Higher Education Quick Takes

Adjunct faculty members at Georgetown University voted late last week to unionize, becoming the third major group in the Washington area to join a burgeoning citywide organizing effort by the Service Employees International Union. Nearly three-quarters of the eligible faculty members who voted supported the union. Georgetown officials said they would support the decision of the adjunct faculty members to unionize.

Adjuncts at George Washington and American Universities are already part of the citywide bargaining unit, SEIU Local 500.

The Rev. Donald J. Harrington announced Friday that he is stepping down as president of St. John's University in New York. In his announcement, he said that he had been contemplating retirement for some time, having served as president for 24 years and having overseen numerous improvements at the university. But he also acknowledged -- without detail -- "the difficulties for everyone during the past year." Father Harrington has been the subject of much scrutiny and investigation since New York Magazine outlined a series of business ventures involving Father Harrington and his chief of staff, Rob Wile. St. John's has also been in the news over the trial of a former dean, Cecilia Chang, who was accused of defrauding the university and forcing international students to do personal work for her. Chang killed herself while on trial.

When Richard Herman resigned as chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (amid a scandal over admissions procedures that favored politically connected applicants), he was awarded a salary of $212,000 a year as he took on a faculty position. But an article in The Chicago Tribune raises questions about whether he is performing the full duties of a faculty member. Herman is required to teach only two classes a year in the College of Education, not the standard four a year. And his class this semester was called off due to low enrollment -- the second time that has happened since 2011, the Tribune said. Herman lives in Chicago and said through a university spokesman that he travels to campus once a week. Herman has switched to online courses when his classes have been canceled. He declined to comment on the questions raised by the article.

Throughout the economic downturn, some pundits and politicians have suggested that there is limited value to a college degree. An analysis in The New York Times, based on the latest unemployment data, suggests otherwise. The Times noted that in April, when the national unemployment rate was 7.5 percent, the rate for college graduates was 3.9 percent. Further, the number of college-educated graduates with jobs is now up 9.1 percent since the recession started. The number of those with a high school diploma, but no college degree, who have jobs is down 9 percent.