Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Tenure, Women and Economics

Economics is still a field dominated by men. Why is that? While most undergraduate economics majors are male, a new study suggests that women who do go on to earn Ph.D.s in economics have a harder time earning tenure and getting promoted than do their male peers, and that the gender gap is even more pronounced among international Ph.D.s. Additionally, relatively more female economists than male economists leave academe within a tenure cycle of earning their Ph.D.s.

The study, to be presented at the upcoming meeting of the American Economic Association and currently under review for publication, stands out in that it examines early career outcomes from 57 economics Ph.D. programs, as opposed to just a handful of top programs.

Read the rest of the article here.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

The High School Graduate Plateau

 
December 6, 2016
A decade-long stagnation in the number of U.S. high school graduates is setting in, and the number of students receiving diplomas in 2017 is expected to drop significantly.
The stagnating number of graduates breaks nearly two decades of reliable increases and comes as significant demographic changes reshape where students live and from what backgrounds they come. The pool of high school graduates is projected to become less white, more Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander, and increasingly located in the South over the coming years, according to a new set of projections in a report released Tuesday by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

Read more from Inside Higher Ed here.

Why Most of Us Won’t Get Tenure

 December 9, 2016 


The academic job market is bleak, as most certainly all of you reading this are well aware. Over the summer, Gawker gathered some personal stories to highlight just how bad things are out there. One adjunct wrote about how they work at Starbucks to make ends meet, while another realized the janitor at their institution makes more than they do.

Read more from Inside Higher Ed here.

Grand Valley State University Sued For Discriminating Against Conservative Students

  in Breaking News/Culture/Politics  by 

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a conservative student group at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) filed a federal lawsuit against the school last Wednesday after the students faced discrimination and threats of arrest from campus administrators.

Read more here.

Affirmative action works in HE admissions – just look at India

Affirmative action within higher education admissions naturally generates controversy because preferential admission granted to one student results in the exclusion of another.
There is also the question of whether affirmative action may actually harm, rather than help, the supposed beneficiaries – creating a “mismatch” by prompting students to attend selective colleges for which they are inadequately prepared.

Read more here.

Affirmative action for immigrants, haredim becomes law

Legislation requiring government offices to prioritize haredim and new immigrants in their hiring practices passed in a final vote Monday night.

The law will put olim and haredim under the existing legal umbrella of “appropriate representation” of various population groups in government offices and state-owned corporations.

Read more here.
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
December 12, 2016

CBC Chairman G. K. Butterfield Calls For Increased Congressional Staff Diversity
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, CBC


Chairman G. K. Butterfield released the following statement in response to a recent report detailing the lack of diversity among staff in the U.S. Senate. “Recent news reports highlighting a study conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies on the lack of diversity in senior U.S. Senate staff positions reflect a longstanding injustice that keeps the workforce of the United States Congress lacking the diversity of our country. “The near complete absence of African American senior staff in personal and committee offices in the Senate is not reflective of the inclusiveness ideals of our government, and of our country. The CBC has long championed African American inclusion in all industries, and launched CBC TECH 2020 last year to promote diversity in the technology industry. But the fact that the United States Congress, an institution that was created to represent all people, still has not taken meaningful steps to increase diversity is disappointing and requires an immediate remedy. “There are talented African Americans ready, willing, and able to take leadership roles in the United States Senate and in the House. There are plenty of offices hiring, on both sides of the aisle, and in both chambers, where Senators and Representatives can hire talented African American candidates. Yet, from our records, with the start of the next Congress, the Senate is poised to have one African American Senate Chief of Staff and no African American staff directors if immediate action is not taken. “We have made progress in the diversity of the officials we elect to Congress, but the lack of senior African American staff within these offices is alarming. The CBC does not accept the excuses of tech companies for their lack of diversity, nor shall we accept excuses from others on an issue so critical. The United States Congress must lead by example. We call on our colleagues to increase the diversity on their staff and stand ready to help them source skilled and qualified candidates for these senior roles.” # # # Since its establishment in 1971, Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) have joined together to empower America’s neglected citizens and address their legislative concerns. For more than 40 years, the CBC has consistently been the voice for people of color and vulnerable communities in Congress and has been committed to utilizing the full Constitutional power and statutory authority of the United States government to ensure that all U.S. citizens have an opportunity to achieve the American Dream.

To learn more about the Congressional Black Caucus, visit http://cbc-butterfield.house.gov. Media inquiries: Candace Randle Person at (202) 593-1331 or Candace.Person@mail.house.gov

Civil and Human Rights Organization Oppose Confirmation of Jeff Sessions

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE
Civil and Human Rights Organizations Oppose Confirmation of Jeff Sessions
Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Democratic Leader Reid, Chairman Grassley, and Ranking Member Leahy:
On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 national organizations committed to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States, and the 144 undersigned organizations, we are writing to express our strong opposition to the confirmation of Senator Jefferson B. Sessions (R-AL) to be the 84th Attorney General of the United States.

Read more of the open letter here.

Civil Rights Groups Blast Betsy DeVos' 'Lack of Respect' for Student Diversity

A coalition of civil rights groups are registering their concern that education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos' track record does not square with the U.S. Department of Education's mission of "fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access" for all students.
At the same time, DeVos is pushing back on the specific idea that she favors school choice at the expense of public education. 

Read more from here.

Monday, December 12, 2016

AAAED Fall Interns say farewell

Education Department civil rights officials urged to work through ‘tough times ahead’

A celebration of the Education Department’s civil rights work morphed into a pep rally Thursday to bolster federal workers and advocates who are expecting difficult years ahead under president-elect Donald Trump.
“We’ve got some tough times ahead, but we are up to it,” Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund and an education civil rights icon, told the audience at the department’s D.C. headquarters. “You might as well hunker down, do your crying at nights and on the weekends. We are not going backwards.”
Read the rest of the article here.

A White Supremacist Incites a Crowd at Texas A&M

Alternately goading and mocking the crowd, Richard B. Spencer delivered his white-supremacist message Tuesday evening to a packed room of about 400 people at the Texas A&M University Memorial Student Center.

Forty minutes into his two-hour appearance, a few people surged toward the stage, pushing and shoving, before police officers restored order. The chaos seemed to energize Mr. Spencer, who sprinkled racist, sexist comments with fat jokes aimed at protesters who challenged him.

Read the rest of the article here.

When Racism Erupts On College Campuses

Since the November presidential election, a number of racist incidents have erupted on college campuses. At the University of Pennsylvania, a group of Oklahoma-based students created a GroupMe account titled “N****r Lynching” and added numerous black freshmen to the account. The perpetrators then signed their hate speech with the name “Daddy Trump.” Another black female student at Villanova University was assaulted by a group of Trump supporters during the supporters’ victory march. In Massachusetts, a group of white male students drove through the Wellesley College campus in a Trump flag-bearing vehicle, then spat at a black student nearby.

Read the rest of the article here.