Faculty unions outside Michigan have reason to be concerned with its passage of legislation barring unions from collecting fees from workers who do not join them. But the experiences of faculty unions in states that adopted such laws years ago suggest that while the measures can be a major hindrance to their work, they are not a death blow.…

When he was still President Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, now mayor-elect of Chicago, famously quipped: "Never allow a crisis to go to waste." Republican governors in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Ohio, and other states have certainly taken that advice to heart. By emphasizing, and in some cases manipulating, the red ink flowing through…

The faculty union at the City University of New York must make it easier for nonmembers to receive refunds of union dues spent on activities other than collective bargaining, a federal judge ruled this month. Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom, of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, found that the union, the Professional Staff Congress (or PSC),…

This article reports that Gary Rhoades, who has spent his entire 22-year career at the University of Arizona studying issues that affect the professoriate, has been named general secretary of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). Mr. Rhoades directs Arizona's Center for the Study of Higher Education. Leaders of the AAUP hope…

Colleges and universities increasingly view engineering as an important part of a liberal-arts education. Rather than segregate engineering from the arts and humanities, they are integrating the disciplines, in hopes of educating students to perform more effectively in an increasingly complex and technological world. Several college presidents,…

When the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) held its annual meeting in Washington, in mid-June, some members called the gathering the most crucial in the group's 93-year history. On the last day of the meeting, members overwhelmingly approved a restructuring plan that could resolve longstanding problems, which include declining…

Describes how, after a stint as an adjunct professor that made her feel "powerless," Linda Cushing went from union foe to labor activist. (EV)

As it enters its tenth decade, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) struggles with its image. As the chief higher-education organization representing professors nationwide, the AAUP is best known for its widely cited statements on academic freedom and tenure. But in the last generation, even as the number of professors in the…

The National Labor College was created to increase educational opportunities for union members, and its bachelor's-degree programs, like labor studies and the political economy of labor, focus on material that is immediately applicable to workers' day-to-day union roles. The idea is to make those blue-collar workers more effective at negotiating,…

Describes how the United Automobile Workers has become a major force in organizing college teaching assistants. (EV)

Describes how unions organizing graduate students are enjoying unprecedented breakthroughs, such as their first recognition at a private university. Unions are facing obstacles as well, including continued administrative resistance and squabbles between national unions. (EV)

Describes how, as adjunct professors flock to unions, they face a choice: Join with full-timers, gaining strength in numbers? Or go their own way, to keep an independent voice? (EV)

Professors who think faculty unions are adversarial and administrators who think collective bargaining contracts tie their hands say the Yeshiva University ruling has had a lasting and positive effect on academe. On the other side are faculty seeking a larger role in governance and faculty-union activists. (MSE)

The National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers, thought to be ready to merge, have ended negotiations. Response to the failed talks has varied greatly. Some local chapters have already joined forces, others continue to consider it. (MSE)

Describes faculty's efforts to unionize at Sage Colleges in Troy, New York, including legal hurdles (the Supreme Court's decision in National Labor Relations Board v. Yeshiva University), reasons cited by faculty for the union effort, and administrative reaction. (EV)