Salaries in Selected Disciplines
With and Without Collective Bargaining
1996-97

World & Nation

Faculty & Staff

Professional News

World & Nation

One-third of all college courses now use E-mail, reports the 1997 Campus Computing Survey.
That's up from 8 percent in 1994. The survey also notes that college courses are more likely to use E-mail, Web pages, and Internet resources than computer exercises, multimedia, or CD-ROM based materials.
One-fourth of all classes now use Internet resources, up from 15 percent a year ago. For more on the project and the surveys, visit: http://ericir.syr.edu/ Projects/Campus_computing/index.html or E-mail the report's author Dr. Kenneth Green, at: cgreen@earthlink.net.

A recent analysis of data from the international Luxembourg Income Study found that the gap in disposable income between high- and low-income individuals was wider in the United States than in any of the other 14 countries examined.
In line with that report, new U.S. Census data show a decline in health insurance coverage for children last year, largely as a result of dropping a million kids from Medicaid.
Data also show that the share of national income going to the top 5 percent of households in the U.S. rose to 21.4 percent, the highest level the Census Bureau has ever recorded.

As funding for public education in Australia has been slashed, schools have been compelled to look for corporate sponsorship. The newest innovation--a Certificate in Food Retail (McDonald's)--will begin next year. To participate in the program, students will have to be working for McDonald's already and be selected by the store manager. The program will be run completely by McDonald's trainers. It is intended to provide "relevant courses" to those not going to university, notes the federal education minister.

Faculty & Staff

A Washington adjunct instructor has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, charging that the accrediting agency for the state has failed to uphold its own standards governing the use of part-time faculty in the state's community colleges.
The standards state that "a core of full-time instructional faculty is deemed essential." In Washington, part-timers outnumber full-time faculty four to one.

The University of Pennsylvania has contracted with the nation's largest real-estate management business to run its properties, leaving 175 white-collar university employees unsure of their futures. Those who are not offered jobs with the new company will be laid-off in December. Notes the university's executive vice-president: "We're seeing what can evolve for higher education in the process."

Professional News

The Southern Education Foundation reports that none of the 12 formerly segregated Southern states can demonstrate an acceptable level of success in desegregating higher education. In eight of the states, fewer than 10 percent of Black first-time freshmen were enrolled in the states' flagship institutions.
The group also reports that shortages of minority faculty are acute in every institution in every formerly segregated state. Copies of the report are available from the foundation at 135 Auburn Ave., Atlanta, GA 30303.

A recent women's studies conference, "Revolting Behavior: Challenges of Women's Sexual Freedom," has come under attack, according to its organizers. They are asking for expressions of support for academic freedom. For more information contact: Susan Lehrer, lehrers@npvm.newpaltz.edu.

Salaries in Selected Disciplines
With and Without Collective Bargaining
1996-97