Higher Education News From Around The Web

Dan Mithcell’s UCLA Faculty Association Blog:

  • Who is in? Who is out?
    The systemwide Academic Senate is circulating a letter from UC President Milliken to the chancellors regarding shared governance for clinical faculty who are not members of the Senate. Only ladder faculty, in residence faculty, and clinical X faculty are members. There is concern about lack of shared governance for clinical faculty who aren't. Apparently, a […]
  • Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? – Part 201
    From the NY Times: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission asked a federal judge to compel Harvard to hand over records in the agency’s investigation into what it described as “systemic discrimination” in the university’s employment practices, particularly against white men. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts, the E.E.O.C. accused the university of […]
  • Straws in the Wind – Part 487
    News release from Yale Faculty Senate: The Yale FAS-SEAS Faculty Senate’s Instructional Faculty Committee completed a report calling for stronger job security, greater compensation and a stronger voice in university governance for instructional faculty. Submitted to the Senate on September 10, 2026, in closed session and published over the weekend, the report brings together recommendations […]
  • Newsom in the 3rd Quarter
    As blog readers may know, we keep track of Gov. Newsom's activities, particularly his not-a-campaign for president, on a regular basis, combined with other related political events. He doesn't pay much attention  to UC, except mentioning it in extolling the California economy. Unless there is some highly unlikely event, Xavier Becerra will be the next […]
  • We're still looking for numbers and definitions
    As we have pointed out, UCLA administration keeps citing numbers – with regard to childcare closings and anything else in the budget while not providing the basic accounts. Where is an income statement for 2025-26? Revenue? Spending? By unit? Where is a balance sheet? When "deficits" are cited, what definition is being used? Yours truly […]

Chris Newfield & Michael Meranze’s Remaking the University

  • Liner Note 57. Selling the Do-It-Yourself Public University
    by Chris Newfield
    @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:77; mso-generic-font-family:decorative; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 -2147483647 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:DengXian; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:等线; mso-font-charset:134; […]
  • Move Your Money Now! (guest post)
    by Chris Newfield
         L3 Harris-Palantir Demo Video Sept 2026   By: Hannah Appel (UCLA), Seeta Chaganti (UCD), Charmaine Chua (UCB), Noah Zatz (UCLA)Many thousands – perhaps the majority – of UC workers, decry the violence that surrounds us. We protest the masked ICE agents who kidnap our neighbors, students, and family members. We protest the concentration camps […]
  • Liner Note 56: The AI Industry Is Dumping its Knowledge Crisis on Humanity
    by Chris Newfield
     Terme di Caracalla, Rome on May 12, 2026 The recent convergence of two kinds of AI news has unnerved a lot of us. The first kind is magic math solutions, like OpenAI’s claimed proof of the Navier-Stokes equations on fluid movement. These stories ask us to accept that AI superintelligence is indeed at hand. The second kind is news of […]
  • Liner Note 55. In the Empire of AI, Universities Will Reinvest or Die
    by Chris Newfield
    Leonora Carrington, Crookhey Hall seen July 17 2026  I want to talk about the relations among AI, university teaching, and university budgeting. These links are not getting nearly enough combined attention.College graduates are chief among the frontline victims of the AI story, joining non-college workers in a new phase of disposability (see Heck et al. 2026 for Brookings, […]
  • How to Make AI Good for the Humanities (Guest Post)
    by Chris Newfield
    Banff, Alberta back country on June 5, 2026  by Dennis M. Hogan, Lecturer on History & Literature, Harvard UniversityThis is the third of the talks from the CHCI panel, "The Humanities We Can Build Right Now" in Banff, Alberta. The others were Chris Nealon’s and Asheesh Kapur Siddique’s is here, along with my introduction to […]

National higher education blogs of interest, starting with AAUP’s Academe Blog:

  • My Year of Workshopping Lectures
    by Guest Blogger
    BY MELISSA CHADBURN In 2023, I was confounded by my humanness as I entered my first full-time visiting faculty position in my mid-forties. The brain fog. The creeping anxiety. Feeling my confidence and capacity to speak in front of other people vanish, even though I had a lot of experience with public speaking, panels, and…
  • Race to the Bottom Continues with Revised SACSCOC Accreditation Standards
    by Guest Blogger
    BY KATIE RAINWATER This post follows up on, and covers new developments related to, the author’s June 15 Academe Blog post. In June, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC)—the traditional accreditor for the Southeastern United States, now also called the Commission on Colleges and Universities (CCU)* —released a first draft of new standards…
  • You Already Work at Two Universities
    by Guest Blogger
    BY D.J. HOPKINS AND ZACH JUSTUS It’s time for your department to produce its annual assessment report. You and your colleagues have agreed on the learning outcomes to measure, and you have the data, but no one looks forward to this task, so you put it off. You answer emails, do some compliance training, and…
  • A Grading Method for People with No Time to Spare
    by Guest Blogger
    BY ROGER OCHSE I ran a company for fourteen years, sold it in 1990, and chose a classroom over a boardroom. I’ve taught college classes for more than forty years total, some of which overlapped with my time running the company, though most came after. I kept teaching once I retired from full-time faculty work—several…
  • Results from the 2026 Faculty in the South Survey
    by Matthew Boedy
    BY MATTHEW BOEDY Fears About Working Conditions Deepen for Faculty in the South The annual Faculty in the South Survey reveals optimism about AI but worsening fears about the impacts of government intrusion into curriculum and the future of the professoriate. The survey, conducted by state conferences of the AAUP, received responses from more than…

Higher Ed Labor United:

  • HELU Wall-to-Wall & Coast-to-Coast Report: August 2026
    by info4de9e1dcddf
    Higher ed labor is organizing. Learn more and join us. August 2026 HELU Chair’s Message From Levin Kim, HELU Chair and member of UAW 4121:   Next Thursday, August 27, HELU member unions will be coming together at our third General Assembly of the year. We’ll reflect on our work over the first half of […]
  • Higher Ed Labor Report: Building Power, Taking Action
    by info4de9e1dcddf
    Higher ed labor is organizing. Learn more and join us. September 2026 HELU Chair’s Message From Levin Kim, HELU Chair and member of UAW 4121:   Precarity continues to persist as an increasingly permanent feature of higher ed institutions. Postdocs across the sector are organizing to change that. Hugo Plombat is one of 1,500 Postdocs […]
  • September 2026 HELU Chair’s Message
    by info4de9e1dcddf
    From Levin Kim, HELU Chair and member of UAW 4121: Precarity continues to persist as an increasingly permanent feature of higher ed institutions. Postdocs across the sector are organizing to change that. Hugo Plombat is one of 1,500 Postdocs at the University of Michigan (UM-PRO) currently fighting for a first contract that includes a fair […]
  • PITTSBURGH FOLKS! Fair Contract Rally TOMORROW at CCAC
    by info4de9e1dcddf
    From our colleagues at American Federation of Teachers Local 2067 at the Community College of Allegheny County: The American Federation of Teachers Local 2067 at the Community College of Allegheny County is engaged in a contentious contract negotiation over fair compensation, benefits, and working conditions. In support of that effort, they are hosting a Fair […]
  • We Support the Tufts Library Union!
    by info4de9e1dcddf
    From our colleagues at Tufts Library Union – SEIU Local 888: On September 8, 2026, Tufts library staff made the brave decision to publicly announce their union with SEIU Local 888.  The Tufts Library staff maintain Tufts’ collections, support student and faculty research, and coordinate invaluable programs and services for campus life. Tufts University could […]