Michael Walsh的动态

From one of my colleagues at Texas Tech University: "This article reflects on my experience of being suspended [by Texas Tech University] and reinstated. It demonstrates how administrators, including those at my institution, knowingly violate academic freedom and free speech. Throughout, I discuss the institutional and political machinations seeking to silence dissident voices, particularly those who critique Isr@el and Zion?st settler colonialism. The aim is to make more visible the linkages between external pressure and the capitulation of administrators influenced by donors. I highlight the university’s role in producing technologies of colonial v?olence used on Palestin?an bodies and the significance of the G@za solidarity encampments. In the subsequent sections, I critique the weaponization of antisemit?sm and the Palest?ne exception to academic freedom. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of speaking and writing truth to power during a genoc?de."

Proud to have participated in this seminar ISGAP - Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy University of Oxford "By fostering scholarly collaboration and advancing education, the institute is committed to illuminating the depths of antisemitism and mobilizing efforts to eradicate it, ensuring that it is recognized, understood, and decisively addressed at every level of society." https://lnkd.in/d3Fi4GPP

Oxford University amazes us with its academic excellence and rich history. But despite some of the most learned men in the world being a part of it, for women to get degrees fully recognised by the institution they had to wait till October, 1920. There is no clear date of foundation but since 1096, teaching in some form has existed in Oxford. Now that is almost one millennium of intellectual tardiness of the brilliant men. In 1896, during an ongoing debate on the same issue, the “Punch” published a cartoon. A college don is blocking Minerva, the Greek Goddess of wisdom, from entering Oxford, “Very sorry, Miss Minerva, but perhaps you are not aware that this is a monastic establishment.” Men examinees often had a common complaint that they were disturbed by the way students sat in their tight skirts and showed their legs. Such a horrible sight, sure sir! The real problem was a reluctance to share power with women. If women were eligible for the degrees in Oxford, that would mean membership of University committees and boards, including Convocation and Congregation, the ultimate governing body. Meanwhile some women were showing excellent academic performances in the women’s colleges under Oxford like Annie Rogers, the only candidate to take the degree level “Examinations for Women” in Latin and Greek. As the women’s colleges were cropping up in the 1870s, formal recognition of the degree had to wait till the next century. Perhaps Woolf’s words are most memorable here: “…here I was actually at the door which leads into the library itself. I must have opened it, for instantly there issued, like a guardian angel barring the way with a flutter of black gown instead of white wings, a deprecating, silvery, kindly gentleman, who regretted in a low voice as he waved me back that ladies are only admitted to the library if accompanied by a Fellow of the College or furnished with a letter of introduction” Source: Oxford University . . . #ImmersiveTrails #OctoberInHistory #WomensHistory #OxfordUniversity

Kevin R. McClure Pure and simple, ROI took off after the Great Recession of 2008 because the price of college and how we pay for it changed. If college weren't so expensive for the vast majority of middle-class families, in particular, (average HHI of families with students in HS is around $75K) who don't qualify for Pell but can't easily pay without lots of merit, then they can be more flexible in how they think about the long-term payoff of higher ed. But if they chase merit -- as many do -- they also end up at colleges that tend to give out discounts, which are many of those colleges that have largely dropped the liberal arts in favor of the practical arts. We have met the enemy and he is us in higher ed. Yes, we're going to be sorry some day, I'm sure. Absent more government funding, it's on higher ed now to figure out its cost structure to reduce price or at least slow down the increases (which we have done, but more on the net price, which is just forgoing revenue that many colleges need!) Also, as I'm writing now for a chapter in my new book, the "information economy" that started in the early 1990s with the passage of the Student Right to Know Act and the Campus Security Act, now puts all this information in the hands of consumers (and, of course, the rankers).

