The Register-Herald: WVSOM settles sexcual harassment claim
A lawsuit filed last October by a West Virginia School of Osteopathic student claiming she was sexually harassed by a professor has been settled out of court for $90,000, according to a lawyer representing the medical school.
Comments Off on West Virginia: WVSOM settles sexual harassment claim
Posted in Equity
Star Bulletin: Chaminade U disputes suit alleging hiring bias
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges in a lawsuit that Chaminade University discriminated against a woman because she was pregnant.
Comments Off on Hawaii: Chaminade U disputes suit alleging hiring bias
Posted in Equity
The Morning News: University Removes Teacher From Classroom
University of Arkansas administrators have removed a popular and controversial teacher from the classroom.
Don Bobbitt, dean of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, said Kabin Thomas, an adjunct assistant professor of music, was relieved of his music lecturing duties because of a “series of events … that wasn’t getting any better.”
Bobbitt declined to elaborate on the rare move, one he can’t recall happening in recent memory in the college.
Thomas said he was forced out of the classroom and placed on special assignment because of his eccentric classroom antics that included cursing and talking about controversial topics.”The bottom line is that the administration is sick of my (behavior). They said, ‘You’re just too unprofessional to guide the lives of these people and you need to go,'” he said.
Thomas said he tries to grab students’ attention and shake them up to get them to understand classical music and to prepare them for life.
Thomas joined the university music department in 1995 as a tuba instructor. He moved in January 2005 to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of having his children’s show about classical music, “Symphony Sam,” air on television.
He returned to teaching four sections of about 225 students in the fall, and Bobbitt notified Thomas of the expectations for the class and for his behavior. Thomas was often reprimanded for his controversial teaching style, one that endeared him to many students.
Jessie Rewers of Chicago, a freshman majoring in early childhood education, started a “Save Kabin” group on the popular student Web site, facebook.com. More than 440 students have joined the group.
“He was a very passionate teacher and was able to relate it to the students. He was somebody that got everybody’s attention. He made us all want to learn about classical music,” said Rewers, who is in the music lecture class this spring.
Matt Sikes, a senior mechanical engineering major from Bentonville, said Thomas’ class last spring peaked his interest every time he went.
“He was a vulgar man, I’m not going to sugar-coat that. There are some things that I sat back and said, ‘Wow, did he really just say that?’ Unfortunately, that’s what it took students to get interested. He made the class interesting and he made you want to go to class,” Sikes said.
Sikes said Thomas’ over-the-top performances didn’t take away from what he learned in the class and said Thomas’ antics even made him want to attend class more.
Thomas said he warned students that his lectures were intense and would contain foul language.
“It’s a very conservative place that really pats itself on the back for not being conservative but really is conservative,” Thomas said. “They got me for saying ‘shit’ but they might get someone else for saying ‘damn’ or ‘God.'”
Bobbitt informed Thomas of the decision Feb. 24, and his last class was that same day. Two music professors have split the teaching duty for the remainder of the semester.
“When a situation isn’t improving, you have to look out for a variety of interest. I know many of the students are upset and I appreciate that. I felt like we had to take the best interest for all students and for the University of Arkansas,” Bobbitt said.
Bobbitt said Thomas will spend the rest of the semester comparing the university’s music lecture class to peer universities to see what improvements can be made. “We have a ground-breaking course in many ways,” he said.
Thomas is on a yearly contract, and Bobbitt declined to say whether Thomas would be rehired for next year.
“In some ways, it’s a blessing. Sometimes, it’s hard to see it that way, but everything is a blessing,” Thomas said.
He said he hopes to combine his three loves — performing, playing and teaching — at his next job. He hopes to have some of his lectures aired on Community Access Television.
Comments Off on Arkansas: University Removes Teacher From Classroom For Cursing, “Classrooom Antics”
Posted in Academic freedom
Inside Higher Ed: Popular professor at Harrisburg Area Community College suspended after report he used the f-word in class
When the semester started, Stephen E. Williams was teaching history at the Lancaster branch of Harrisburg Area Community College. But early in the semester, he stopped showing up, and his students received calls confirming the reason why: He had used the word “fuck” in class.
Comments Off on Pennsylvania: Popular professor at Harrisburg Area Community College suspended after report he used the f-word in class
Posted in Academic freedom, Equity
Guardian Unlimited: Falling on deaf ears
John Sutherland
As the national strike by lecturers fails to gain significant newspaper column inches, John Sutherland wonders how the university sector has become so impotent
Wednesday March 8, 2006
The headline was in giant letters and dominated the front page of newspaper, placard-style. “Strike!!” it thundered.
