9-22: Faculty member "thrown under the bus" PLUS higher ed mitigating tendencies toward authoritarianism

✅Alumni Blitz for the Liberal Arts 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     Adrian College planned to terminate history, philosophy, religion and more -- until graduates organized to stop it. Faculty members still don't understand why the programs were threatened. 

✅Professor Who Called COVID-19 the ‘Chinese Virus’ on Leave 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     The University of Cincinnati is reportedly investigating an instructor who referred to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus,” a term that has been deemed xenophobic, unscientific and politicized, and which has been employed by President Trump. According to WKRC and screenshots of an email shared on social media, John Ucker, adjunct instructor of mechanical and materials engineering, responded to a student who had to miss an in-person lab due to a mandatory COVID-19 quarantine like this: “For students testing positive for the chinese virus [sic], I will give no grade.” 

✅AAUP to Investigate COVID-19 ‘Crisis in Academic Governance’ 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     The American Association of University Professors will investigate the "crisis in academic governance that has occurred in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic," it said Monday. The resulting report, expected in early 2021, will focus on Canisius College, Illinois Wesleyan University, Keuka College, Marian University, Medaille College, National University and Wittenberg University. AAUP investigators will determine whether these colleges and universities have strayed from the association’s widely followed principles and standards of academic governance during the pandemic, not least of all when laying off tenured faculty members. 

Thanjavur, formerly Tanjore, is a 
city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

✅Liberal Arts Majors Less Drawn to Authoritarianism 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     Higher education in the U.S. seems to be especially effective at mitigating tendencies toward authoritarianism, a new report suggests. 

     The report from Georgetown University’s Center for Education and the Workforce finds that bachelor’s degree holders are significantly less inclined, and associate degree holders are somewhat less inclined, to express authoritarian preferences and attitudes compared to high school graduates. 

     Among college graduates, holders of liberal art degrees are less inclined to express authoritarian attitudes and preferences compared to individuals who hold degrees in business or science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. 

✅‘Scared to Death to Teach’: Internal Report Cites ‘Chilling Effect’ 

Southern Cal professor’s removal over use of Chinese word has led to anxiety and distrust 

—CHE 

     An anonymous survey of 105 professors at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business suggests that many of them have lost confidence in the dean, and that they feel “livid,” “betrayed,” and “scared of students” after a fellow faculty member was “thrown under the bus,” as several of them described it, following a controversy over his use of a Chinese word. 

✅Fewer students attending California community colleges, early fall numbers show -- California’s community college system is experiencing a systemwide decline of student enrollment this fall, with some campuses reporting double-digit losses. Ashley A. Smith EdSource -- 9/22/20 

✅California’s COVID-19 positivity rate drops below 3% for the first time -- The share of Californians who tested positive for COVID-19 in the last week dipped below 3% for the first time, a sign that the Golden State is finally starting to beat back the spread of the coronavirus, officials said Monday. Laura J. Nelson in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/22/20 

✅UC San Diego tries to avoid the coronavirus chaos that has upended San Diego State -- With 882 students testing positive or likely to be positive, San Diego State University is reeling from an outbreak of COVID-19. Is the same thing about to happen at UC San Diego? The answer will begin to emerge as 7,500 undergraduates start to move into meticulously cleaned dorms on the sprawling La Jolla campus for the start of the fall quarter. Gary Robbins in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/22/20  

✅California schools launch anti-racism plan, flouting Trump's threats -- The California Department of Education announced new anti-racism lessons and teacher training for school districts on Monday, days after President Donald Trump decried the notion of teaching slavery as a founding tenet of the U.S. and called for a more “patriotic education." MacKenzie Mays Politico -- 9/22/20 

✅Trump Could Be Investigated for Tax Fraud, D.A. Says for First Time -- The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has been locked in a yearlong legal battle with President Trump over obtaining his tax returns, suggested for the first time in a court filing on Monday that it had grounds to investigate him and his businesses for tax fraud. Benjamin Weiser and William K. Rashbaum in the New York Times$ -- 9/22/20 

✅How the GOP is trying to justify its Supreme Court reversal -- It has been two and a half days since Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death set a political tempest in motion. Four years after Senate Republicans declined to take up President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland in a presidential election year because they said voters should decide the matter, they’re now casting that standard aside and pressing forward. Aaron Blake in the Washington Post$ -- 9/22/20 

✅Trump Could Be Investigated for Tax Fraud, D.A. Says for First Time 

—NYT 

     The assertion by the Manhattan district attorney is the most detailed disclosure about its efforts to obtain eight years of President Trump’s tax returns.