Summarizes conflicting charges of plagiarism and data theft against sociology-department faculty at Texas A&M University over the past four years that have resulted in three dismissed lawsuits and investigations by the university, American Sociological Association, and the National Science Foundation. The accused have neither been found guilty…

A convicted criminal, eluding police, has conned dozens of college faculty out of over $200,000 over two years by pretending to be a prominent scholar, calling on colleagues to provide financial assistance to a friend, and offering academic services or personal favors in return. Targeted professors have been in the fields of history, sociology,…

The Howard University (District of Columbia) policy on tenure, as defined in the new faculty handbook, allows the board of trustees exceptional power in removing faculty. At a time when Howard University faculty are enjoying greater participation than ever in governance, this and other policy issues are creating faculty dissatisfaction. (MSE)

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has called for an expanded definition of faculty scholarship to include four components: discovery of new knowledge, integration of knowledge, application of knowledge, and teaching. Such a view would lead to an improved faculty reward system, morale, and instruction. (MSE)

Reviews trends in union organization at private colleges following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision 20 years ago denying bargaining rights to faculty at Yeshiva University (New York). Focuses on a recent decision by a labor official granting bargaining rights to faculty at Manhattan College (New York) and efforts by faculty organizers at Seton…

The American Association of University Professors has censured the administrations of five colleges (Chowan College, Dean Junior College, Wesley College, New Community College of Baltimore, and Loma Linda University) for breaches of faculty rights. Censure was lifted for the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Northern Colorado, Sonoma…

A popular legal strategy for college faculty who sue after being denied tenure is to turn the spotlight on the credentials of colleagues, particularly in sex discrimination cases. Colleagues caught in the crossfire often suffer personal humiliation and professional discredit. (MSE)

Increasingly, college faculty members accused of sexual harassment say their rights have been breached and are suing their institutions. Some observers see the trend as a backlash to new expectations about appropriate faculty behavior. Others worry that administrative definitions of harassment are too broad, and faculty due process is violated.…

A federal judge has ordered the University of New Hampshire to end a professor's suspension, after ruling that his classroom comments did not amount to sexual harassment. The university had claimed the teacher violated institutional sexual-harassment policy by creating a classroom environment hostile to women. (MSE)

A Harvard University (Massachusetts) law school faculty member denied tenure charged the institution with sex discrimination. A $260,000 court settlement will go to Northeastern University (Massachusetts), where she is now a tenured faculty member, to support and expand her domestic-violence advocacy project. (MSE)

Discusses the increasing movement toward organization of part-time college faculty, graduate students, and full-time faculty members who are off the tenure track, describing activities of the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor and the California Part-Time Faulty Association. Notes that despite active organization on both coasts, the movement…

Discusses the increasing influence that the graduate student caucus is having on the Modern Language Association. Graduate students are now well represented on the organization's delegate assembly and executive council. Critics see the students as using fear and intimidation to press their needs in a bleak job market over other organizational…

In a nationwide strike, law students demonstrated and boycotted classes to protest lack of racial and ethnic diversity in law faculties. Students see female and minority faculty as mentors, and feel the shortage of lawyers serving the minority population will increase without minority faculty to prepare them for that role. (MSE)

Annual survey found average salary for professors at all types of institutions to be $43,720--5.4 percent higher than last year's average but below 6 percent projected increase in cost of living. Tables detail results, showing average faculty salaries by type of institutions, average salaries for men and women by rank, and average faculty salaries…

Details the case of a third-year assistant history professor at Yale University (Connecticut) who was denied reappointment. Raises issues such as the hiring by a department of its own Ph.D.'s, cronyism within departments and fields, denial of reappointment as punishment for criticizing powerful individuals, and the undue influence of a few…