The Center for an Urban Future (CUF) released a report last November asserting that, with a six-year graduation rate of 28 percent, City University of New York (CUNY) community colleges "should be doing much better." The report declared graduation rates "lackluster" and criticized community colleges for "not yet delivering on their potential." But…

Responds to the tragedy of September 11 by asserting that the academy must do what it has always done: educate students, generate knowledge, and provide services to campuses and society; its commitment to academic freedom, intellectual honesty, and tolerance is also as important as ever. (EV)

Asserts that pressing the corporate model onto the university world jeopardizes the preservation of precious academic values and broader democratic rights, stating that the corporate model concentrates power, restricts the production and application of knowledge, and increases uniform behavior, self-censorship, and when needed outright…

Describes the rise of an academic-industrial complex through which American and multinational corporations siphon the publicly created resources of universities and thereby convert publicly financed research into private gain. Asserts that this new corporate dominance represents an unprecedented intrusion into the heart of academic freedom which…

Describes changes and program cuts at the University of Rochester as an illustration of a university being invaded by the corporate ethos, with the result that the school resembles an airport mall more than an institution of learning and community. Asserts that academics have a particular role to play in creating alternatives to a homogenizing…

Asserts that faculty must become engaged in helping the university meet the challenges of the 21st century without losing the university's historic purpose and perspective to an ever-growing corporate mentality. Proposes four guidelines to addressing the problem, covering corporatization, academic freedom, students' role, and knowledge production.…

Attaining the goals that higher-education reformers target (making the academy more accessible, affordable, and effective) via technology is likely to require a significant overhaul of postsecondary institutions, including the use of time, resource allocation, roles of faculty/staff, and institutional mission. Closer examination of how technology…

In an interview, the president of the National Education Association (NEA) discusses issues in higher education, including the NEA's role, relationships between higher education and elementary-secondary education, professionalism and the union, technological advancement, the role of postsecondary education, allocation of educational resources,…

If universities were serious about enhancing student learning, they would explore other ways of organizing work, including reorganization of the curriculum into learning communities that enable learning to span the disciplines, creating classrooms that promote collaborative learning experiences, and using forms of assessment that encourage shared…

It is argued that college writing courses can accomplish technical and critical goals and also address politically-charged issues responsibly. The rationale for this approach is discussed, and a University of Texas at Austin composition program designed to include examination of race and gender issues is outlined. Several other writing course…

Under full scrutiny, the Strategic Defense Initiative program is revealed as a form of escapism from global realities, with dangerous and destabilizing themes for both the university and society. Universities must face this issue squarely, and limit their focus to activities best suited to an intellectually constructive and humane purpose. (MSE)

Businesses and universities must be encouraged to act from their traditional positions of strength, based on the longest view and the broadest interests. They must examine carefully their potential sources of conflict as well as opportunities for benefit before engaging in alliances that may become complex and difficult to manage. (MSE)

The forgotten or unknown history of discrimination against Franco-Americans in the United States is chronicled. The patterns of discrimination began before World War I but became particularly intense after that war. While discrimination occurred within higher education, faculty have also been instrumental in combating it, and are urged to continue…

Factors contributing to the problems of the American Indian studies program (AINS) at the University of Arizona are examined, based on a 1991-92 program review. The relationship of the AINS program to the land grant university mission is highlighted. Observations and conclusions specific to this program are then generalized to ethnic studies and…

A discussion of issues influencing the status of majority/minority relations on college campuses concludes that the changes needed to make educational opportunities equal for all are still strongly opposed but that institutions must be committed to making academic services and social resources available to all students. (MSE)