Higher Education

Second Recommendation Letter Withdrawn By Michigan University Instructor, Citing BDS

October 11, 2018 Staff, Telesurtv.net Resist! BDS, Higher Education

A University of Michigan instructor went back on her commitment to provide a letter of recommendation for a student after finding out the student was going to Israel for a study abroad program. This news went unreported unlike the first incident of a similar nature, as claimed by Washington Post. In this second incident, Jake Secker, a 20-year-old junior from Great Neck, N.Y., majoring in Economics and minoring in Entrepreneurship, sought a reference from a teaching assistant, known at Michigan as a graduate student instructor, or GSI. Lucy Peterson, the GSI, initially agreed to give a recommendation letter but when Secker told her that he was applying to Tel Aviv University, Peterson withdrew her commitment.

City Colleges Of Chicago Workers Hit Picket Lines To Force Contract Talks

October 10, 2018 Kate McGee, Wbez.org Resist! Chicago, Class Struggle, Higher Education, Workers Rights and Jobs

Three unions that represent faculty and staff at City Colleges of Chicago say the college’s bargaining team will not come to the table to negotiate contracts. The unions said they plan to picket all City Colleges of Chicago board meetings until contract agreements are reached. In a statement, a college spokesperson disputed that accusation, saying the system has held more than 40 meetings with seven collective bargaining units over the past year. “City Colleges has been responding and will continue to respond to contract proposals.” Administrators also said they value the unions and that they “are working to reach mutually beneficial contract agreements.” The unions represent hundreds of employees, including professors, clerical staff, and security guards.

Protest Targets Johns Hopkins’ Multi-Million Dollar ICE Contract

September 24, 2018 Jaisal Noor, Therealnews.com Resist! Abolish ICE, Higher Education, ICE, Immigration, Protests, Undocumented

Dozens of students, faculty, community members, and their children demonstrated at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University on September 21, demanding the university end its relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Protesters call for Hopkins to terminate millions of dollars in contracts with the controversial agency. AIMEE POHL: We demand Johns Hopkins University drop all of its contracts with the abusive and racist Immigration and Customs Enforcement administration.

Nation’s Top Student Loan Official Resigns

August 29, 2018 Ken Sweet, Apnews.com Educate! Education, Higher Education, Student Loans

NEW YORK (AP) — The government’s top official overseeing the $1.5 trillion student loan market resigned in protest on Monday, citing what he says is the White House’s open hostility toward protecting the nation’s millions of student loan borrowers. Seth Frotman will be stepping down as student loan ombudsman at the end of the week, according to his resignation letter , which was obtained by The Associated Press. He held that position since 2016, but has been with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since its inception in 2011. Frotman is the latest high-level departure from the CFPB since Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s budget director, took over in late November. But Frotman’s departure is especially noteworthy, since his non-partisan office is one of the few parts of the U.S. government that was tasked with handling student loan issues.

The Education Impasse In The USA

August 22, 2018 Creston Davis, Counterpunch.org Create! Education, Higher Education

As another school year starts, let’s take a few moments to reflect, however briefly, on the state of education in the United States. In times when Republicans and mainstream Democrats can’t seem to agree on much of anything, one issue oddly seems to unite them. That issue is education, specifically higher education. From both political fronts, there’s a mounting critique towards the university, public and private. For starters, the average college degree (combining private and public) is about $35,000 per year. To put this in perspective, if the tuition trends keep up at the rate they’ve been going since 1982, a third grader today should expect to pay more than $306,000 for a private college and over $135,000 for in-state university.

