Faculty Issues

University of Houston pushes its dean of social work back down to the faculty. He says some professors objected to his views on racial justice and abolition.

Scott McLemee reviews Jamie Kreiner’s The Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction.

Postdocs on federal fellowships should receive equal benefits as peers, write Mallory R. Smith and Thomas P. Kimbis.

The pandemic laid bare course policies and practices that disadvantage some students. Now, some say that professors should cool it with awarding participation points.

Infusing practicable skills into academic classes can give students a greater sense of self-efficacy in managing challenging thoughts and feelings, writes Rachel Goldsmith Turow.

An instructor at Hamline U showed an image of Muhammad in an art history class. The president criticized the instructor for doing so. Another professor, who tried to explain the situation with an essay in the student paper, had his piece removed.

While University of California grad workers won important gains, the system remains broken, along with graduate and undergraduate students’ trust, Laura J. Mitchell writes.

The shift away from the Higher Learning Commission is possible because the WASC Senior College and University Commission has broadened its scope to include institutions wherever they reside.