Contents by
Section: August 1998
Front
Page
Lead Story
They're talking on campus...
On the Road
ActionLine NEA
In the Know
From Capital to Campus
NEA Affilitates in Action
Higher Education News
Money Savvy
The Dialogue
Thriving in Academe
Higher Education News
Who Evaluates Faculty Job Performance?:
|
World & NationVice-President Gore has announced that the federal government would soon sell, for as little as $50, an inflation-busting savings bond that could help families save for college. This special security, with earnings pegged to the inflation rate, went on sale last year in denominations of $1,000 and more. The new bonds will be priced at $50, $75, $100, $200, $500 $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000. The Western Governors University has announced that it will begin cooperative distance learning efforts in the People's Republic of China. Through an agreement with the China Internet Education Center, the WGU plans to collaborate on the development and delivery of distance learning programs, extending the ability of both institutions to reach new student markets and tap an even broader selection of courses and degree programs. Other Western Governors University international agreements are with Tokai University in Japan, the University of British Columbia, the Open University in the United Kingdom, and the Virtual University of the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico. Despite an increasingly tight labor market, fewer small business are offering health care and retirement benefits. A survey released by the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation finds that only 39 percent of the 503 small businesses surveyed now offer health care benefits, down from 46 percent in 1996. The number providing retirement plans is down even more sharply, 19 percent from 28 percent in 1996. The numbers seem to defy conventional wisdom that employers are being forced to offer better perks to attract employees as the unemployment rate drops to levels not seen since the 1960s. Faculty & StaffUniversity of California student employees have voted to authorize strikes in the fall. Some 4,221 members of the university's academic student employee unions---more than twice as many student workers as in any previous strike authorization---voted by an 87 percent margin to authorize a system-wide strike in the fall. Student workers are demanding that the administration recognize their unions and agree to begin collective bargaining with teaching assistants, readers, and tutors. The university administration has spent 14 years and millions of dollars fighting the unionization effort. But the unions have been winning the battle. Recently, the California labor board ruled that teaching associates, readers, and tutors at one campus are employees and are entitled to collective bargaining. Professional NewsMoody's Investors Services predicts that there could be a series of mergers and acquisitions in academe. The debt ratings of private liberal-arts colleges have begun to diverge---with financially strong institutions getting stronger, and weak institutions facing threats that could make them financially weaker---and targets for merger. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a public school district cannot be considered liable for a teacher's sexual harassment of a student will make it harder for students at all levels of education to hold institutions responsible for such actions. By a 5-to-4 vote, the Court ruled that a Texas school district could not be held liable for damages under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 because school officials were unaware that the harassment was taking place. Who Evaluates Faculty Job Performance?:
|
