Ontario: Tentative deal set for UWO, faculty

Posted on December 29, 2006 by | Comments Off on Ontario: Tentative deal set for UWO, faculty

The London Free Press: : Tentative deal set for UWO, faculty

The University of Western Ontario and its faculty association have reached a deal on a tentative contract covering four years.

UWO: Western, faculty reach tentative agreement

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Posted in Campaigns & Contracts

Nova Scotia: Faculty, SMU reach tentative deal

Posted on December 29, 2006 by | Comments Off on Nova Scotia: Faculty, SMU reach tentative deal

The Chronicle Herald: Faculty, SMU reach tentative deal

Saint Mary’s University faculty will likely head back to work after Christmas with a new contract.

Negotiators for the university and its 260 full-time professors reached a tentative agreement after talks last weekend.

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Posted in Campaigns & Contracts

FAMU, union, come to terms on contract

Posted on December 29, 2006 by | Comments Off on FAMU, union, come to terms on contract

Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU, union, come to terms on contract

About 700 professors at Florida A&M University are about to get a raise, a bonus and their first contract in three years.

Negotiations between the faculty union and administration finally resulted in an agreement to give a 1- percent raise to faculty, retroactive to October, and a half-percent one-time bonus for signing the contract, Bill Tucker, chief negotiator for FAMU’s chapter of United Faculty of Florida, said on Wednesday.

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Posted in Campaigns & Contracts

“Summit” on higher education

Posted on December 29, 2006 by | Comments Off on “Summit” on higher education

Inside Higher Ed

The “summit” that Education Secretary Margaret Spellings promised (or threatened, as some in higher education undoubtedly view it) to hold as part of her plan to carry out the recommendations of her Commission on the Future of Higher Education will take place in Washington March 21-22, the Education Department said in invitations sent out just before Christmas. In e-mail notices that invited college groups to nominate other participants, Sara Martinez Tucker, the new under secretary of education, said the summit was designed to “focus on galvanizing action and distributing leadership and accountability across all sectors.” Its work will emphasize five key priorities, she said: “aligning K-12 and higher education expectations; increasing need-based aid; using accreditation to support and emphasize student learning outcomes; serving adults and other non-traditional students; expanding affordability through increased transparency of costs.”

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Posted in Government

Race and Careers

Posted on December 29, 2006 by | Comments Off on Race and Careers

Inside Higher Ed: Race and Careers

It was just a quick aside, but it was one that speakers and audience members returned to:

Lisa Outar, an assistant professor of English at St. John’s University, in New York, mentioned she had seen how many departments want to hire people who “embody what you teach.” Her “visible Indianness” wasn’t what she was thinking about as her top issue when she did her job search — she was more focused on finding a university with a diverse student body, where people would be excited by her interest in Caribbean literature.

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Posted in Diversity

M.I.T.: Professor’s Hunger Strike Ultimatum

Posted on December 27, 2006 by | Comments Off on M.I.T.: Professor’s Hunger Strike Ultimatum

Inside Higher Ed: Professor’s Hunger Strike Ultimatum

A professor who was denied tenure at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has vowed to start a hunger strike on February 5 outside the provost’s office.

“I will either see the provost resign and my hard-earned tenure granted at MIT, or I will die defiantly right outside his office,” James L. Sherley, who teaches biological engineering, wrote in a letter to colleagues that he provided to Inside Higher Ed. While not commenting directly on Sherley’s claims, MIT issued a statement that he has been treated fairly.

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Posted in Faculty

Chicago: Union has teachers bracing for strike

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Chicago Tribune: Union has teachers bracing for strike

After two decades of labor peace in the Chicago Public Schools system, the drumbeat for a teachers strike is sounding earlier and louder than ever before.

For months, Chicago Teachers Union leaders have been warning their nearly 32,000 members to save their money for the “ultimate job action.”

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Mexico: National teachers’ union forms new section in challenge to Oaxaca teachers

Posted on December 27, 2006 by | Comments Off on Mexico: National teachers’ union forms new section in challenge to Oaxaca teachers

El Univeral: Teachers union forms new section

The national teachers union (SNTE) on Friday approved a new regional union to challenge the dominance of the Section 22 union that was at the center of this year´s unrest in Oaxaca

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Posted in International, K-12 issues

Ivory towers crumbling for tenured professors

Posted on December 24, 2006 by | Comments Off on Ivory towers crumbling for tenured professors

Contra Costa Times: Ivory towers crumbling for tenured professors

Colleges and universities nationwide increasingly are replacing tenure-track faculty with temporary and part-time instructors, according to a study released today.

The report by the American Association of University Professors concludes that relying on adjunct professors and other nontenured faculty could harm the quality of higher education. Heavy teaching loads often prevent temporary professors from keeping up with developments in their field, researchers wrote.

“In addition to constraints on academic freedom, nontenure-track faculty are limited in their career progression while holding such appointments,” John Curtis and Monica Jacobe wrote.

The academic group found that the proportion of full-time tenured positions fell from 37 percent in 1975 to 24 percent in 2003. While the total number of faculty positions increased during that time, the number of full-time tenured professors fell by more than 2,000 between 1995 and 2003.

