scholarship records, strong management expertise and proven abilities for fundraising. Just don’t count on any job security.

The top positions at three Canadian universities have opened up in the past three months after their presidents abruptly resigned, two of them leaving shortly after they were hired.

David Atkinson left Carleton University and Robert Hawkins stepped down as head of the University of Regina, only 15 months into their respective six- and five-year terms. Both said they did not see eye to eye with their boards of governors. And Roch Denis, rector at the University of Quebec at Montreal, resigned after a $40-million overrun in construction costs for a new science complex.

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Posted in Administration

Gender Change Costs Dean a Job

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Inside Higher Ed: Gender Change Costs Dean a Job

Religious institutions have long had leeway to hire and fire based on creed. But what happens when a man who professes the faith also starts to appear on campus as a woman?

At Spring Arbor University, a Michigan institution affiliated with the Free Methodist Church, the pending termination of a transgender faculty member (and ordained Baptist minister) has raised just that question. John — who now goes by Julie – Nemecek, the former associate dean for The School of Adult Studies, said she was demoted after sharing her diagnosis of gender identity disorder with supervisors. She has filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint, alleging that the university discriminated against her based on sex and perceived disability.

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Posted in Equity

Criminal background checks for all campus jobs?

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Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Criminal background checks for all campus jobs?

The University System of Georgia is planning to require all newly hired faculty and staff members to undergo criminal background checks, a policy that has drawn fire from an organization that represents professors in the state.

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Posted in Working conditions

Professor accuses MIT of racism

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The Boston Globe: Professor accuses MIT of racism

As some 30 students and colleagues gathered in support yesterday, an MIT professor began a hunger strike outside the university leaders’ offices, saying the school has denied him tenure due to racism.

For nearly two years, James L. Sherley, a stem cell scientist, has asked senior administration to overturn his department head’s decision not to put his name forward for tenure. The provost said the decision would stand.

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Posted in Tenure & Promotion

Oversight of UT publications poised for revision

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Austin American-Statesman:
Oversight of UT publications poised for revision

The days of “prior review” of what is printed in the student newspaper at the University of Texas appear to be numbered.

UT System regents are expected to approve a revised trust agreement governing student publications at their meeting in Austin on Thursday. The proposal deletes a provision, in place since 1971, that gives administrators the last word over the content of The Daily Texan.

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Posted in Free speech

Rhode Island College asks judge to dismiss free speech lawsuitRhode Island College asks judge to dismiss free speech lawsuit

Posted on February 8, 2007 by | Comments Off on Rhode Island College asks judge to dismiss free speech lawsuitRhode Island College asks judge to dismiss free speech lawsuit

The Boston Globe: Rhode Island College asks judge to dismiss free speech lawsuit

Rhode Island College has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that accused the school of violating the free speech rights of a women’s group by removing signs from campus that said, “Keep Your Rosaries Off Our Ovaries.”

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Posted in Free speech

SMU won’t vote on Bush think tank

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The Boston Globe: SMU won’t vote on Bush think tank

Southern Methodist University professors on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected a plan to hold a faculty-wide vote on whether the campus should host a partisan think-tank as part of George W. Bush’s presidential library.

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Posted in Government

Harvard proposes new focus

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Los Angeles Times: Harvard proposes new focus

Harvard University proposed a curriculum overhaul Wednesday to emphasize sciences, religious beliefs and world cultures.

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Posted in Academics

The Revolt Against Academe

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The New York Sun: The Revolt Against Academe

At journalism school I flunked my class in “Trends: How to Identify Them, How to Invent Them.”

So I’m not qualified to peg what follows as a genuine social or cultural trend. But it’s happened in four state legislatures already. And we can always hope.

Most recently it’s been percolating in Missouri, where Rep. Jane Cunningham introduced a bill that will surely unnerve many of her state’s higher education bureaucrats.

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Posted in Commentary

Intellectuals must speak out, prof. says

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Daily Free Press: Intellectuals must speak out, prof. says

When New York University European studies professor Tony Judt called on academics to speak their minds on controversial subjects no matter the consequences, he quickly found his audience took his words to heart last night at Boston College, as he defended his well-documented history of negative statements against Israel.

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Posted in Advocacy

French Teacher Unions Threaten Mass Strike

Posted on February 6, 2007 by | Comments Off on French Teacher Unions Threaten Mass Strike

Via Rich Gibson:

As of last Friday, the 15 or so unions that represent nearly all French teachers threatened to call a mass school worker strike on Feb 8. Teacher and other school worker wages fell drastically in the last 25 years, according to the union leadership. While the unions won some caps on class size and cuts in hours of work, the union leadership exchanged that for wage increases. Now the government is demanding the caps on class size be lifted, that thousand of teachers be laid off. The teacher union leadership has also called on other public workers to join the teacher walkouts on Feb 8 which conceivably could spread.

Here are some links showing the history of the struggle, which demonstrates the centripetal position of school workers, as workers, in today’s societies.

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=25&story_id=27164

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE3D61331F93AA25751C1A9609C8B63

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6191313.stm

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Russian Parliament Approves New Test Designed to Standardize University Admissions

Posted on February 5, 2007 by | Comments Off on Russian Parliament Approves New Test Designed to Standardize University Admissions

The Chronicle: Russian Parliament Approves New Test Designed to Standardize University Admissions

The Russian Parliament approved a controversial bill last Friday that is intended to make university admissions fairer and less corrupt. The bill mandates that a standardized test, similar to the SAT, be used nationwide by 2009.

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Posted in International

Islamic U. of Gaza Comes Under Fire in Fighting Between Palestinian Factions

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The Chronicle: Islamic U. of Gaza Comes Under Fire in Fighting Between Palestinian Factions

At least 27 people were killed and more than 200 were reported wounded over the weekend in clashes between Palestinian factions in Gaza. The spate of violence included an attack on the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University of Gaza by rival Fatah loyalists.

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Posted in International

Federal Judge Upholds Florida’s Restrictions on Travel to Cuba and 4 Other Countries

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The Chronicle:
Federal Judge Upholds Florida’s Restrictions on Travel to Cuba and 4 Other Countries

A federal judge has upheld a Florida law restricting students, faculty members, and researchers at the state’s public colleges and universities from traveling to Cuba and four other countries that the U.S. government considers terrorist states.

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Posted in Government