Higher Education News From Around The Web
Dan Mithcell’s UCLA Faculty Association Blog:
- by UnknownThe Office of Civil Rights (within the US Dept. of Education) has reached an agreement with UC to resolve the various complaints arising from last academic year's protests:Press Release US Dept. of EducationOffice for Civil Rights Announces Resolution of Complaints Alleging Shared Ancestry Discrimination by Five Campuses in University of California SystemAgreement resolves nine complaints […]
- by Unknown1934 19571963 is said to be the date. The cars, however, look to befrom an earlier period, possibly 1953.
- by UnknownYours truly came across this item in The Hill recently:"President-elect Trump on Friday said Republicans would push to eliminate daylight saving time, calling it “inconvenient” and “costly.” “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and […]
- by UnknownThe Legislative Analyst's Office has produced a 20th anniversary report on UC-Merced. The report tilts toward doubt. Below is the Executive Summary, a link to the full report, and some commentary:Executive SummaryUC Merced Was Created to Accomplish Several Key Objectives. In the late 1980s, the University of California (UC) projected that enrollment demand would exceed […]
- by UnknownYou may have received the email below from Fidelity concerning fraudulent activity – unspecified* – regarding the tax-favored savings accounts UC offers. If not, the text is below:Dear UC Retirement Savings Program Participant, We want to make you aware that a limited number of UC Retirement Savings Program (RSP) accounts administered by Fidelity were affected by […]
Chris Newfield & Michael Meranze’s Remaking the University
- by Chris NewfieldAustin, Texas MLA Convention on January 8, 2016Chris here with the Story Thus Far. A group of members of the Modern Language Association (MLA) submitted a "Resolution to Endorse the 2005 Palestinian BDS Call" to the Association. The normal process would be for the MLA's Delegate Assembly (DA), which represents the membership, to debate the Resolution at […]
- by Chris NewfieldKings Cross, London on December 18, 2017ANTICIPATORY OBEDIENCE IN AMERICA‘Since Trump won re-election — this time with the popular vote — many of the most influential people in America seem to have lost any will to stand up to him as he goes about transforming America into the sort of authoritarian oligarchy he admires. Call […]
- by Chris NewfieldSanta Barbara, CA on December 10, 2016THE KNOWLEDGE CRISIS I WAS TALKING ABOUT: TRANS EDITION ‘“I'm one of the only people that watched that MSNBC town hall, which is horrible. But there was one of the sit down interviews [Harris] did in sort of like the final quarter of the campaign, where she gave that infamous […]
- by Chris NewfieldLondon Bridge on November 25, 2017The Trump administration will escalate attacks on universities in particular and on expertise in general. Trump is setting up an autocratic executive branch, and as Masha Gessen observes, “Rejection of genuine expertise is both a precondition and a function of autocracy.” Trump continuously imposes the problem not simply of arranging a mutual recognition […]
- by Chris NewfieldPOLITICAL EDUCATION FAILS UNLESS IT’S CONTINUOUS ‘The Democrats don't campaign year round in the same way that Republicans do on key issues and they do have a massive communication problem. That could potentially be solved by having a more robust ecosystem and more collaboration with even the likes of yourself and maybe even someone like myself […]
Here are the latest posts from the Berkeley Faculty Association:
- by Michael BurawoyOn May 14, John A. Pérez, Chair of the Board of Regents, and Michael V. Drake, UC President, made a joint statement, congratulating Governor Newsom for “proposing the largest state investment in UC’s history.” The statement waxed enthusiastic about the transformative impact of the revised budget. Reading between the lines and examining the often–elusive details, […]
- by Michael BurawoyShared governance, the concept of administration and faculty making policy and decisions together, has a long history at Berkeley. Our campus’s Academic Senate has more power than most such bodies across the country: the Budget Committee plays a central role in determining FTE, granting tenure and promotion, and other Senate committees control curriculum and set […]
- by Michael BurawoyJust in time for Mother’s Day, parents with children in campus childcare faced plans for increased tuition, shorter hours, and reduced staff next fall. Meanwhile, UCOP is putting the final touches on an improved paid family leave program that is still worse than that of comparable employers throughout the state. Why is the University of […]
- by Michael BurawoyIn early April, the UC unveiled their “Proposed Revisions for UCPD” plans. One proposal is the creation of “Systemwide Response Teams”—in effect, a UC paramilitary force that can be mobilized in response to protest actions, and to provide crowd management and “riot control.” These teams would be armed with body armor, chemical agents, and explosive […]
- by Michael BurawoyThe lecturers’ union (UC-AFT) and UCOP have been bargaining over a new contract for more than two years, with little to show for it. Despite the legal obligation to bargain in good faith, the UCOP negotiators have refused to bargain on basic issues, while regularly demonstrating their disrespect for their UC-AFT interlocutors. Senate faculty who have […]
National higher education blogs of interest, starting with AAUP’s Academe Blog:
- by Guest BloggerBY DANIEL A. SEGAL An opera based on Michael Chabon’s novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, with music by Mason Bates and libretto by Gene Scheer, had its world premiere at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music on November 15. The opera is glorious, and the performance, with every note sung and played…
- by Jennifer RuthPOSTED BY JENNIFER RUTH Please consider signing this open letter to the NYU administration. The text is below. Click the preceding link to access the form itself so you can add your name. On December 12, the NYU administration invited the NYPD to arrest two faculty members who were supporting students involved in a nonviolent protest…
- by Guest BloggerBY ILANA GERSHON Academic freedom sounds so academic—especially for employees frustrated at work because they are answering workplace surveys all the time, and yet somehow their insights about how to make an office or a task function better are never taken seriously. Faculty members are not the only experts in their workplaces, so, if we…
- by Guest BloggerBY MICHAEL ANTHONY LEWIS It’s been over a year since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel; we’re still witnessing Israel’s response. All this has made the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians front page (or front screen) news. We’re constantly hearing debates about the perennial issues that make up this conflict. I’m a CUNY faculty…
- by Matthew BoedyBY MATTHEW BOEDY My former classmate Phil Christman wrote a long essay at Plough about the future of higher education, the humanities, and his particular context as a lecturer at the University of Michigan. If you haven’t read it, I wanted to bring it to your attention because it’s great. I wanted to highlight the…