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Actionline NEA

Annual Higher Ed Conference

NEA partners with the American Federation of Teachers for 2006 'Higher Education Summit,' March 3-5, 2006 in Orlando.

The AFT-NEA Higher Education Summit: Sharing Our Successes, Challenges and Strategies, this year's joint higher education conference, March 3-5 in Orlando, Florida, will feature three main workshop tracks: collective bargaining and union management, policy and public support, and teaching and learning-professional development.

Conference sessions will attack issues such as: What are current trends in higher ed, and how are our locals dealing with them at the bargaining table? Where are our members working in coalitions? How is privatization currently impacting our members? How do we build support for public funding of higher education? Register at http://nea.org/he/.

NEA has filed an amicus brief in an important case that will be heard by the Supreme Court related to the right of public employees to speak about public concerns.

Garcetti et. al. v. Richard Ceballos will test whether the First Amendment protects the speech of a district attorney who reported that a deputy sheriff lied in a search warrant. The question that concerns NEA: Does the First Amendment free speech clause protect a government employee who as part of his job blows the whistle on an improper practice by a governmental authority.

In the brief, NEA states there is "no basis and no need for a categorical rule excluding teachers and public employees from the protections of the First Amendment while performing their job functions."

NEA, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Association of University Professors, and the North American Alliance for Fair Employment joined with faculty activists across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico during the week of October 31 to launch Campus Equity/Fair Employment Week, promoting campus and community activities highlighting the poor pay and working conditions of part-time and non-tenure-track faculty members and staff.

Highlights of the week included legislative hearings on adjunct issues in Washington State and New Jersey, recognition of Campus Equity Week by Governor Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, who urged Oregonians to participate, and solidarity events on campuses across the nation.

The Thought & Action Review panel has extended the deadline for submission for the 2005 NEA Higher Education Excellence in the Academy awards to December 30, 2005. The competition is open to the entire academic community. Essay guidelines and past winning articles are available at http://nea.org/he/ajeaward.html.

The Review Panel also invites submissions for a Special Focus section of the 2006 issue of the journal: "The Academy at Work." Deadline for submissions: March 15, 2006. Articles on all aspects of academic work, from classroom practice to faculty compensation, are welcome. The Call for Papers is posted at http://nea.org/he/heta/index.html.