That was the good news for the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and Natfhe activists. The bad news was that the newspaper in question was the London Student. In the national press, the academic “day of action” on March 7 – to be followed by a strategic boycott of marking and examining duties – didn’t rate a mention.
Comments Off on UK: Falling on deaf ears
Posted in Strikes
SFGate.com: Teacher pay hike opposed
The state Department of Education and two school finance agencies insist that the Oakland school district cannot afford to meet union demands for increased teacher salaries, according to letters released by the district Monday.
The letters of support, solicited by the district that went bankrupt in 2003, were the latest salvo in a heated battle between the district and its teachers’ union that has fueled fears of a debilitating strike.
Two years of negotiations for a new teachers’ contract stalled Jan. 31. Since then, both sides have campaigned for public support.
Comments Off on Oakland: Teacher pay hike opposed
Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits
Charleston Daily Mail: <a href=”http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2006030728/”
Members of one of the state’s largest teachers unions want to give lawmakers a wakeup call about what they say is a dire need for additional across-the-board teacher pay raises.
Judy Hale, president of the West Virginia chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, called this year’s legislative session as a “terrible failure” when it comes to educators’ pay and employee benefits.
She and other union members were slated to meet today in Charleston to talk about several bills that seem unlikely to advance before the session ends Saturday.
Comments Off on West Virginia: Session called a ‘terrible failure’
Posted in Uncategorized
politics.co.uk: AUT: Indignant union members will be out in force on the picket lines
Lecturers’ fury at employers’ claim over staff pay
Furious university staff reacted with amazement today (Tuesday) at reports from their employers that, on average, they earn over £40,000 a year. The claim was made by the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (Ucea) ahead of the 24 hour strike by members of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and Natfhe today (Tuesday).
The truth, however, is very different, as the most recent figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), the central source for higher education statistics, show. According to their figures the average salaries for the different roles in academia are:
Researchers: £25,807
Lecturers: £32,531
Senior lecturers and researchers: £41,776
Professors: £56,944
The HESA data reveals that the average pay for full-time academic staff is actually £35,773. Their figures also show that at just 10 (ten) institutions out of 170 do academic staff earn an average salary above £40,000.
The full list of average full-time staff by institution can be found here:
Comments Off on UK: AUT: Indignant union members will be out in force on the picket lines
Posted in Strikes
BBC: NI academics take strike action
University lecturers from two unions in Northern Ireland are staging a one-day strike in support of a 10% pay claim. About 1,600 members are expected to walk out of colleges and universities across the United Kingdom on Tuesday.
Comments Off on Northern Ireland: NI academics take strike action
Posted in Strikes
The Chronicle: Professors at Ontario’s Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Go Out on Strike
About 150,000 students at Ontario’s 24 colleges of applied arts and technology are out of the classroom after their professors walked off their jobs early Tuesday, and some students are wondering whether the strike will prevent them from graduating on time.
Negotiations between the professors, whose last contract expired in August, and the colleges broke down late Monday night after days of intense talks conducted under a media blackout.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents some 9,100 full-time faculty members at the colleges, says the central issue is education quality. However, the colleges say they’ve offered a good deal, with salary increases that would make the professors the highest-paid college faculty members in the country and with no additional workload. …
Ontario’s college system is unique in Canada. It provides focused employment training and enrolls many university graduates who take supplementary college courses after earning their degree. The courses are developed in partnership with thousands of businesses and industries. In addition, every college has a partnership agreement with local universities. During the strike, most campuses are remaining open to students so they can use academic, health, and recreational facilities. Administrators are advising them to keep up their course work. Night classes that are taught by faculty members not represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union are continuing on many campuses, as are some classes taught by university professors, who are represented by a different union.
Toronto Star: Ontarioo college teachers on strike
About 9,100 full-time Ontario college teachers, counsellors and librarians will walk off the job today after talks broke down last night in a dispute over class size and workload. Classes have been cancelled for more than 150,000 students at a crucial time in the school year.
Brockville Recorder and Times: Colleges teachers walk out
For the first time in 17 years, faculty at St. Lawrence College and 23 other Ontario community colleges are on strike. The walkout leaves more than 150,000 college students across the province, including about 500 in Brockville, uncertain about completing their year.
