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Showing posts from October, 2021

Florida Career College to Close

Florida Career College to Close Doug Lederman Fri, 01/26/2024 - 03:00 AM Byline(s) Doug Lederman from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/avZRfLi

Is Rising Inequality the Fault of ‘The 9.9 Percent’?

Blog:  Learning Innovation The 9.9 Percent: The New Aristocracy That Is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture by Matthew Stewart Published in October of 2021. Matthew Stewart, who holds a doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University, makes three big arguments in The 9.9 Percen t. First, Stewart situates America’s extreme and expanding levels of income and wealth inequality as the fundamental determinant of political polarization and extremism, the health and healthcare crisis, and our looming climate change driven environmental catastrophe. Second, Stewart blames our increasingly stratified society not on the very wealthy but on the 9.9 percent of professionals that benefit from and maintain the economic status quo. Third, the proper arenas to combat runaway stratification are politics and policies that benefit workers rather than wealthy investors. Some definitions: If your total net worth ranges somewhere between $1.2 and $20 million, you are in the top 9.9

Author discusses book on fight for racial equality at UNC

Image:  The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill continues to make history in its treatment of Black people. This month, the university won (at the district court level) a federal suit challenging its use of affirmative action to admit students. The judge in the case ruled the university was appropriately considering students’ races in making admissions decision. But in the spring, the university declined to award tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones , an acclaimed New York Times journalist. The university said she could come to the university without tenure -- even though past holders of the chair she would have assumed had been awarded tenure. Hannah-Jones is Black; the board members ruling on her tenure case were white. The university eventually relented on offering her tenure, but Hannah-Jones took another job, at Howard University. Most of Getta N. Kapur’s new book -- To Drink From the Well: The Struggle for Racial Equality at the Nation’s Oldest Public University -

Survey finds 'chilling effect' of China Initiative

Image:  Some U.S.-based scientists are withdrawing from collaborations with Chinese scientists due to concerns such engagements could attract scrutiny from federal prosecutors, according to a new survey finding evidence that the U.S. Department of Justice’s China Initiative is having a chilling effect on scientific research. A growing number of scientific groups and civil rights organizations have raised alarms over the past year about what they see as racial profiling of scholars under the China Initiative, a Department of Justice program launched by the Trump administration. Ostensibly aimed at targeting economic espionage and trade-secret theft, the initiative has fueled unprecedented scrutiny of researchers’ scientific ties to China. About a dozen university-based academics have been charged under the initiative for fraud-related charges, typically based on accusations they lied about Chinese affiliations or funding sources on federal grant applications or other federal

Educause experts delineate top 10 IT issues for 2021

Image:  Speaking to a packed ballroom at the 2021 Educause annual conference on Wednesday, Susan Grajek, Educause vice president for partnerships, communities and research, unveiled the list of this year’s top 10 IT issues in higher education . The trends were selected based on feedback from several IT expert panelists at colleges around the world and included how universities can better develop infrastructure and workforce skills to secure data and supply chains, how to hasten digital transformation to improve operational efficiency, how to ensure faculty have the required digital fluency to effectively engage students, and how to best create a blended campus that effectively balances digital and brick-and-mortar priorities. Grajek told the crowd that panelists’ work was motivated by their desire to help move institutions from “the higher education we had to the higher education we deserve.” In the coming years, it will be increasingly important for colleges to “democra

Higher ed funding continues to shrink in social spending bill

Image:  The White House and Democratic lawmakers unveiled Thursday the latest iteration of President Biden’s social spending plan -- which includes a total of $40 billion in higher education and workforce development investments -- with hopes that the substantially smaller package than originally proposed will finally garner enough support to pass Congress. Though tuition-free community college -- the original centerpiece of Biden’s college affordability agenda -- was cut from the legislation during negotiations, the now $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act includes several wins for higher education -- albeit, smaller wins than hoped for. Notably, the bill increases the current maximum Pell Grant award of $6,495 by $550, slightly more than what was originally proposed. If that’s combined with the proposed $400 increase to the award through the appropriations process, the purchasing power of the Pell Grant would be boosted from covering 29 percent of tuition, fees and room a

Teaching students to avoid offensive Halloween costumes

Image:  Earlier this month, Scottsdale Community College hired a professional photographer to take photos of Indigenous students, staff and faculty in their native dress. One image shows student Rozin Kiona Herrera wearing a men’s ribbon shirt, a cotton or linen shirt with colorful ribbons appliquéd or sewn into the seams, which is a symbol of Native pride. In another photo, student Diondra Descheenie wears traditional Navajo woman’s outfit, consisting of moccasins, a pleated velvet or cotton skirt, a matching long-sleeve blouse, a concho or sash belt, and jewelry. The photos, displayed online, are part of the Arizona college’s annual “My Culture Is Not a Costume” campaign, designed in part to teach students how to dress with cultural sensitivity when they celebrate Halloween. Located on the land of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, the institution has deep ties to the local population. “​​I think our big thing is, and I was trying to share this not just with st