Demonstrators Hold ‘Die-In’ To Protest Sackler Family’s Ties To Harvard Art Museums

July 23, 2018 By Isabelle Agee-Jacobson and Caroline S. Engelmayer, Thecrimson.com Resist! Harvard, Higher Education, Profit, Protests, Ruling Class

Shouting “people over profits” and throwing pill bottles on the floor, more than 30 demonstrators held a “die-in” in Harvard's Arthur M. Sackler Museum Friday to protest its connections to a family they said spurred on the opioid crisis and profited from addiction nationwide. Led by photographer Nan Goldin—whose works are displayed in the museum—protesters demanded Harvard refuse future funding from the Sacklers. They also urged the Sackler family to invest in the overdose reversal drug naloxone, safe injection facilities, and medication that can combat addiction. They charged that the family, which helps lead the multi-billion dollar drug company Purdue Pharmaceuticals, knew the pain relief drug OxyContin was highly addictive but downplayed its dangers when marketing it to doctors.

Back When College Was Debt-Free

June 12, 2018 By Josh Hoxie, Inequality.org Create! Debt, Higher Education, Student Debt, Tuition

As May gives way to June, the last college grad ceremonies are wrapping up and the last parties are coming to a close. Now the job hunt for recent grads begins in earnest — with the looming specter of student loan payments drawing ever closer. Today’s average student debt is around $37,000. But in America’s largest state, it wasn’t that long ago that any student could get a world-class, debt-free education — regardless of their economic background. That state was California, and Gail Leondar-Wright was one of those students. Gail came from a middle-class family — her dad was an engineer and her mom a stay-at-home parent. She attended UC Berkeley from 1976 to 1980, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in theater. At the time, the elite public school was tuition-free and required a mere $600 per year in fees, or just under $1,400 in today’s dollars.

After 12 Weeks, University Still On Strike

May 31, 2018 By G. Dunkel, Workers.org Resist! Canada, Class Struggle, Education, Higher Education, Strikes

Over 3,000 contract instructors at York University in Toronto, Canada, have been walking picket lines since early March. Their strike affects nearly 50,000 students. Up to half of all courses offered are taught by contract instructors, the Canadian term for adjuncts. The university administration made a decision to continue as many courses as possible despite the walkout. But being short just one credit can keep a student from graduating. The Canadian Union of Public Employees 3903, which represents the striking contract instructors and teaching assistants, has charged the York administration with being unwilling to bargain. York’s administration insists on binding arbitration — submitting disputes to a third party that makes a final decision — which the union has rejected. Overwhelming majorities of the union have also voted down contract proposals, which York insisted had to be voted on.

Neo-Liberal Academia And The Death Of Education

May 28, 2018 By Davor Džalto, Dissident Voice. Educate! Capitalism, Data, Education, Higher Education

Recent cases of personal information collecting for corporate interests highlight the urgency of revisiting the topic of higher education in its connection with the corporate sector and the government. We ought to reconsider at least some aspects of the complex web of the contemporary “education industry” and its social implications. Understanding how contemporary (Western) education works (or doesn’t work) can contribute to raising the awareness of the general population as to the scale of the problem, and making a change, no matter how small.

UM Lecturers Fight For Higher, Equal Pay

May 19, 2018 Nicquel Terry, Detroitnews.com Resist! Education, Higher Education, Wages, Workers Rights and Jobs

Dearborn — Lecturers at the University of Michigan are calling on school officials to raise their wages, saying they have been underpaid for years and threaten to go on strike if the school rejects their request. The Lecturers’ Employee Organization — which represents 1,700 non-tenure lecturers at the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses — says it has been bargaining for a new contract with the university since October, and its contract expires May 29. The union members gathered at the Dearborn campus on Thursday to display unity before going to the University of Michigan Board of Regents’ meeting to speak out. Union leaders say many lecturers on all three campuses are not making enough to support a family and have to work additional jobs for more income. They also want equal pay rates at all three campuses. Ann Arbor lecturers are paid higher salaries.

