Higher Education Quick Takes

The board of the National Education Association, which represents college faculty members in addition to elementary and secondary school teachers, on Friday approved a new statement on digital learning that is likely to be adopted as official policy for the union by its Representative Assembly in July. The policy, which applies to both K-12 and higher education:

• Endorses "hybrid" teaching -- involving both technology and teachers -- as the best approach. "Optimal learning environments should neither be totally technology free, nor should they be totally online and devoid of educator interaction," the statement says.
• Calls for teachers to be centrally involved in decisions about how to use technology in classrooms.
• Says that "education employees should own the copyright to materials that they create in the course of their employment. There should be an appropriate 'teacher’s exception' to the 'works made for hire' doctrine, pursuant to which works created by education employees in the course of their employment are owned by the employee. This exception should reflect the unique practices and traditions of academia."
• Urges policy makers to consider the extent to which increased reliance on technology for learning may exacerbate inequities in the education system.

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.