Illinois AAUP News

Protest in California

Students and faculty in California protested cuts in higher education funding in September (above). The protests, supported by the AAUP and other higher education groups, opposed attempts to cut faculty and staff salaries. Protesters around the state carried signs that read “Save Our University.”

Doubting Darwin

Living Waters, a fundamentalist creationist group, plans to distribute 175,000 copies of The Origin of Species on campuses of 100 top universities, complete with a special introduction that “lists the theories of many hoaxes, exposes the unscientific belief that nothing created everything, points to the incredible structure of DNA, and notes the absence of any undisputed transitional forms. To show the dangerous fruit of evolution, it also mentions Hitler’s undeniable connections to the theory, Darwin’s racism, and his disdain for women.”

Kentucky Tenure is Back

In September, the Kentucky Community and Technical College Board of Regents voted to reverse its March 2009 decision to end tenure in the community colleges.

Tariq Ramadan Ban Overruled

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Tariq Ramadan is entitled to contest his exclusion from the United States. Ramadan was banned from entering the country to teach at Notre Dame’s Joan Kroc Center for International Peace Studies. The Bush Administration gave the excuse that a Swiss charity for Palestinians that Ramadan gave money to was later designated a supporter of terrorism by the Bush Administration (it’s still legal in Switzerland), and Ramadan should have used his psychic powers to predict this. In 2006, the ACLU, the AAUP, and other groups sued. Under this ruling, the government must now, in order to deny a visa, give a reason, confront the individual with that reason, and give them an opportunity to refute it. An appalling restriction on foreign scholars from the Bush Era has now been lifted.

Adjuncts and Unemployment Benefits

Chicago COCAL (Coalition on Contingent Academic Labor) with the help of the AAUP, the AFT, and the NEA, has produced a new guide for helping adjuncts get unemployment benefits. Written by Joe Berry, Beverly Stewart, and Helena Worthen, the guide is titled, Access to Unemployment Insurance Benefits for Contingent Faculty: A manual for applicants and a strategy to gain full rights to benefits.
Chicago CCOAL’s website (chicagococal.org) reports that “’Filing parties’ are springing up like tulips - one was held at the College of DuPage on May Day, another on May 10 in Chicago, and another was held at SIU-Edwardsville.”

Visit chicagococal.org to download a copy of the guide and the supplement for Illinois applicants, along with other vital information for adjuncts.