Discusses the increasing movement toward organization of part-time college faculty, graduate students, and full-time faculty members who are off the tenure track, describing activities of the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor and the California Part-Time Faulty Association. Notes that despite active organization on both coasts, the movement…

For the first time in 14 years, the number of doctorates awarded by American research universities fell in 1999, with the biggest drops in engineering and physical sciences. Overall, for American citizens, the number of minority doctoral recipients increased by 5.1 percent, with Asian Americans and American Indians showing the largest increases. A…

Reviews a variety of efforts aimed at helping graduate students with "all but dissertations" (ABDs) complete their dissertations and receive their doctoral degrees. Finds students experience major stresses in the dissertation process and in the job market. Notes increases in counseling provided, special programs, self-help books, personal coaches,…

Examines the controversies arising when scholarly associations must decide whether to meet in localities or hotels that have policies or practices, such as racial discrimination, with political implications. Evaluates differing decisions of various organizations (e.g., Organization of American Historians) concerning possible boycotts of specific…

Reports that universities are citing a 26-year-old federal law, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), to withhold information about teaching assistants from the unions trying to organize them. The graduate students say FERPA is being misapplied to squelch their organizing drives. Both students and administrators are quoted…

Describes faculty's efforts to unionize at Sage Colleges in Troy, New York, including legal hurdles (the Supreme Court's decision in National Labor Relations Board v. Yeshiva University), reasons cited by faculty for the union effort, and administrative reaction. (EV)

Reviews trends in union organization at private colleges following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision 20 years ago denying bargaining rights to faculty at Yeshiva University (New York). Focuses on a recent decision by a labor official granting bargaining rights to faculty at Manhattan College (New York) and efforts by faculty organizers at Seton…

Details the case of a third-year assistant history professor at Yale University (Connecticut) who was denied reappointment. Raises issues such as the hiring by a department of its own Ph.D.'s, cronyism within departments and fields, denial of reappointment as punishment for criticizing powerful individuals, and the undue influence of a few…

Reports on a tenure controversy within the Indiana University department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures that has involved possible death threats, a hunger strike, and controversy over the department's continued existence. For now the professor, an expert on Islamic philosophy, remains at the institution, other faculty have left, and…

Reports on initiatives of the American Association of University Professors to reach out to graduate students and part-time professors and the association's increasing involvement in unionization battles. Notes plans to form partnerships with various groups, including the American Conference of Academic Deans and teaching assistant unions. The…

Describes a program for graduate students at the University of Texas, which emphasizes development of written and oral communication skills, both when communicating with professional peers and with the lay public. The 13 interdisciplinary courses offered in the university's Professional Development Program are intended to turn out well-rounded…

Summarizes conflicting charges of plagiarism and data theft against sociology-department faculty at Texas A&M University over the past four years that have resulted in three dismissed lawsuits and investigations by the university, American Sociological Association, and the National Science Foundation. The accused have neither been found guilty nor…

Increasing use of non-tenure-track, full-time college professors, which some thought a temporary solution to institutional budgeting, has become common policy, according to a study of existing data for 88 four-year institutions. While administrators find flexibility and savings in the practice, faculty accuse institutions of exploiting Ph.D.s and…

At a recent conference of academics, union organizers, and workers at Yale University (Connecticut) activity and rhetoric focused on reinforcing the ties that bind academe and labor, and particularly on the question, currently before the National Labor Relations Board, of whether Yale graduate students qualify as employees or students. Leaders of…

In addition to discussing many scholarly issues at its first meeting, the new Historical Society examined its own reasons for existence, including an interest in reinvigorating intellectual debate on history; reintegrating into the profession historians who have been pushed to the sidelines; and dissatisfaction with two major existing history…