Higher Education News From Around The Web
Dan Mithcell’s UCLA Faculty Association Blog:
- by UnknownWe have been noting the paradox of the state having lots of cash on hand in various funds and yet also having a budget squeeze that notably is affecting UC.Jason Sisney of the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) has a lengthy piece in his Substack blog on this paradox. In essence, despite the squeeze, we are […]
- by UnknownFrom the LA Times: For the last 18 months, the city of Rancho Palos Verdes has been struggling to address a worsening local emergency — the dramatic expansion of an ancient landslide zone that has torn homes apart, buckled roadways and halted utility services. Triggered by a succession of heavy winter rains in 2023 and […]
- by UnknownIn a prior post, we noted that two statements were up for a vote at the Legislative Assembly.* Below are the results:Statement from the Academic Council, “The Defense of the University”Legislative Assembly members voted via the Academic Senate Data Management System on the statement from the Academic Council, “The Defense of the University.” The Legislative […]
- by UnknownThe 2023 Arts & Crafts ExhibitTuesday, May 20, 2025 – Emeriti/Retirees Arts and Crafts ExhibitThe 2025 Sylvia Winstein UCLA Emeriti/Retirees Arts & Crafts Exhibit shows works from twenty-nine (29) emeriti and retiree artists. Their works include a wide range of media from painting, drawing, calligraphy, and sculpture to photography, ceramics, jewelry, weaving, and jigsaw puzzle […]
- by UnknownFrom the NY Times: Linda McMahon, the country’s top education official, wants to reopen talks with Harvard University, but offered little indication that the Trump administration would consider changing its aggressive tactics to ease the standoff with the university. Instead, she noted that U.S. officials have more ways to pressure Harvard to submit to President […]
Chris Newfield & Michael Meranze’s Remaking the University
- by Chris NewfieldSanta Barbara on December 24, 2023 In the May Revision of his January budget proposal for 2025-26, California Governor Gavin Newsom cut his cut to the two state university systems. CSU Chancellor Mildred García wrote, “The May Revision reduces proposed cuts to the CSU to 3% or $143.8 million of ongoing funding – down from the […]
- by Chris NewfieldBattery, New York on November 2, 2022 Trump’s opening blitzkrieg has happened, the first defenses are in place, and the colossal damage has been done. What are the university system’s next moves?More lawsuits. I was ecstatic about the May Day lawsuit against the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). It’s seeking to block the DOGE decimation of grants, workforce, and programs. Plaintiffs […]
- by Chris NewfieldSan Francisco Bay on October 20, 2017 Deadlines collide and last week I wrote three pieces, with a common preoccupation of “Reversing Helplessness,” the title of my ISRF Director’s Note for May. I’ll come back to this issue over the next few days. On Friday I was interviewed by email by Kathryn Palmer at Inside Higher Ed. The […]
- by Chris NewfieldMosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova, Coimbria, Portugal on April 26, 2025 by Trevor Griffey, UC Irvine Before 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom developed a reputation for being a modest advocate for public higher education compared to his predecessors. This year, he proved that this reputation depended on flush state budgets, not on principle. When Newsom first came into […]
- by Chris NewfieldUniversidade de Coimbra on April 25, 2025 by Charlie Eaton. Crossposted from Progressive Disclosure It was only 2 weeks ago that I called for spending endowments to defend universities from Trump’s attacks. Since then, I’ve been flooded with messages from readers about how to move from my essay's broader points to the harder work of crafting […]
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 Hank ReichmanPOSTED BY HANK REICHMAN Last week the American Constitution Society hosted a video conversation on academic freedom with Andrew Manuel Crespo, the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law and Executive Faculty Director of the Institute to End Mass Incarceration at Harvard University. Professor Crespo is an AAUP member who is serving as general counsel…
- by Guest BloggerBY ZOE SHERMAN I tried not to be a professional academic. But I loved being a student so much, and I felt such a strong pull toward scholarship that eventually I overcame my qualms about getting my livelihood tangled up with my intellectual passions. In the fall of 2009, at the age of thirty, with…
- by AAUPBY MICHAEL FERGUSON Following is the editor’s introduction to the spring 2025 issue of Academe, “Trump 2.0,” out this week. The full issue and table of contents can be found here. Patricia McGuire, in her contribution to the online edition of this issue, succinctly describes the stakes of the second Trump administration’s intertwined attacks on higher education…
- by Hank ReichmanBY HANK REICHMAN The all-but-finalized departure of University of Michigan President Santa Ono for the same, yet even more lucrative, position at the University of Florida, where his apparent hostility to student protest (even when expressed via democratic referendum) and eagerness to abandon DEI programs made him an ideal candidate to serve Governor Ron DeSantis,…
- by Guest BloggerBY ALAN SINGER On Thursday, April 17, I marched with New York City AAUP chapters and thousands of educators, students, workers, and allies from the arch in Washington Square Park to Foley Square in lower Manhattan in defense of higher education. We rallied to defend the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution…