Another Attack on Education, Labor and Adjuncts

Inside Higher Ed‘s Scott Jaschik has an alarming story today, “The Shirley Sherrods of Academe?” Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbartis at it again, this time distorting videos in the classes of two teachers of labor history at the University of Missouri.  Breitbartis edited video posted to the course’s online site (accessed without permission) so that it [...]

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Don’t want to accept responsibility? Blame teachers!

Does anyone value education anymore? It really seems that way. I understand this country has its budget problems and every industry must make sacrifices, higher ed included, but honestly in a world where you can’t really be competitive without a college education, why is education one of the first things to go? Who looks at [...]

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I went to Harrisburg and my head exploded

This past Tuesday, I joined a handful of Kutztown University faculty and students on a trip to Harrisburg for the NAACP’s “Children’s March to Save PA Public Education.” [to hear my take on the rally, check out my postmortem discussion on The Rick Smith Show].  The nice thing about going to Harrisburg is that you [...]

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USAS | Rutgers students occupy President’s office – take action now!

As of 10:00 am this morning, students at Rutgers University are now occupying the university president’s office in opposition to huge tuition increases and mistreatment of workers.  Check out the full story and Rutgers students’ call for support! Support the Rutgers sit-in! Along with dozens of Rutgers students, I’m currently occupying President McCormick’s office, and [...]

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Corbett says: Frack the Future. We Say: What the Frack?!?

Given Corbett’s recent draconian budget proposal, there has been a lot of discussion about taxing natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale region of PA. I’ve been advocating for that as well.  However, I think we need to remember that there is also a serious debate going on about natural gas companies’ use of “fracking” [...]

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Mahoney on Rick Smith Show – post rally discussion

Yesterday’s NAACP “Children’s March to Save Public Education” was quite a show.  K-12 students from PA public schools were out in force and showed off their marching bands, drum lines, and choruses.  I was proud to be one of the handful of KU faculty at the rally – I even got to speak along side [...]

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one more appeal to GET ON THE BUS tomorrow for Harrisburg

Earlier today I made one last appeal to faculty to GET ON THE BUS for tomorrow’s NAACP rally in Harrisburg.  The theme of the rally is “Save Public Education in PA.  This will be the first rally  in the current budget battles that faculty from higher education will join their K-12 colleagues and students from [...]

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just what does a retrenchment notification look like?

I am sorry that my posts have been minimal over this past week.  It’s the end of the semester here in universityland and I have been trying to catch up on my grading and end of the semester work.  The bulk of my “free” time has been spent getting the Raging Chicken Press site up and [...]

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Thumbs up, thumbs down | PoconoRecord.com

Here, here to the Pocono Record for being out in front in the critique: THUMBS DOWN to Pennsylvania’s higher education Chancellor John Cavanaugh for defending average 3 percent merit raises for university administrators, arguing that they hadn’t had a raise in more than two years. Plenty of people in the private sector haven’t had raises, either, [...]

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live tweeting from APSCUF-KU Rep Council

I will be live tweeting from APSCUF-KU Rep Council using the hash tag #apscufkuRC

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No More Teacher’s Dirty Looks!

Aaron Barlow has an engaging post at his One Flew East blog today entitled “No More Teachers?” Barlow explores the roots of anti-teacher rhetoric, reminding us of the old rhyme I learned as “No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers’ rotten looks!” He encourages us to take a close look at the values [...]

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Raging Chicken hits the streets

For those XChange readers interested in working to build a progressive, independent, “glocal” media site, here’s an opportunity: Click on the image above for the pre-launch post.

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little Suzie Newsykins sure knows her budget priorities

By the always awesome Mark Fiore:

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Writing Under the Ax

With the recent announcement by PASSHE administrators that retrenchments are possible at all 14 schools, the upcoming featured session at KU’s annual Composition Conference is more timely and relevant than I want it to be, frankly. The featured session, “Writing Under the Ax,” will take place on Wednesday, April 13 from 1pm to 2pm in [...]

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PASSHE announces it will retrench faculty: Here comes the Ax (again)

This is an email sent by APSCUF President Steve Hicks to all faculty today: Message from Dr. Steve Hicks, APSCUF President Colleagues, We knew it was coming, but that still did not soften the blow last Friday when, at the negotiations table, the Chancellor’s Office confirmed the rumor that all fourteen of our universities would [...]

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PA Proposals for AFSCME Negotiations: WAGE ROLLBACKS

Yesterday I posted a copy of the Commonwealth proposals for AFSCME negotiations.  There was a VERY IMPORTANT page missing.  Page one of the proposals deals with salaries and wages.  For some reason that page failed to scan the first time around.  I now have the complete document uploaded here. Why was that page so important? [...]

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APRIL 26th RALLY IN HARRISBURG

The next big rally to defend higher education, public schools, workers’ rights, and the future of Pennsylvania is coming up!  This time the rally is being supported by public and private sector unions, the PA NAACP, several student organizations around the state, and many more.  I will be posting a full list of rally supporters [...]

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found docs: PA Commonwealth Proposals for AFSCME contract

Surprise!  Yes, another “found document” brought to you by the XChange.  I don’t know if these proposals are already fully public or not, but I do think it is a good idea that all of us take some time to become familiar with the ways that the Commonwealth negotiators are going after our AFSCME brothers [...]

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Union Work and Power Differentials

Check out this interesting Op-Ed by Natasha Vargas-Cooper in today’s New York Times, “We Work Hard, But Who’s Complaining?” Vargas-Cooper manages to point out the  inequity with which U.S. culture depicts and treats female and male union members without suggesting that both genders can’t or won’t work together successfully. Thoughtful, honest and engaging writing. The [...]

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move over Avalanche, make way for the Raging Chicken

Over the past couple of months we have seen what amounts to a coordinated attack upon the vast majority of Americans: the middle-class, the working-class, and the poor.  If you find yourself reading the XChange on a regular basis, chances are you are on the receiving end of that attack.  As Michael Moore has been [...]

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