Results of a new survey of family-friendly benefits by the Center for the Education of Women at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor show that stopping the tenure clock has become the most common family-friendly benefit in higher education, following paid maternity leave. Other family-friendly policies that top the list in academe allow…

Examines reactions of faculty, administrators, and state policymakers after three years of experience with a contract (rather than tenure) system at Florida Gulf Coast University. Reports that a faculty panel issued a report calling for automatic contract extensions for professors performing well and the possibility of legislative intervention…

Describes how, at Ithaca College, three faculty pregnancies tested a department's ability to cope. (EV)

A generation after women regularly began combining motherhood with careers, female academics find that balancing the demands of the tenure system and the timing of motherhood is difficult. Some are delaying childbearing, some are asking for delay of tenure decisions, and others are job-sharing to accommodate family and career. (MSE)

Female college professors feel pressure to plan childbirth for the summer because maternity policies don't accommodate mid-academic-year births and finding a substitute instructor may be difficult. A few institutions offer paid maternity leave. Wesleyan University (Connecticut) offers mothers and fathers the option of part-time pay for leave or…

About 150 colleges and universities have created benefit programs for employees' domestic partners, but few eligible employees have enrolled, either because the partners have benefits elsewhere or prefer not to use the program. However, the impacts on enrollees' lives can be substantial. Most institutions require domestic partners to complete…

A new program at Mercy College (New York) links faculty salaries to student enrollment and is designed to help the college through a financial crisis. Supporters see the policy as making good business sense, and faculty are finding ways to encourage students to enroll and persist. Critics feel the policy will encourage faculty to give higher…

The Modern Language Association's large Graduate Student Caucus is pressing the association to lead a campaign against use of part-time faculty. The Ph.D. candidates are fearful that after years of training, they will be unable to find tenure-track positions, and feel the association has placed too much emphasis on seeking jobs outside higher…

The creative writing program at Syracuse University (New York) has been controversial since a 1995 incident in which a faculty member was charged with sexual harassment and drunkenness. A female faculty member has also been accused of inappropriate behavior. Faculty are divided over the issues, and some accuse the university of ignoring problems…

In an effort to eliminate the part-time teaching track for all faculty except those who hold professional jobs outside academe, Georgia State University created 95 new full-time faculty positions and filled 62 of these positions with former part-time faculty. For the time being, however, all the positions are non-tenure-track "visiting"…

A University of Pennsylvania economics professor was denied an administrative post supervising graduate students because he dated a graduate student. Opinion on campus is divided, with many faculty and students supporting the professor. The institution's policy on student-faculty dating is unspecific. (MSE)

In an effort to revitalize Bennington College (Vermont), its president recently fired 26 of 79 faculty members, reduced and reorganized academic departments and divisions, replaced tenure with multi-year contracts, and recruited new faculty. Some claim violation of academic freedom. Enrollment has increased, particularly among first-time students,…