August, 2013 // Posts published in August, 2013
Tenure, Again
Recent developments make it clear that some renewed discussion of tenure is desirable—but the same developments point in dramatically different directions. A challenging Bloomberg View blog (Mark Bauerlein, August 5, 2013) really lays out the case against old fart faculty. Data do suggest that a large number of tenured faculty are continuing to work, and […]
Student Writing
Here’s a neat way to try to keep ourselves educationally honest, as we deal with the many challenges to America’s university system: continue to pay real attention to student writing. I’ve never been one of the direst lamenters of student writing, which might be a sign of relaxed standards (measurable also by authoring so many […]
Administrative Bloat
Among the various critiques of higher education, and particularly of the policies of administrators like me, you can imagine that the phrase “administrative bloat” is my favorite. It’s been tossed around by concerned faculty for quite a while, and now periodically enters into the more contemporary discussions of college costs. In my comments on this […]
Shared Governance
We’re having a somewhat unexpected (to me) conversation with our governing board (Board of Visitors) about shared governance. It’s no secret that the Board, like most Boards, does not have a lot of academic background, and the strange ways that universities lurch along are not fully familiar to them. In the case of shared governance, […]
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