By John Warner. Following up on my thoughts regarding Arizona State’s move to load their composition faculty with 125 students per semester, a number that is incompatible with anything resembling quality writing instruction,[1] while increasing the teaching load of their tenure track and tenured faculty by absolutely nothing, I decided to dig a little deeper into the institutional numbers and see what’s happening in ASU English. Read more...
By John Warner. It's not hard to find higher education news that depresses me[1], but it's relatively rare that I can get genuinely enraged.
The news of Arizona State University’s plan to increase the teaching load for writing instructors from a 4/4 to a 5/5 with no increase in pay manages the feat. Read more...
The Texas A&M University Board of Regents called off a planned meeting Thursday at which members had been expected to rename Academic Building on the College Station campus for Rick Perry, an Aggie alumnus who is ending his tenure as governor of Texas. Academic Building has had that name and a prominent spot on campus and in student and alumni hearts since it was completed in 1914. Read more...
The University of Michigan affirmed its commitment to faculty free speech as well as what it called a “respectful environment,” following calls from conservatives that it condemn the professor who wrote an essay called “It’s OK to Hate Republicans,” The Detroit News reported. The essay, by Susan J. Douglas, the chair and Catherine Neafie Kellogg Professor of Communication Studies, was published online this week by In These Times. “I hate Republicans,” Douglas wrote. “I can’t stand the thought of having to spend the next two years watching [Republican legislators] Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Ted Cruz, Darrell Issa or any of the legions of other blowhards denying climate change, thwarting immigration reform or championing fetal ‘personhood.’” Read more...
The U.S. Department of Education is soliciting nominations for its rulemaking panel that will convene next year to carry out President Obama's directive to make an additional 5 million loan borrowers eligible for federal government’s most generous income-based repayment program. Read more...
The U.S. Department of Education will release a much-anticipated outline of its college ratings system on Friday, according to several sources familiar with the department's plans. Read more...
A coalition of 46 student, consumer, veterans and civil rights groups on Wednesday wrote to the Obama Administration and U.S. Department of Education to oppose the proposed sale of 56 Corinthian Colleges' campuses to ECMC, a nonprofit student loan guarantee agency. Read more...
The decade-old college completion push has fallen short at the state level because of failures to bring policy solutions to large numbers of lower-income students, according to a new report from Jobs for the Future. State policy makers too often are focused on "quick fixes" and sweeping legislation, the report said. Read more...
King's College London has decided to rebrand itself simply as King's London, to the horror of many students and alumni, Times Higher Education reported. Administrators say that the change is needed to end confusion about whether King's is a college or university.
A petition attracting opposition to the rebranding effort cites history and costs. "The rebranding of King's College London to simply King's London seems a bizarre move considering the institution's history as a college within the University of London. Read more...
Ball State University’s Board of Trustees are worried that a controversial plan to weed out low-performing tenured faculty members is moving along too slowly, The Star Press reported. Terry King, Ball State’s provost, said last academic year that an official policy would be submitted by this fall, but he told trustees this month that the university needs more time. Read more...
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