In fall 2009, this author participated in mass protests in California against tuition increases, furloughs, state budget cuts, and mass layoffs of schoolteachers, faculty members, and other public-sector workers. He states that what was so inspiring about these demonstrations was their formation of a new model of coalition politics. Taking the…

In a little rural town of ten thousand in the high desert of Utah, three big institutions run the local economy: the school district, the hospital, and the College of Eastern Utah, a two-year institution with a central campus and several small, even more rural satellite campuses throughout the state. It is the smallest college in Utah. When the…

The academic year began with a bang last fall at the University of California (UC). A series of bangs, actually, featuring a united front of students, staff, and faculty in a coordinated series of walkouts and strikes across the system's ten campuses. The target of their outrage was a series of draconian layoffs, wage cuts, and drastic tuition…

Boston University (BU) has had a history of contentious relations between administrators and faculty. John Silber, who ran the university from the early 1970s through the late 1990s, gave faculty little say in university governance, and an "us versus them" atmosphere soon developed. In 2004, however, major changes in the board of…

Results of a conference reviewing recommendations favoring post-tenure evaluation were that: current procedures for evaluating faculty are satisfactory; additional formal periodic evaluation would incur unacceptable costs and scant benefit; and results of any evaluation should not be used as grounds for dismissal. (MSE)

Alternatives proposed include early and phased retirement, career change incentives, retraining programs and/or leave, outplacement, and an earnings supplement at severance. (MSE)

The status of faculty collective bargaining in Canada is compared with that of the United States, and it is suggested that, although U.S. political action in favor of faculty and higher education in general is more advanced, Canadian collective bargaining is substantially ahead in its scope and effects. (MSE)

A review of published reports of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) regarding institutional policies on layoff of tenured faculty traces the approaches and reasoning used by AAUP investigating committees. It is concluded that the principle of due process is the central issue. (MSE)

Two part-time faculty members and two full-time faculty members express their personal and professional concerns and attitudes about the trend toward increased and prolonged use of temporary and part-time faculty employment by institutions. (MSE)

The report of an AAUP committee's investigation of the termination of four tenured Temple University faculty members following an administration declaration of retrenchment is presented. (MSE)