As the 2006 Supreme Court decision in "Garcetti v. Ceballos" continues to reverberate in academe, the best way for faculty members to defend their academic freedom is not through the courts but through clear university policies. A promising alternative to the First Amendment approach is to follow the example of private universities in…

The environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students, staff, and faculty on college campuses has certainly improved over the last generation, but recent dramatic episodes confirm the continuing need for vigilance and reform. Students remain the constituency most vulnerable to the effects of entrenched bigotry: the harassment…

It may seem as if colleges and universities across the United States support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) faculty, staff, and students. After all, the employer database of the Human Rights Campaign, using self-reported data, identifies 567 colleges and universities offering protection against discrimination, including 96…

This essay argues that it is time to rewrite the rhetoric of motherhood in higher education, and use American Association of University Professors (AAUP ) recommendations to help. The authors observe that although the AAUP and other groups have urged colleges and universities to strike a work-life balance, academic culture is slow to change, and…

The president of the New School for Social Research (New York) explains the institution's policy on freedom of expression in the context of a controversial art exhibit and suggests that academe consider how to use freedom of expression more vigorously in pursuit of a society free of prejudice and intolerance. (MSE)

Surveyed changes in retirement policies for tenured faculty at a large national sample of colleges and universities. Found variations in the characteristics of regular retirement programs, in the existence and nature of retirement-incentive and phased-retirement programs, in institutional policies relating to retired faculty, and in institutions'…

Professors have long assigned to their students works of which they were the author. The practice ranges from assigning commercially published textbooks they have written to having students buy a volume they have written and published or course packs made up of their own materials they have photocopied. Not only individual professors, but also…

The actions of Clark College in terminating, for reasons of financial exigency, two faculty members previously granted indefinite tenure are reviewed according to the AAUP statement of principles and recommended institutional regulations on academic freedom and tenure, and procedural standards, and found to be in violation. (MSE)

Examines the case of a Brigham Young University (Utah) assistant professor who was denied tenure and promotion based on perceptions of the harmfulness of the professor's actions and feminist comments to Mormon Church tenets. States the American Association for University Professors' position opposing the university's procedures and decision.…

A feminist educator discusses contradictions, inconsistencies, and inadequacies in college policies concerning sexual harassment. It is argued that the fundamental question is whether women students are taken seriously, not whether sexuality enters into the relationship between students and teachers. (MSE)

It is argued that the arguments currently advanced for limiting speech on college campuses are also arguments that will compromise academic freedom and that a distinction needs to be made between the right of free speech and the wisdom of exercising the right on any given occasion. (MSE)

The development and implementation of a state university's salary structure providing for market differences between disciplines, merit differences, and salary increases based on professional experience and achievements are described. (MSE)