Category: Uncategorized
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Miami’s “Boldly Creative” Profit Focus: How to Reduce the Risks
Miami’s new “Boldly Creative Initiatives” plan — funded by $50 million that’s just been swept from department and program budgets—is an effort to respond to a difficult situation for higher ed. Moody’s, the bond rating agency, has just revised the bond outlook for higher ed downward. Higher education’s financial outlook is not good. Publics such…
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Upcoming Changes to Faculty Composition: A Conversation
As many faculty have already heard, Miami’s administration is preparing to propose changes to the faculty composition at Miami. While nothing is certain, the proposed changes may involve raising the lecturer cap from 20% to 25% and having MUPIM “go silent” on the 5-year limit for VAPs, among other plans. Our chapter would like to…
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Letter in support of Georgette Fleischer
The leadership of Miami’s AAUP chapter have submitted a letter to Sian Beilock, president of Barnard College, in support of Georgette Fleischer, an adjunct who has taught there for seventeen years and who was abruptly and unfairly terminated on the heels of the formation of a contingent faculty union at Barnard. Fleischer is a leader…
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Got academic freedom in the classroom?
Are you a lecturer or visiting professor at Miami, or do you have a friend who is? As you may know from reading other recent posts (or if you’ve read Miami’s policy manual), you know NTT faculty at Miami—including not only visiting and per-credit-hour faculty but also lecturers and clinical faculty—don’t have due-process protections should they face…
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Who needs tenure any more?
Overheard at Miami: “Tenure? I think it should go away. It’s an unfair system. Some people get a golden ticket to lifetime employment and some of us who are just as qualified have to work for low pay and no benefits and have no protections.” — Part-time faculty member X. We salute Part-Timer X and…
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What’s academic freedom and why is it important?
Overheard at Miami: “Academic freedom? Sometimes I think that’s just a way of protecting incompetent teachers.” — Professor X. Most of us at Miami agree with you on wanting to keep classroom standards high at Miami, Professor X! But when we say we value academic freedom, are we really somehow getting into the business of…
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Why should contingency matter to tenure-line faculty?
First, what’s contingency? As defined by the GAO* and AAUP, “contingent faculty” is an umbrella term encompassing all non-tenure-system faculty — that is, faculty who, to different degrees, experience precarity. Contingent faculty teach about 60% of the credit hours taught at Miami. Contingency matters a LOT to tenure-line faculty. Why? Reduction in TT numbers leads to increased service…
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Do NTT faculty at Miami have academic freedom?
Do NTT faculty at Miami have academic freedom? What about due process in case of non-renewal?* Fact: The answer to both questions is no. While Miami asserts both the value and existence of academic freedom at Miami, it provides due process protections only for tenured faculty — not for non-tenure-track faculty, now the majority of faculty, whose…
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How contingency affects all of us
For our first fall meeting, the chapter hosted a panel of Miami contingent faculty. They contributed valuably to our discussion of contingency, an issue we hope to make a focus this year. Whether you are a tenured or tenure-line faculty member, a student, a visiting assistant professor or instructor, an adjunct, or just a citizen,…