Monsters and Critics: 9,100 Ontario college teachers strike
Failed contract negotiations led 9,100 Ontario college teachers and aides to walk off the job Tuesday, affecting 150,000 students in the province. The deal offered by the college association would have boosted salaries 12.6 percent over four years and capped class sizes.
Comments Off on Professors at Ontario’s Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Go Out on Strike
Posted in Strikes
The Chronicle: 8 Colleges Sign On to Antisweatshop Proposal, With Caveats Over Possible Antitrust Violations
The success of the latest phase of the college antisweatshop movement hinges, in part, on whether college officials can be assured that supporting it will not get their institutions into legal trouble.
At least eight institutions have publicly endorsed the principles behind a proposal that calls for colleges to require that apparel bearing their logos be made only at factories that pay employees a living wage and that have legitimate unions. But those colleges have stopped short of backing the proposal to the letter.
At issue is whether doing business with certain factories, while freezing out others that do not comply with the new rules, is a violation of antitrust laws.
Comments Off on 8 Colleges Sign On to Antisweatshop Proposal, With Caveats Over Possible Antitrust Violations
Posted in Advocacy
The Chronicle: New Federal Rule on Running Online Job Searches Presents Host of Complexities to Colleges, Speaker Says
The clock is ticking for colleges to comply with a new federal regulation designed to tackle the challenges institutions face in complying with nondiscrimination laws when using the Internet and résumé databases in recruiting and hiring.
The so-called Internet-applicant rule actually went into effect on February 6. But the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which announced the final rule last fall, is giving federal contractors, which includes most colleges, a 90-day grace period during which the agency will not issue citations for technical violations.
At issue is how federal contractors define the applicant pool for a job opening in an era when the ease of applying for a job through the Internet as well as electronic résumé banks, both on campuses and on Web sites like Monster.com, has vastly expanded the field of potential candidates.
Comments Off on New Federal Rule on Running Online Job Searches Presents Host of Complexities to Colleges, Speaker Says
Posted in Equity
The Guardian Unlimited: MPs back academics as strike looms
More than 100 MPs have backed a campaign to increase academics’ pay as a national strike threatens to disrupt university life across the country.
Two unions representing university lecturers – Natfhe and the Association of University Teachers – called on employers to make a last minute pay offer to avoid tomorrow’s strike.
OPSEU—Answers for students about the strike by college faculty
1. Why are college faculty on strike?
Students get the best education when faculty have time to give them the feedback they need. College faculty are bargaining to get more faculty, smaller class sizes, and more faculty time, attention, and feedback for each and every individual student. The number one issue in this round of contract talks between faculty and the colleges is education quality. A strike appears to be the only way to convince the colleges to make quality education their top priority.
2. Why can’t you reach a settlement without a strike?
Faculty and management have been negotiating for over a year. Management is still demanding concessions that would hurt education quality. We have been clear in telling management that we will not do anything that compromises quality. That’s why we are on strike.
3. What is the Ontario government’s position on this issue?
In May 2005, when he announced $6.2 billion in new funding for post-secondary education, Premier Dalton McGuinty made it clear that he was very concerned about education quality. He named “more faculty” and “more faculty time for students” as the first two ingredients in his recipe for improving education quality.
4. Isn’t this whole thing really just about wages?
No. The two sides are not very far apart on wages. Faculty and the colleges have reached a settlement without a work stoppage in every round of bargaining since 1989. What is different about this round is that a) we have a government in power that says it supports education quality and is willing to pay for improvements, and b) faculty have decided to take a stand before the situation deteriorates further.
5. What do the major student organizations or student councils think?
Many OPSEU locals have been in communication with their student governments. We are in contact with the provincial body, the College Student Alliance, to keep them informed. The CSA web site is at www.collegestrike.com .
6. Will I lose my school year?
There have been faculty work stoppages in 1984 and 1989. No student lost his or her school year in either case.
The provincial government will have to act quickly to prevent loss of the school year. Students should not withdraw from their programs or quit school.
7. How will students complete their school year?
Nobody knows for sure. Management at each college is responsible for deciding how operations will resume after a strike. They might extend the term, for example.
8. If there is a strike, do classes, field placements, and clinicals, etc., continue?
Without full-time teachers, any attempt to continue “classes as normal” would be futile. Each college will decide how it will proceed.
