Chronicle of Higher Ed on N.O. Univs & Large IT

The June 22, 2007 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education has a couple stories worth looking at. Note that my links take you to a page requiring a Chronicle username and password. You can read it in print, or ILL it if you don't have a password:

1) The AAUP unanimously voted at their annual meeting to censure 4 New Orleans Universities for using Hurricane Katrina as an excuse to trample faculty underfoot. Loyola N.O, Sothern University at N.O., Tulane and University of New Orleans all were included in the censure. David Rabban, chairman of the AAUP's Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure says each of the institutions had existing policies in place before Katrina that would have allowed them to adequately respond to the emergency. After a year-long investigation into faculty complaints of administrations' over-reach, AAUP concluded that the universities' administrations seized the emergency of Katrina as an excuse to dismiss tenured faculty, restructure curricula without faculty input, and abandon faculty governance. The administrations protest that the AAUP fails to understand the magnitude of their problems following Katrina. (see Chronicle story here)

2) Chronicle story on large IT departments as "The most regressive and poisonous force in technology today" reports "Walt Mossberg, personal-technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, during a speech to a group of college presidents and other administrators. His speech was part of The Chronicle's Presidents Forum, where he highlighted technology trends." The trend to centralizing technology, forbidding use of any but the "big name" products, though in the name of cost-savings, administrative-ease and security, also results in stifling innovation. Individuals cannot customize technology to suit them, or explore new technologies. I say Amen!