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Higher Education

University Of Michigan Faces Criticism After Reprimanding Pro-BDS Professor

October 26, 2018 Staff, Telesurtv.net , , ,
The University of Michigan has faced an eruption of protests in recent days after reprimanding a professor, who refused to write a recommendation letter for a student wanting to study in Israel. The professor had cited the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement for the refusal. John Cheney-Lippold, an associate professor of American culture, had been reprimanded by the university for refusing to write the letter of recommendation earlier this month. Since then, he has received support and messages of solidarity from students of the university, according to Middle East Eye. Students hand-delivered a letter to the office of Mark Schlissel, the president of the university, condemning the institution for its action against the professor.

Disrupt And Protest These Bank Recruitment Events

October 12, 2018 Staff, Nobayoubridge.global , , ,
In the next few months several of the banks that are financing the Bayou Bridge Pipeline and Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) are hosting recruitment events at college campuses. The banks use these events to recruit students to internship programs and for jobs in the finance industry. They speak glowingly about what it means to work for their bank, but leave out the part about how they are financing violent companies like ETP and destructive projects like the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. Water Protectors resisting the Bayou Bridge Pipeline have been beaten, tased and charged with felonies. Stand in solidarity with the frontlines by disrupting and demonstrating at these campus recruitment events and telling students the truth about the banks that are bankrolling the Bayou Bridge Pipeline.

Second Recommendation Letter Withdrawn By Michigan University Instructor, Citing BDS

October 11, 2018 Staff, Telesurtv.net ,
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 , , ,
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 , , , , ,
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 , ,
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 ,
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 , , , ,
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 , , ,
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 , , , ,
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. , , ,
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 , , ,
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
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 , , , ,
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 , , , , ,
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.
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