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NEA Affiliates in Action
The OECD pools data from 29 democratic, market-oriented countries that belong to the organization and 16 nonmember countries to determine its standings. This year's report shows that three countries—Norway, Britain, and the Netherlands—have a larger proportion of young people graduating from college. In a previous edition of the report, in December 1998, the United States led in college-graduation rates but trailed 22 other countries in high school completion rates. You can visit the OECD Web site at www.oecd.org. The faculty senate at George Mason University has voted to censure the institution's governing board for usurping the faculty's traditional role in academic decision making. The vote came after the university Board of Visitors added required courses to a new set of general-education requirements for students, without consultation with faculty. The professors who voted for censure complained of the Board's right-wing political agenda and micro-managing of academic decisions. All of the Board members were appointed by Virginia's governor and his predecessor, both conservative Republicans. The Education Commission of the States, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education, has recently established the Center for Community College Policy. The Center, based in Denver, will conduct research, issue policy papers, and respond to requests for information on critical state level issues involving community colleges. Performance-based funding will be one of the first major issues the center takes on. The center will also serve as a clearinghouse for community college information. More information about the center is available at www.communitycollegepolicy.org.
In private higher education institutions, after law, the best-paid professors were in financial management, public health, chemical engineering, and enterprise management. At public institutions, law professors were also the highest-paid. The next-highest-paid faculty were in engineering, business management, chemical engineering, and financial management. The lowest-paid professors tended to be in the arts or the helping professions. Executive summaries of CUPA salary survey reports can be downloaded from the Web at www.cupahr.org/download.htm#2 . Copies of this year's CUPA faculty and staff surveys can also be purchased on the organization's Web site.
The protest included over 130 faculty members from around New England, as well as Bennington teachers, alumni, and students. The protest focused on years of unfair treatment by the Bennington administration toward faculty, including the firing of one-third of the faculty in 1994 and the abolition of the college's tenure system. The U.S. Supreme Court has thrown out The Violence Against Women Act, a federal law that gave victims of gender-based crime the right to sue their attackers in federal court. The decision came in a high-profile case over an alleged attack by two football players at Virginia Tech. In a 5-to-4 ruling, justices held that Congress exceeded its powers in passing the 1994 law. Faculty unionization rates are higher than for most occupations
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