From the Union Blog
May 7, 2012
The National AAUP has released its Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession for 2011-2012. Among its findings are that despite the ostensible recovery of the overall economy, compensation increases for college and university professors have been stagnant and are not expected to return to pre-recession levels...
May 3, 2012
Harvard and MIT Put $60-Million Into New Platform for Free Online Courses
Harvard and MIT have announced that they will partner together to invest $60 million in a free on-line education program that they call edX. The program is intended to simultaneously serve as an enhancement to traditional face-to-face instruction and as a large-scale research project. Students cannot earn credits toward...
April 26, 2012
Senate Democrats Prepare Legislation That Would Block Increase in Student-Loan Interest Rate
Senate democrats plan to introduce legislation to prevent interest rates on federally subsidized Stafford student loans from doubling on July 1, when the reduced rate will expire. The current rate is 3.4% and is due to double on the expiration date. President Obama and Mitt Romney, his likely challenger,...
April 25, 2012
Proposed Louisiana Laws Would Change Retirement Benefits to Bail Out State Pension System
A controversial bill proposed by republican governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, would require professors at public universities in the state to work longer and contribute more to their pensions, as there is not enough money to cover the cost of promised benefits. Jindal’s administration claims that the money is...
April 23, 2012
Businessman’s View: Elite Public Research Universities Should Charge More
Austin Ligon, co-founder and former CEO of CarMax, also a former member of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, offers a controversial recommendation to raise the cost of tuition at elite public research institutions. The recommendation was made to panel of participants at the Association of Governing Boards...
Higher Education News
Chronicle of Higher Education
Adjunct News
May 9, 2012
The Ph.D. Now Comes With Food Stamps
If the reality of the growing number of adjunct professors relying on public assistance such as food stamps and Medicaid wasn’t setting in before,...
May 1, 2012
Guest Commentary: Adjunct professors are hiding in plain sight
Professor of History at Colorado State University at Pueblo, Jonathan Rees, has written a commentary in the opinion section of denverpost.com about – you...
April 24, 2012
Rutgers U. Lecturers Await a New Union Contract
Eleanor LaPointe, President of the Part-Time Lecturer Faculty Chapter at Rutgers University AAUP-AFT submitted a letter to the editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education...