9. Can students talk to their teachers during a strike?
You can talk to your teacher any time – but not about classes or curriculum. Teachers are forbidden by law from working at the college during a strike, and the college is forbidden by law from paying teachers during a strike. This restriction also applies to electronic communication including but not limited to e-mail or chat rooms.
10. What can students do to help bring the strike to a conclusion?
Students should contact Premier Dalton McGuinty and tell him that they support a settlement that provides more faculty – and more faculty time – for each and every individual student. E-mail him at Dalton.McGuinty@premier.gov.on.ca .
The Globe and Mail: College Teachers Go On Strike
Ontario community college teachers are on strike after attempts to reach an eleventh-hour settlement fell short.
Tens of thousands of Ontario community college students face major disruptions to their academic year as classes for 150,000 full-time pupils and thousands more part-time students will be affected.
Comments Off on Ontario: College teachers go on strike
Posted in Strikes
Inside Higher Ed: ‘Academic Freedom After September 11′
Academic freedom is facing its most serious threats since the McCarthy era, according to essays in Academic Freedom After September 11, published this month by Zone Books. Essays in the book — which come from scholars such as Joel Beinin, Judith Butler and Robert Post — both focus on current issues and offer a historical perspective. Beshara Doumani, a professor of history at the University of California at Berkeley who edited the volume, recently responded to questions about its themes.” Academic Freedom After September 11, published this month by Zone Books. Essays in the book — which come from scholars such as Joel Beinin, Judith Butler and Robert Post — both focus on current issues and offer a historical perspective. Beshara Doumani, a professor of history at the University of California at Berkeley who edited the volume, recently responded to questions about its themes.
Comments Off on ‘Academic Freedom After September 11′
Posted in Academic freedom
The Chronicle: U.S. Again Bars Cuban Scholars From International Conference
The United States has denied visas to all 55 Cuban scholars who had planned to attend an international conference of the Latin American Studies Association next week in Puerto Rico.
According to the association, known as LASA, the Cubans were informed of the decision on February 23, just three weeks before the conference is scheduled to start, on March 15. The association holds an international conference every 18 months.
Comments Off on U.S. Again Bars Cuban Scholars From International Conference
Posted in Academic freedom, Government
The Los Angeles Times: Judge Orders UC to Repay Fee Increases
The University of California broke its promises not to hike some fees and should pay refunds totaling more than $33.8 million to thousands of current and former students, a Superior Court judge in San Francisco has ruled.
The decision, released Monday, carries the biggest potential benefit for about 9,100 students who were enrolled in professional schools, such as law, medicine, nursing and business, in 2002 or earlier.
The Chronicle: State Judge Tells U. of California to Pay $33.8-Million to Students Whom It Misled in Raising Tuition Rates
A California judge has ordered the University of California to pay $33.8-million to former students who accused it of breach of contract when it raised tuition over the past three years despite an apparent pledge not to do so. The class-action lawsuit represents a rare victory for students in litigation over tuition increases.
Comments Off on State Judge Tells U. of California to Pay $33.8-Million to Students Whom It Misled in Raising Tuition Rates
Posted in Students
The New York Times: Education Management Said to Be Sold for $3.4 Billion
The Education Management Corporation, the nation’s second-largest commercial school and education company, is planning to announce today that it has agreed to be sold to Providence Equity Partners and the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs for $3.4 billion in cash, according to executives involved in the deal.
Comments Off on Education Management Said to Be Sold for $3.4 Billion
Posted in Corporate University
Inside Higher Ed: At gathering of higher ed unions, sessions on bargaining for those off the tenure track draw packed houses — and include signs of progress
For some time now, large gatherings of faculty members have included a session about adjuncts. Those frustrated at being kept off of the tenure track would hear the latest data on the shrinking pool of tenure-track jobs and attendees would trade horror stories about the use and abuse of part-timers. And then the meeting would get back to its regular agenda.
Things were notably different at the joint meeting this weekend in Orlando of the higher education members of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. First, the state of adjunct faculty members has become central enough that it is no longer a sideshow — sessions on adjunct issues were plentiful enough during the meeting that an attendee could decide to discuss nothing else. Many of the sessions were packed. To be sure, there were plenty of horror stories being traded. But speaker after speaker cited real progress — and the union leaders were trading ideas and not just gripes.
Comments Off on Can the interests of faculty members on and off the tenure track be aligned such that they can work together?
Posted in Contingent labor
