Management fads are sweeping the nation's public universities
under cover of the economic crisis. Programs called
“rightsizing,” “restructuring,” “prioritizing,” and
“reengineering,” and inspired by theories like "deliverology,"
involve cutbacks and changes that faculty members say are
undermining the quality of CSU degrees.
Jack Scott, the chancellor of the California community college
system, has requested that Santa Monica College hold off on its
plan to offer popular courses for a higher price this summer,
saying the legality of the program is in question.
Hundreds of thousands of students across the U.S. are losing the
chance to get a college degree—and even more are at risk in
coming years, according to the first report from the think tank
associated with the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education.
Several influential blogs are weighing in on CFA’s new report
describing the stealth process that is morphing “The People’s
University” into a For-Profit college system.
The Lumina Foundation for Education has called on the United States to increase the proportion of the population that holds a postsecondary degree or credential to 60 percent by the year 2025.
On Friday CSU managers unveiled the first details of the CalState
Online initiative.
The Chancellor’s office posted an open
letter to the university system from Ruth Claire Black, the
recently appointed executive director of Cal State Online, along
with a
draft request for proposals (RFP) indicating what kind of
services it plans to provide to students and faculty.
A new informational campaign from the Service Employees
International Union (SEIU) – of which CFA is an affiliate – is
taking aim at the for-profit education sector.
In addition to the controversial decisions regarding executive
pay and student fees that were leveled at the July Board of
Trustees meeting, the Trustees also passed a smaller but no less
important change to Administrative Code that governs the system.
The UCLA Civil Rights Project has put together a series of
research papers on “The CSU Crisis and California's Future” to
examine the impact of funding cuts on the California State
University system from various angles, including the impact on
student access to financial aid and on the faculty's ability to
deliver a quality education.
Diverse magazine reports on one paper that finds CSU students are
working well in excess of 15 hours a week, the point at which
studies decline. http://diverseeducation.com/article/15728/
Mark your calendars now to take part in the historic launch of
the “Campaign for the Future of Higher Education.”
As you may remember, back in January, education leaders from 21
states gathered in Los Angeles to tackle ways to insert the
faculty voice from the campuses into the national debate over
public higher education. Since, they formed a campaign dedicated
to fighting for America’s public higher education institutions.
On Wednesday, May 17, the “Campaign for the Future of Higher
Education” will launch officially.
Last weekend, NEA’s National Council for Higher Education voted
to endorse the campaign at NEA’s Higher Education conference in
Boston. The American Association of University Professors is
already onboard and the American Federation of Teachers is moving
the endorsement through its process.
Gary Rhoades, General Secretary of the AAUP, spoke about the
national crisis in public higher education last week at the
plenary meeting of the Academic Senate of the CSU and at campus
meetings at Long Beach and Dominguez Hills.
In his presentation, "The Higher Education We Choose, The
California We Choose," Rhoades talked about the dimensions and
trends of the crisis and lessons for the future.
Last week, leaders of the California Legislative Tri-Caucus –
which is comprised of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative
Caucus, Latino Legislative Caucus, and the Legislative Black
Caucus –
sent a letter outlining the concerns they had with the CSU
Graduation Initiative.
More than 70 faculty leaders from universities across the country
met in Los Angeles last weekend for a first-of-its-kind
discussion on how to assert the faculty's voice in the national
debate over the future of American higher education.
“Watching what is going on at our campuses and hearing from
colleagues around the country, we have become convinced that we
must act—together and quickly—for the good of our students, our
profession, and our institutions,” said Susan Meisenhelder, a
retired English professor at CSU San Bernardino and CFA’s
point-person for the national meeting.