Class Of 2018

May 15, 2018 By Elise Gould, Zane Mokhiber, and Julia Wolfe, Epi.org Educate! Higher Education

In this study, we analyze data on recent young college graduates (ages 21–24) to learn about the Class of 2018’s economic prospects as they start their careers. We begin the report by providing a demographic snapshot of this population of young college graduates. In the second section, we discuss what shares of these young graduates are now enrolled in further schooling, employed, both, or neither. Third, we narrow our focus to only those graduates who are not enrolled in further schooling to find out how they are faring in the labor market—specifically, looking at their unemployment and underemployment rates. We also draw on literature that highlights the likelihood that many young college graduates will end up working at jobs that do not require a college degree.

California Professor Under Attack For Hosting Palestinian Lawmaker

May 2, 2018 Nora Barrows-Friedman, Electronicintifada.net Educate! California, Higher Education, Nationalism, Palestine, Repression

A UC Berkeley lecturer is under attack for hosting an event with a Palestinian member of Israel’s parliament who challenged Israel’s claim to be a democracy. The campaign to punish Hatem Bazian in California comes amid renewed attempts in South Carolina to codify a definition of anti-Semitism which conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Jewish bigotry. On 17 April, Bazian facilitated an event at UC Berkeley with Haneen Zoabi, a member of Israel’s Knesset. Zionist students are calling for the university to take disciplinary action against Bazian for hosting Zoabi and defending the content of her speech. This latest attack is part of “an ongoing series of targeting BDS activists and individuals who continue to do work on Palestine in the US,” Bazian told The Electronic Intifada, referring to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. Haneen Zoabi is an elected politician who advocates for Israel to give full, equal rights to all its citizens.

Transportation Strikes, University Protests Continue To Shake France

April 19, 2018 Staff, France24.com Resist! Class Struggle, France, Higher Education, Strikes, Student Protests, Transportation

To Macron’s dismay, the popular movements show no signs of slowing down. The Air France tussle over salaries is separate from the larger and politically more significant stand-off between Macron’s centrist, business-friendly government and the public sector trade unions fighting its reform plans. Rail unions are particularly up in arms over proposed reforms that they say would reduce job security. Students have been blocking several public universities over Macron’s plan to introduce more selective applications. There is a general atmosphere of social discontent against Macron’s reforms, including protests and strikes by civil servants, energy workers and garbage collectors. Recently, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire admitted that, while he couldn’t produce numbers, it was clear that the strikes were impacting growth.

The Longest Student Sit-In In Howard’s History Comes To An End

April 7, 2018 Jazmin Goodwin and Autumn Dalton, Thehilltoponline.com Resist! Higher Education, Occupation, Student Activism

After nine days of occupying Howard University’s administration building, student protesters ended their sit-in after administrators and student organizers agreed on a way forward for some of the students. A press conference was held by the university’s board of trustees to share a statement of commitments to the Howard University community that included some of the demands that #HUResist wanted when they took over the building at the end of March. Board of Trustees Chairman, Stacey J. Mobley released a statement letter to the Howard University community affirming the end of the nine day sit-in and next steps. “As all of us are aware, Howard University has a long history of healthy debate and discourse on our campus and it’s a tradition we fully support. We want to continue to encourage dialogue and we are committed to providing a safe space for all voices to feel comfortable to speak freely,” Mobley stated in the statement.

Study Says That 36% Of College Students Don’t Have Enough To Eat

April 6, 2018 Mike Kennedy, Asumag.com Educate! Food and Agriculture, Higher Education, Students

"Prices have gone up over time," says Sara Goldrick-Rab, a professor of higher education policy at Temple and the lead author of the report. "But the rising price is just a piece. This is a systemic problem." The findings are based on data collected from 43,000 students at 66 schools. The report used the Department of Agriculture's assessment for measuring hunger. That means the thousands of students it classifies as having "low food security" aren't merely avoiding the dining hall or saving lunch money for beer: They're skipping meals, or eating smaller meals, because they don't have enough money for food. On top of that, the report found, 46 percent of community college students and 36 percent of university students struggle to pay for housing and utilities.

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