Im standing with political neutrality in universities. I am standing with the idea that primal goal of university as an institution is to provide students and scholars with knowledge and critical thinking. I am standing with idea that any sort of political activities in the Universities ruin process of education because it makes education not main goal and can create different conflicts, which again makes difficult for some students and scholars make researches and studying, then by that it erases goal of education itself, because every student matters, otherwisely it is not inclusive. Political views should be studied, not promoted. And anyone who uses universities to promote their political views or, as much as it is in their power, don't regulate any debates or conflicts based on political themes between students or scholars, or any other goal which is not connected to teaching young people or studying themselves, betrays goals and ideals of education. If politics dominate over education, then education system failed.Believe it or not, but active political position doesn't have anything to do with intelligence, sometimes it is opposite to last one :). I am in France, so i have a right on a free speech. My words are not threatning anyone anyhow, I express my opinion peacefully, I am just expressing my opinion and expect to not to be called or threatened anyhow for opinion, I only think on how can education become better. Remember, the main, primal and most important goal of University or any educational institution is to provide with specific educational knowledge and skills, formal communication between scholars, there are no other goal of university as an institution. Not creating political activity and making University a polygon for spreading it, and then masking it as a progress in educational activity. And choice between politics and education for me must seem obvious. Rationality or irrationality, personally for me there is no between. Freedom is not equal to wildness. Civilization is able to function only with systems of rules and working institutions. Institutions, which have one main purpose for each. Purpose, which is not interrupted by other goals. Freedom, within the civilization, can be gained only when every person, even 1, 2 or 3, feels safe, respected and included by established rules. So, personally for me, freedom in educational institutions can be gained only with limitations of politic activity in them. Limit them, by not only maintain subordination to all people and regulate conflicts, also increasing amount of scientific and professional activities in campuses. Create interest autonomic or centralized clubs and centers. More young people are interested in languages and sciences, in improving themselves and by that feel their worth by having skills, experience and knowledge, and then having worth on job market, less they want to participate in politics.

Couldn't agree more with Kevin R. McClure's take on this. I feel for the students, faculty, staff, and communities most immediately affected by these kinds of cuts and worry what it means for all of us down the road. Tough decisions need to be made, no doubt, but we need to consider their long-term, systemic impacts on national security and democracy. The reason "ROI" matters in higher ed is because financial solvency and sustainability is what enables us to continue driving innovation, adapting to ever changing circumstances and shifting geopolitical landscapes, communicating across cultures, solving problems that really matter, working towards individual and collective opportunity/prosperity, while creating the things that make being human meaningful and worthwhile (e.g., music, art, poetry, community, family, safety, security, curiosity, play...). As an Anthropology & English major at a state university, I learned to think, write, and LEARN in ways that serve me every single day. Studying in a small undergrad department within a research university gave me access and opportunities I never would have had otherwise, especially had I attended a more "elite" institution (emphasis on those air quotes, y'all). Feeling seen and valued as a student stoked my curiosity and laid the foundation for true lifelong learning. I chose my institution after sitting down with the person who'd ultimately become my first academic advisor, William D. Lipe. I was 18 and deeply uncertain about my future, comparing myself to friends pursuing more "practical" fields of study. Bill, as he invited me to call him, treated me as a future colleague, despite my lack of experience and his abundance of professional accomplishments and accolades. He listened, shared what he was learning and excited about from the field, and didn't put me down for not knowing exactly what I wanted to do 20 years down the road... Now, more than 20 years later, I credit that conversation and the education that followed for the meaningful work and life I've built since. I'm just a sample size of one and relatively privileged at that, but I wonder how many students will never get similar opportunities, how many more will never become students in the first place, and what talents and contributions we might deprive our society of as a result. There's so much more at stake here than just personal lifetime earnings or GDP and we need to stop conflating liberal arts with ivory tower elitism that's nice to have but not necessary for the masses.

https://lnkd.in/gcHcb3ss Universities and institutes of higher learning are meant to be places of honest, respectful debate. The truly enlightened are not afraid to engage in exploring the facts and the circumstances. The truly enlightened are not afraid to have their minds changed. The opposite is indoctrination. Facts of course don't matter. What matters is simply the narrative and the outcome. Our universities have become toxic wastelands where learning and debate go right to the back of the bus and are buried by shouting, intimidation and threats (and now violence). The worst part is that this has now been adopted as the norm for faculty and university staff. Every Canadian (and American) and anyone who cares about education and intellectual pursuits must speak out before it really is too late. #anti-semitism #holocaust #israel #hate #education

A recent study that Jenny Small and I conducted is covered in today's Inside Higher Ed. We analyzed official statements from 100 universities released after the October 7 attacks and subsequent outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. We found that these statements largely didn't address the deep impact of the war on specific student groups (such as Jewish or Muslim students), generally avoided terms like 'antisemitism' or 'islamophobia,' and rarely provided information on the status or well-being of university community members that might be in the region. “'This analysis highlights an alarming lack of understanding or concern for the impacts of October 7 on university community members— students, faculty, and staff—within university leaders’ communications. Hopefully, reviewing these findings may help university leaders better prepare for crises in the future, as well as better address the on-campus ramifications of the ongoing tragedy between Israel and Hamas,' Maples wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed." #highered #highereducation https://lnkd.in/dt2tjiCu