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Posted in Contingent labor

Canada: University’s faculty association members taking strike vote

Posted on December 24, 2006 by | Comments Off on Canada: University’s faculty association members taking strike vote

Cape Breton Post: University’s faculty association members taking strike vote

The 147 professors, librarians and lab instructors at Cape Breton University are in the midst of a strike vote.

Peter MacIntyre, vice-president of the Cape Breton University Faculty Association, said their last contract with the university, a four-year deal, ended July 1.

He said negotiations on a new deal began shortly after the old contract expired and were going “fairly well” until recently.

The Chronicle Herald: CBU faculty union taking a strike vote

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

Fewer students answer the call

Posted on December 24, 2006 by | Comments Off on Fewer students answer the call

Las Vegas Sun: Fewer students answer the call

Even as the White House and the Pentagon are calling for a “surge” of troops in Iraq, military recruiters say they are doing well in Las Vegas – although numbers indicate that a smaller percentage of Clark County high school students are enlisting compared with previous years.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Business group calls for overhauling higher education

Posted on December 23, 2006 by | Comments Off on Business group calls for overhauling higher education

Austin American-Statesman: Business group calls for overhauling higher education

A panel that advises Gov. Rick Perry is calling for the creation of a new and powerful entity to oversee higher education along with an increase in financial aid for students from low-income families and mandatory testing to measure achievement and learning in college.

The latest draft of a report by the Governor’s Business Council also recommends giving the state’s two public flagship campuses, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University at College Station, more independence to focus on research and graduate education. It says greater restraints should be imposed on other campuses that aspire to become research universities without the essential private sector and regional support.

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Posted in Corporate University

Pakistan: SHC annuls ban on teachers’ unions

Posted on December 23, 2006 by | Comments Off on Pakistan: SHC annuls ban on teachers’ unions

Dawn: SHC annuls ban on teachers’ unions

The Sindh High Court on Wednesday voided the ban imposed on the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association and the Government Secondary Teachers Association and quashed the consequential actions taken against their members.

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Posted in Unions

Academics call for unfettered free speech

Posted on December 23, 2006 by | Comments Off on Academics call for unfettered free speech

The Guardian: Academics call for unfettered free speech

An influential group of academics is demanding a change in the law to ensure scholars are given complete freedom of speech in universities, it emerged today.

More than 60 UK academics from Academics for Academic Freedom are calling for laws to be extended to ensure that academics are free to “question and test received wisdom, and to put forward unpopular opinions”.

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Posted in Academic freedom

Nova Scotia prof slams school for criticizing Iran trip

Posted on December 23, 2006 by | Comments Off on Nova Scotia prof slams school for criticizing Iran trip

The Globe and Mail: N.S. professor slams school for criticizing Iran trip

A Nova Scotia professor who has faced criticism from his university and colleagues for attending an Iranian conference that cast doubt on the Holocaust lashed out against the school yesterday for failing to defend his academic freedom.

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Posted in Faculty

Oxford dons reject plan to hand powers to ‘oligarchy’ of outsiders

Posted on December 23, 2006 by | Comments Off on Oxford dons reject plan to hand powers to ‘oligarchy’ of outsiders

The Independent: Oxford dons reject plan to hand powers to ‘oligarchy’ of outsiders

Oxford dons have rejected plans to hand over control of the 900-year-old university to business and political leaders.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Columbia Charges Students With Violating Protest Rules

Posted on December 23, 2006 by | Comments Off on Columbia Charges Students With Violating Protest Rules

The New York Times: Columbia Charges Students With Violating Protest Rules

Columbia University said yesterday that it had notified students involved in disrupting a program of speakers in early October that they were being charged with violating rules of university conduct governing demonstrations. The university did not disclose the number of students charged with violations.

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Posted in Protests, Students

Franklin Pierce to Open in Arizona

Posted on December 21, 2006 by | Comments Off on Franklin Pierce to Open in Arizona

Inside Higher Ed:

Franklin Pierce College, in New Hampshire, has agreed to open an office and to start offering programs in Goodyear, Ariz. The college will start with a small office and distance programs, but is expected in March to approve the creation of classroom space in Goodyear. Franklin Pierce is among several private colleges that have been studying invitations from Goodyear, a fast-growing city outside Phoenix, to set up shop there.

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Posted in Corporate University

Anti-Lobbying Fever? Not in Higher Ed

Posted on December 21, 2006 by | Comments Off on Anti-Lobbying Fever? Not in Higher Ed

Inside Higher Ed: Anti-Lobbying Fever? Not in Higher Ed

Lobbying and lobbyists may appear to be on the defensive in Washington, as invective and legislation to limit efforts to influence the federal government both have been tossed around with abandon of late. But higher education shows no signs of weaning itself of the practice, which is clearly on the rise.

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Posted in Economics

Students to protest immigrant-tuition law

Posted on December 21, 2006 by | Comments Off on Students to protest immigrant-tuition law

Arizona Republic: Students to protest immigrant-tuition law

College students upset about the passage of a November ballot initiative that blocks undocumented immigrants from paying in-state tuition in Arizona hope to grab the national spotlight when the Bowl Championship Series college football title game comes to Glendale.

The students plan to march to Glendale on the morning of the Jan. 8 game and then rally outside University of Phoenix Stadium, said Cecilia Saenz, an Arizona State University student.

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Posted in Protests, Students