In 2015, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed SB 11, also known as the “campus carry” law, at a shooting range. The law permits the concealed carry of guns in dorms, classrooms, and buildings at state universities and community colleges, while leaving individual schools some latitude to keep parts of their properties firearm-free, extending the reach of […] … learn more→
Monthly Archives: October 2016
“Campus carry” and academic freedom: The emerging reality
Yes, mathematics can be decolonised. Here’s how to begin
At a time when decolonisation, part of which involves changing the content of what’s taught, is dominating debate at many universities, the discipline of mathematics presents at interesting case. But it’s not obvious how mathematics can be decolonised at the level of content. This means that those within the discipline must consider other aspects: curriculum […] … learn more→
The grey zone: How questionable research practices are blurring the boundary between science and misconduct
Earlier this year, Paolo Macchiarini – former star surgeon and professor at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute – was dismissed from his post following a high-profile investigation prompted by a documentary broadcast on Swedish national television. Macchiarini was found guilty of failing to secure ethical approval for experimental transplant techniques and misrepresenting data in journal publications. The […] … learn more→
ITT and Corinthian: Ending the scams
After trying to fight the government, ITT tech has been forced to shut its doors. This is the second big for-profit school to be effectively shut down by the government recently. There’s much wailing about all the students displaced, all the people put out of work by this…but there’s more to the story than just […] … learn more→
Axing A-level art history only amplifies class divides
Posh, soft, elite, decorative on the one hand, unreadably intellectual, dry and obscure on the other. Either too soft or too tough. So let’s cheer as the last chance for it to be studied at A-level gets binned. That’s art history for you, according to the Guardian’s Jonathan Jones, venting his class spleen against the […] … learn more→
Universities need to stop treating their students like children
Something very strange is going on in universities. Back in February, after speaking at a conference on academic freedom organised by the Harry Crowe Foundation in Toronto, I was confronted by words of despair from a young Canadian lecturer. She told me that I was lucky to have gone through the experiences of the 1960s […] … learn more→
Is it time for a new model to fund science research in higher education?
The United States is at a crossroads with respect to many societal issues – think about the challenges of improving human health, eradicating hunger, protecting human rights. At the same time, federal support for higher education research and development – a primary venue to generate innovative new solutions for these kinds of vexing problems – […] … learn more→
You might open the door – but what will it mean to step through it?
Gaining access to organisations to carry out research is often a lengthy and challenging process that can be waylaid by internal politics. But the problems and ethical dilemmas involved in gaining access are subjects only rarely addressed in research accounts. Neither do we talk openly about the fact that getting access, and more importantly, maintaining […] … learn more→
Diaspora academics and those in Africa can do great things together
What happens when you pair an African academic living in the diaspora with one who is teaching and conducting research on the continent? That’s the thinking behind the African Academic Diaspora Support to African Universities programme, which I have been involved in since November 15 last year (2015). The programme is organised by the Council […] … learn more→
7 Highest paid at UC Berkeley: all coaches
It’s been a while since I’ve pointed out higher education’s peculiar madness when it comes to sportsball. There is so much corruption in higher education that I try to focus a little, but a recent article so brutally emphasized that something is wrong here that I feel the need to come back to this. Yes, […] … learn more→