Florida: USF prez sets the model for AIG

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Tampa Tribune: Cringing at USF bonuses

University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft must know that appearances can be as important as reality. Surely, she knew this when she handed out hefty bonuses to four top staff members — after the university had slashed millions from the budget, frozen salaries and ordered big layoffs. Three of those staff members report directly to the president. During these hard economic times, everyone at USF should share the pain. Genshaft, along with her advisers, deserve all the criticism they are getting for this insensitive move.

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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits

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Florida: TCC faculty still want union representation

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Tallahassee Democrat: TCC faculty still for union representation

A union update, the state’s economic shortfalls and federal stimulus dollars will dominate discussion at Monday’s Tallahassee Community College trustee board meeting — scheduled for 4 p.m. at the administration building.

The union activity, for example, is at a standstill. It’s been about two months since trustees unanimously agreed not to recognize United Faculty of Florida as the union representing the college’s 180 faculty members.

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Posted in Unions, Working conditions

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Kentucky: Prosecutors Oppose Separate Trial For Felner, Co-Defendant

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WLKY.com: Prosecutors Oppose Separate Trial For Felner, Co-Defendant

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to deny a former University of Louisville educator’s request for a separate trial from his co-defendant in a fraud case against them.

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Posted in Legal issues

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“First Victory” in Guadeloupe general strike; Movement spreads to other French colonies

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Life on the Left: “First Victory” in Guadeloupe general strike; Movement spreads to other French colonies

The general strike in Guadeloupe ended March 4, when an Accord was signed between the LKP Strike Collective and the local governments, the employers’ federation and the French government that granted the strikers their top 20 immediate demands and provided for continued negotiations on the remaining 126 mid-term and long-term demands. The LKP, or Lihannaj Kont Pwofitasyon – Collective against super-exploitation, is a coalition of 49 unions and grassroots organizations.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

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French unrest spreads to Reunion

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BBC: French unrest spreads to Reunion

Violence has flared on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion during demonstrations against high prices.

Police fired tear gas to disperse stone-throwing youths at a protest near Reunion’s capital, Saint-Denis.

Thousands marched across the island to push for a 20% cut in the prices of essential goods and an extra 200 euros (£178) a month for low-paid workers.

The unrest came after unions on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe had agreed to end a 44-day strike.

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Posted in Strikes & Labor Disputes

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Nigeria: National Strike: We Will Mobilise Against Labour, NUT – PADGOG

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Leadership Nigeria: National Strike: We Will Mobilise Against Labour, NUT – PADGOG
March 9th, 2009

Ahead of the impending national strike by teachers over agitation for increase in salaries and other claims, a socio- political group, Patriots for Democracy and Good Governance (PADGOG), has threatened to mobilise millions of Nigerians to march against the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) if it did not shelve the idea in the interest of the nation.

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University of Louisville: Financial Audit Update From Robert Felner Scandal, Open Records Request Fulfilled

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PageOneKentucky.com: University of Louisville: Financial Audit Update From Robert Felner Scandal, Open Records Request Fulfilled
March 9th, 2009

Last Tuesday we discussed the financial audit of the University of Louisville’s College of Education and Human Development. That story revealed that UofL had not legally complied with our Open Records Request for a copy of the audit and we were reduced to linking to the audit’s executive summary, which was presented to the University’s Board of Trustees. Once that story went live, UofL’s legal counsel promptly and professionally complied by fulfilling our original request of the audit.

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Posted in Legal issues

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The Robert Felner Scandal and Internal Damage Control at the University of Louisville

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PageOneKenutcky.com: The Robert Felner Scandal and Internal Damage Control at the University of Louisville
March 9th, 2009

More on the Robert Felner front at the University of Louisville. Along with previously mentioned Open Records Requests, we’ve finally received copies of late 2008 emails regarding the Felner scandal and what we deduce to being expected internal damage control and CYA.

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Posted in Legal issues

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Full-time RISD faculty forgo salary increases

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The Brown Daily Herald: Full-time RISD faculty forgo salary increases

Full-time faculty at the Rhode Island School of Design have agreed to forgo a salary increase next year in the face of the worsening economic climate.

Henry Ferreira, associate professor of printmaking and president of the full-time faculty’s union, said the faculty “arrived at a decision that it would probably be best” to give up raises for a year to see where the economy was headed.

The union’s current contract expires July 1, at the end of this fiscal year. The faculty members have decided to wait for a year rather than negotiate a new contract amid economic turmoil, Ferreira said.

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Posted in Salary/Economic Benefits

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Rhode Island: RISD teachers’ union votes to voluntarily freeze wages

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Providence Journal: RISD teachers’ union votes to voluntarily freeze wages
Friday, March 6, 2009

PROVIDENCE — The approximately 144 members of the full-time teachers’ union at the Rhode Island School of Design have voted to voluntarily freeze wages and stipends for the next fiscal year.