Buddhism and the Laws of War

How can Buddhism inform the modern world? In today's Academic Minute, James Madison University's Christina Kilby digs into this ancient tradition to find out. Kilby is an assistant professor of religion at James Madison. A transcript of this podcast can be found here . Section:  Academic Minute File:  10-29-21 James Madison - Buddhism and the Laws of War.mp3 Event's date:  Thursday, October 28, 2021 - 10:30am Insider only:  from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/3vTDQ74

The Childcare Dilemma

Blog:  Confessions of a Community College Dean On a Zoom with some friends around the country this week, the conversation turned to childcare. We all work at community colleges, and we all see the same dilemma. There is a desperate need for childcare if we want folks to get back to work. Good childcare at scale requires training. Most daycare facilities pay their workers terribly. Points 1 and 2 would seem to argue for pouring resources into growing early childhood education programs. Point 3 would seem to argue for shutting them down. That makes no sense. The childcare dilemma isn’t new in America. When TB was little, we used to spend $250 a week in 2002 money (about $380 per week, or about $20,000 per year in after-tax dollars, in 2021 money) for his daycare. That was more than in-state tuition at Rutgers, and there’s no financial aid for daycare. When TG was born, we did the math and realized that we’d have to effectively sign over TW’s entire paycheck for daycare.

Ensuring equity, justice when teaching quantitative methods (opinion)

Category:  Conditionally Accepted While such methods are often considered value-free and unbiased, we must recognize how our classroom practices can reinforce oppressive ideologies and narratives, writes Kamden K. Strunk. Job Tags:  FACULTY JOBS Ad keywords:  faculty teachinglearning Section:  Teaching and Learning Editorial Tags:  Career Advice Teaching Show on Jobs site:  Image Size:  Thumbnail-horizontal Is this diversity newsletter?:  Is this Career Advice newsletter?:  Disable left side advertisement?:  Trending:  Live Updates:  liveupdates0 Most Popular:  3 Ad slot:  6 In-Article related stories:  9 from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/3Boe24b

Academic Supports for Black Community College Students

The California state Legislature approved $5 million in additional funding for the Los Angeles Community College District to sustain programs that promote academic success for African American students at California community colleges, according to an announcement from the college district Tuesday. The programs, offered through an education organization called Umoja, offer resources to affiliated California community colleges to help them provide culturally responsive pedagogy and community for Black students. “Equity is at the heart of everything we do at LACCD, and there is no better way to ensure that than by making sure valuable programs like Umoja are adequately funded,” Steve Veres, president of the community college district Board of Trustees, said in a press release. “This additional funding from the legislature allows us to invest in long-term planning that will make sure Umoja programs are here as a student resource for many years to come.” Francisco C. Rodriguez, chanc

Federal Contractor Rule Prompts More Vaccine Mandates

A growing number of major research universities have announced COVID-19 vaccination mandates for employees in recent days, in light of President Joe Biden’s order mandating vaccination for employees of federal contractors. The mandate is broadly framed , covering all employees -- including student employees -- who work on or in connection with a federal contract, or who may potentially come in contact with a covered employee, such as in shared dining areas, parking garages or common areas such as meeting rooms, elevators and stairways. Major research universities that have announced vaccine mandates for employees in recent days in order to comply with the Biden rule mandating COVID-19 vaccination for federal contractors include: Auburn University, in Alabama East Carolina University, in North Carolina Georgia State University Georgia Institute of Technology Kansas State University North Carolina State University Rutgers University, in New Jersey The University of Alabama

29 Universities Pledge Support for Climate Goals

The U7+ Alliance of World Universities earlier this week issued a statement declaring its commitment to supporting the climate goals coming out of the COP26 conference in Glasgow. The leaders of 29 universities from 12 countries said the alliance “recognizes that climate change is a global challenge that presents serious threats to natural environments, human health, security and economic stability.” The alliance committed to adopting a number of recommendations developed by a number of working groups. First, ensuring that students have access to courses related to sustainability, climate and biodiversity by carrying out the following recommendations: Take stock of existing courses with sustainability-related content and make the findings of these inventories a more accessible resource for student bodies. Develop sustainability pathways -- clusters of courses and co-curricular activities with a common theme of sustainability that allow students to explore the theme from variou