A new climate of racism on college and university campuses is seen as mirroring dominant patterns in society as a whole, which in turn reflects frustration, confusion, and anger over pervasive economic difficulties. Suggestions for campus response that is transformative rather than reactive are offered, including study of cultural identity through…

Unless the higher education community itself, primarily students and faculty, responds immediately and forcefully to the issue of underfunding and widespread retrenchment, higher education as we know it will cease to exist. Problems include shrinking state financial and political support and absence of a compelling national security need.…

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…

Techniques for successful team teaching, drawn from an informal survey of Middlesex Community College (Massachusetts) instructors with team teaching experience, are outlined. Issues addressed include techniques for beginning class, taking attendance, seating, forms of address, passing out material, grading assignments, working together in the…

A tongue-in-cheek essays argues that if college instructors believe "writing across the curriculum" improves student learning and writing skills, and convince their students, it might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Reading or grading the essays will be unnecessary; students can pretend they have written something, and teachers can pretend that…

Key events and factors in the unionization of faculty at Youngstown State University (Ohio) are chronicled in the early years of the institution's inclusion in the state higher education system, 1967-73. Focus is on the early process of faculty organization, selection of a union, and collective bargaining during retrenchment. (MSE)

The progressive gains of college faculty since the 1960s (affirmative action, ethnic studies, expansion of access to higher education, emergence of faculty unions) are threatened by social and political shifts toward conservatism. Senior, tenured faculty are challenged to use their privileged positions and the gains made in recent decades to…

An earlier article in this journal is revised to reflect more accurately the data from a study by including data from Alaska and Hawaii. The study concerned the influence of investment in higher education on state workforce productivity. It is concluded that this impact is substantial, and that increased investment would raise further the growth…

Drawing on longitudinal data from federal surveys for 1974-75 and 1992 and other studies, tenure patterns and trends are examined in 3 groups of college faculty: full-time faculty with at least 50% teaching responsibility; women faculty; and all faculty. Conclusions are drawn about the meaning of tenure, and steps to be taken in clarifying its…

A study of 330 faculty leaving 1 research university over a period of 10 years investigated the reasons for faculty departure from the institution. Salary, retirement, and faculty development opportunities were the three most common reasons for leaving. Trends by academic rank, gender, and discipline varied over the study's period, with…

This paper suggests that higher education's response to declining resources (budget cuts, program eliminations, retrenchment, reallocation, curriculum reform) may seem chaotic to faculty but are not confused, short-term measures that will disappear as the economy recovers. Union tactics or other responses that are merely reactive and depend on…

Four kinds of evidence demonstrating substantial social benefits resulting from public expenditures on higher education are discussed: (1) social rates of return; (2) nonmonetary benefits; (3) local economic activity; and (4) national economic growth. A recent study of the effect of investment in higher education on workforce productivity is…

Two surveys of Drexel University (Pennsylvania) students (n=204) investigated responses to a strike by campus janitorial and maintenance workers, with results analyzed in the context of media coverage. Evaluations of arguments made by the adversaries, impact of the strike on students, and perceptions of one side or the other as "winning" were…

One teacher's method of obtaining useful feedback from students in large lecture classes involves creation of a small committee of students, mirroring the class' diversity, that receives input from students on all course aspects, meets with the teacher to discuss and make recommendations, provides feedback on progression of the course, and reacts…

Using data on degree completion among black and white community college students, a study investigated how rates in different postsecondary programs vary for blacks and whites, changes over the course of the 1980s, and institutional characteristics encouraging program completion for the two groups. The most striking result was a decline in…