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New York: RPI won’t renew “temporary” faculty contracts

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Albany Times-Union: RPI language programs may be at risk
College won’t confirm concerns; says students may have “opportunities”

Friday, March 6, 2009

TROY Some professors and students are worried about the fate of language instruction at RPI, which announced Thursday that it won’t renew the contracts of roughly 13 “temporary” faculty members.

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Posted in Contingent labor

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Rhode Island: Non-tenured faculty receive pink-slips for possible lay-offs

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Block Island Times: Non-tenured faculty receive pink-slips for possible lay-offs

03/07/09 – At a special Block Island School Committee meeting on February 26, Chairman Bill Padien announced that because of looming financial exigencies, the school was notifying six untenured faculty of possible lay-offs.

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Posted in K-12 issues

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Students protest LAUSD teacher layoffs [UPDATED]

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Los Angeles Times: Students protest LAUSD teacher layoffs [UPDATED]
11:32 AM | March 16, 2009

A large group of students from Roybal High School and Miguel Contreras Learning Complex in downtown Los Angeles have walked out of class to protest teacher cuts, authorities said today.

At 10:35 a.m., about 200 students walked about a mile toward the Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters at 3rd Street and Beaudry Avenue, LAPD Officer Rosario Herrera said.

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Posted in K-12 issues, Protests

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Kentucky regents vote to curb tenure at community colleges

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Courier-Journal: Regents vote to curb tenure at community colleges
Vote by community college board angers instructors

VERSAILLES, Ky. — With faculty members raising signs in protest, the Board of Regents for Kentucky’s community and technical colleges voted yesterday to eliminate tenure for new employees and drop health insurance for new retirees.

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Posted in Tenure & Promotion

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Ex-Ga. Tech worker pleads guilty to racketeering

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Ledger-Enquirer: Ex-Ga. Tech worker pleads guilty to racketeering

ATLANTA — A former Georgia Tech employee was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to going on a $175,000 shopping spree with her state-issued credit card.

Michelle Harris, 41, was charged with one count of felony racketeering for making hundreds of personal expenses on what’s known as a p-card, and altering receipts to cover up her abuse. Prosecutors say Harris, also known as Michelle Dunbar, used her p-card from June 2003 to May 2007 to pay for diamond earrings, car insurance, groceries and catering for a wedding.

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Posted in Legal issues

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The Roar of the Crowd; Sports fans’ primal behavior

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The Chronicle Review: The Roar of the Crowd; Sports fans’ primal behavior

Commentary

Peter A. Facione: A Straight-Talk Survival Guide for Colleges

By DAVID P. BARASH

Marx was wrong: The opiate of the masses isn’t religion, but spectator sports. What else explains the astounding fact that millions of seemingly intelligent human beings feel that the athletic exertions of total strangers are somehow consequential for themselves? The real question we should be asking during the madness surrounding this month’s collegiate basketball championship season is not who will win, but why anyone cares.

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Loss for Private College Union

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Inside Higher Ed: Loss for Private College Union
March 16, 2009

Union organizing of professors at private colleges has largely been squelched since 1980, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in NLRB v. Yeshiva University that faculty members at private institutions should be considered managerial employees ineligible for collective bargaining.

A rare breakthrough for such union drives came in 2005, when the National Labor Relations Board ruled that faculty members at Carroll University had the right to unionize. But on Friday, in a ruling that focused primarily on whether Carroll was entitled to be exempt from unionization because of its religious ties, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed the NLRB ruling, effectively quashing the union drive.

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Posted in Legal issues

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Composition, Overcrowded

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Inside Higher Ed: Composition, Overcrowded
March 16, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — Class sizes and teaching loads for composition courses at community colleges — courses typically required of most students and seen as crucial for college success — appear to be growing well beyond levels that are considered educationally sound.

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Posted in Working conditions

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President of Harvey Mudd College Lands High-Profile Microsoft Board Seat

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The Chronicle: President of Harvey Mudd College Lands High-Profile Microsoft Board Seat

Maria M. Klawe, the offbeat president of tiny Harvey Mudd College, has landed a seat on the board of one of the highest-profile corporations in America: the technology giant Microsoft. The appointment could help Ms. Klawe — a computer scientist who juggles and skateboards in her spare time — raise the profile of Mudd, a 730-student college in Claremont, Calif., that emphasizes science, mathematics, and engineering.

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Posted in Corporate University

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Carroll U. Does Not Have to Bargain With Faculty Union, Appellate Court Rules

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The Chronicle News Blog: Carroll U. Does Not Have to Bargain With Faculty Union, Appellate Court Rules

Carroll University, a private Presbyterian institution in Wisconsin, will not have to bargain with its faculty union because it qualifies for an exemption from the National Labor Relations Board’s jurisdiction on religious grounds, a federal appellate court ruled today.

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