Higher Education News From Around The Web
Dan Mithcell’s UCLA Faculty Association Blog:
- by UnknownThere were action items on the agenda of the special March 25th, 2 pm, systemwide Assembly meeting of the Academic Senate which had been called by petition. A little over 300 people were on the Zoom call at the start of the meeting. Most were not members of the Assembly. Yours truly attended so you […]
- by UnknownYou know enough not to respond in any way to messages like the one above, don't you? One hint is that the word "assistance" is incorrectly spelled. Another is that it comes from a weird email address. Basically, even without such hints, if you get an email, phone message, or text from a company, never […]
- by UnknownLetter from Law Deans (including UCLA) dated March 26, 2025:As deans of law schools, we have a special responsibility for the legal profession. Recently, the federal government has imposed significant sanctions on the law firms of Perkins Coie, Covington & Burling, Paul Weiss, and Jenner & Block seemingly because of the clients they and their […]
- by UnknownAlthough the item below was put out by a Columbia University group of alumni and others, you can likely take it to be a quasi-official rationale as to why Columbia is doing what it is doing. It is expressed in less diplomatic language than the University would likely utilize. But it's hard to believe that […]
- by UnknownPress Release, U.S. Dept. of EducationU.S. Department of Education Revokes Waivers to California and Oregon Universities Using Federal Funding to Provide Services to Illegal ImmigrantsMarch 27, 2025Today, the U.S. Department of Education revoked waivers to California and Oregon colleges and universities that are using federal funds to provide services to illegal aliens under the Performance […]
Chris Newfield & Michael Meranze’s Remaking the University
- by Chris NewfieldSacramento Faculty Lobbying on April 11, 2008 by David LloydDuring the encampments established and maintained by courageous students and faculty, whose ethical integrity in naming and resisting Israel’s recently resumed genocide in Gaza disgraced the complicity and collaboration of their administrations, activists held firm to the simple exhortation, “All eyes on Gaza.” Though they aimed to disrupt […]
- by Chris NewfieldOxford, Ohio on April 28, 2016by Timothy V. Kaufman-Osborn Dear colleague (Take #1) “Dear Colleague.” So begins the letter sent by the U.S. Department of Education (DoE) to colleges and universities on February 14, 2025. This communication, however, is anything but collegial if, as Merriam-Webster tells us, this term includes as one of its meanings: “marked by power or authority […]
- by Chris NewfieldColumbia University on November 1, 2022I learned of Columbia University’s surrender to Trump’s extortion using $400 million in federal research funds towards the end of a dinner in London. We had a couple of good friends over, one American and the other Turkish, both have lived and worked in the UK for many years. We’d been joking about how we were […]
- by Chris NewfieldSyracuse University on March 31, 2016THE WAY OF THE DOOFUS WARRIOR (THAT MUST BE DEFEATED)'Yesterday we looked at how a doofus and blowhard, awash in derp, can nonetheless have a tactical genius that allows him to defeat all enemies again and again. I focused on an analogy I’m familiar with: increased mobility as a key […]
- by Chris NewfieldEphesus, Türkiye on August 23, 2005The subtitle to this post was originally “Five Ways to Counter It”—the Trumpian war, that is. But in the meantime, I’ve had disturbing exchanges with some senior humanities officials and colleagues that suggest that they will take no particular action at this time. The general strategy I was suggesting to one […]
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 Jonathan ReesBY JONATHAN REES My chapter is planning its National Day of Action for Higher Education event on April 17. Up to this point in time, we’ve been tightly focused on organizing to improve faculty salaries, but looking around at the world today the need to broaden our scope seemed clear. It is time to get…
- by Hank ReichmanBY HANK REICHMAN Today I attended one of the over 275 “Tesla Takedown” demonstrations outside of DOGE Dictator Elon Musk’s dealerships nationwide. This one was on Fourth Street in Berkeley, California, where at its height I would estimate some 800-1000 people gathered to voice our outrage at the ongoing Republican coup. It was a spirited…
- by Hank ReichmanBY HANK REICHMAN Given the daily fire hose of mostly unconstitutional (if not simply illegal) assaults by the Trump regime on the rights of immigrants, on “DEI,” on trans people, on the legal profession, on the judiciary, on social security and the Veterans’ Administration, and, of course, of most direct concern to readers of this…
- by Guest BloggerBY REBECCA DOLHINOW AND DAVID SCHULTZ Rebecca Dolhinow of California State University, Fullerton, and David Schultz of Hamline University seek chapter proposals for an edited book anthology tentatively entitled Trumpism and the Corporate University. Trumpism and the Corporate University will be an edited volume that examines the rise of the corporate university over the last…
- by via a contributing editorBY BARRY TRACHTENBERG Columbia University’s decision to accept and even go beyond the Trump administration’s extortionist demands forces us to recognize a sobering truth that applies not only to Columbia but to far too many of the scholarly spaces within which we work: Their response is neither a surrender nor a capitulation but is a…