Sponsored Content
« Path to 9/11 [Retired Geezer] | Main | National Guardsman Attacked [posted by Harrison] »
August 31, 2006

Shot Across the Bow

Interesting.

The University of Illinois is in many ways a classic state university system. Urbana-Champaign is a flagship, with a history of Nobel laureates and competitive admissions. The Chicago campus has been very much on the rise in the last 10 years, expanding research and graduate programs and attracting academic stars. Springfield has more of an undergraduate and liberal arts focus.

All three campuses have some distance education programs, but the university system is now getting ready to launch a whole new campus, creating an online division that could eventually rival the individual campuses in enrollment levels, operating in a very different environment. The University of Illinois Global Campus would be operated as a separate for-profit entity, have almost entirely part-time faculty members (and none with tenure), and focus on a relatively small number of degree programs.

Obviously, this plan is extremely unpopular with faculty, because tenure is the one thing faculty will fight to the death to protect, as shown by this quote in the article from an unidentified faculty member:
“Tenure is a very critical concern because it is a hallmark of the academic freedom that is needed for intellectual inquiry,” said the professor. “If people are all part-time and non-tenure track, is that a university? Is that a faculty? It’s certainly the University of Phoenix, but it’s not traditionally what has been the University of Illinois.”
If academic freedom is so important, then I think faculty across the country should be more critical of those in their ranks who abuse it. As we've seen in the cases of Ward Churchill and Kevin Barrett, some faculty consider academic freedom a license to delve into any crackpot theory or personal tirade in the classroom. With the cost of higher education going up, people are going to be much less patient with professors who waste classroom time on political issues unrelated to their academic discipline.

Keep an eye on this one - it's going to get ugly.


digg this
posted by Slublog at 11:14 AM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere [/i] [/b]: "[i]The early mission impossibles are kind of diffe ..."

Ciampino --- It's hard to believe that she beat 100,000 other sperm.: "I haven't noticed Berseker on these blogs lately . ..."

JT: "Miklos I hope the Moe Treatment is going well. ..."

Lost In Space: "The Snapdragon 8cx gen 4 is 32% faster than Apple' ..."

Aetius451AD Work Laptop: "I tell myself this is not any later than I *usuall ..."

Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey,: "Your Republican leadership at it's finest. I'm hop ..."

Ciampino -- It's hard to believe that she beat 100,000 other sperm.: "Back in the MSDOS days, when one actually owned th ..."

Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere [/i] [/b]: "I got up partly because, once I stumbled out to ge ..."

Aunt Miklos Mandina: "Noodus pixyana Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius G'D ..."

Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey,: "Unbelievable: https://tinyurl.com/43r6wtvn ( ..."

JT: " JT there was a Bad Blue up yesterday Posted by: ..."

Lost In Space: "G'day all. McCarthy, who pulled a coalition tog ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64