Blog
Retrench When? When They Want To!
In a recent blog entry I noted that, given the important role that tenure plays in protecting academic freedom, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) asserts that removal of tenure because of an institution’s financial distress should be limited to financial exigency, i.e., an imminent financial crisis that threatens the survival of the institution as a whole and that cannot be alleviated by less drastic means.” (AAUP, “Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom & Tenure“). read more…
Newman, Idea of a University, and Knowledge for its Own Sake
I was surprised to see Inside Higher Ed referencing Cardinal Newman in their latest edition (“How Would Newman Fare Today?” http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/17/newman) — admittedly, I don’t keep up with the announcements about beatification out of the Vatican.
But Newman, who I first read (with difficulty) as an undergraduate, still has something to say to us today in his most famous work — The Idea of a University. read more…
Donoghue on Humanities in The Chronicle: What is a university?
Frank Donoghue’s article in the Chronicle is misguided: he forgets the public good that comes from broad-based public higher education.
Frank Donoghue’s recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (Can the Humanities Survive the 21st Century? http://chronicle.com/article/Can-the-Humanities-Survive-/124222/) brought again to my attention the on-going struggle to convince people — in this case an Ohio State English professor — of the value of a broad-based education. read more…
PASSHE’s Administrative Bloat: Just How Many Managers Does It Take?
Sometimes it’s just plain hard to not snicker, smirk, or just outright laugh. As our PASSHE officials and local managers preach about dire financial situations, as they strip away release time and pare down summer schools, as they arbitrarily increase class size, you might be thinking, “something here is just wrong.” Well, it is. Honing in on “faculty productivity,” they have conveniently overlooked managerial prodcutivity. But there is now substantial evidence that things are out of whack. read more…
PASSHE’s Ad Hoc Retrenchment Threatens Us All
Stripping faculty of tenure is a serious matter. It ought not done based on dire predictions of what might happen; it should only occur, as the AAUP says, “under extraordinary circumstances because of a demonstrably bona fide financial exigency, i.e., an imminent financial crisis that threatens the survival of the institution as a whole and that cannot be alleviated by less drastic means.”