mortiz055

As you may know, a 3-1 majority of the National Labor Relations Board ruled  that Columbia University's Teaching Assistants (known at Columbia as Instructional Officers) are to be considered "employees" under the terms of the National Labor Relations Act .  As a result of this ruling, Columbia's TAs (and by implication those at other private universities) now have the legal authority to seek an election to select a union to collectively bargain with the University.  In so ruling, the Board Majority overturned a previous decision concerning Brown University but also, and more significantly, rejected the argument that if a graduate student's relationship with their university was "primarily educational" (6) they could not be considered employees when serving as Teaching Assistants.  Instead, using the legal equivalent of "if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck..." the Board Majority ruled that when graduate students functioned as common la...

As the Berkeley and Davis campuses seek new chancellors, they'll be looking for people who can deal with endless public university budget problems.  In Berkeley's case, there's the $150 million structural deficit that surfaced on outgoing Chancellor Nicholas Dirks' watch.   What should the next chancellor do to fix the deficit? Chancellor Dirks raised the prospect of cuts to the academic core, but mostly stuck to the standard model of growing private revenue streams. This has meant more fundraising, more non-resident students, more high-priced "innovative master's programs and more executive education.  It also means using [public university] assets in more commercial ways." It will mean figuring out how to start raising tuition again while promoting the  high tuition-high aid model.    The quotations are from Nicholas Dirks .  Privatization was what he was doing, and what he did well within the rules of the game, particularly in fundraising. Leaving a...

As you have probably heard, Linda Katehi submitted her resignation from the position of Chancellor of UC Davis today.  I don't have the time to offer an analysis of the central documents but I wanted to provide links for those of you who would like to look further into the investigative report and the various responses to it. Chancellor Katehi's Letter of Resignation Statement of Davis Academic Senate Chair Knoesen regarding the resignation. Report of Investigation of Chancellor Katehi (with redactions). Text of President Napolitano's Statement on Chancellor Katehi's Resignation. Statement by Chancellor Katehi's Attorney Melinda Guzman in response to Report and Resignation. On President Napolitano's confidential letter to the regents on Chancellor Katehi (Cloudminder)