newsletters still rule

…for campus or regional communication and as community building tools at the grassroots level. We'd like to post more from them for readers to learn more about campuses and workplace conditions in other parts of the country. Not everything changes and many traditional ways are as good as ever. Smart change is keeping what works, using new tools to share and make it better.

Board member Peter D.G. Brown is also President of the SUNY New Paltz UUP Chapter and edits its award winning newsletter, The Bullhorn. Peter shares this link to the September Special Issue noting that much of it is "devoted to contingent issues, as usual. I'd like the p. 4 article on Lavallee to get wide exposure, since he is being showered with money, while the campus administration cries poverty when it comes to increasing pay for adjuncts." Read and compare Peter's articles on Lavallee and New Paltz adjuncts posted below. But don't miss out on the rest of the issue or the Mayday Declaration (formerly Mayday $5K) for a living wage and basic workplace rights for adjuncts. Sign it. Share it.

in the air…#CEW2013, #NCC strike, other precariat actions

…are they precursors of change or another round of promises? Will momentum continue to build, moving toward a tipping point, a major swerve? I'm still working on another change post, building off the last. The concept no sooner gels than something pops up to change it. Change is like that. This is not about change but not quite not about change. Starting as a gap fill post, it has come to feel more like watching for the wave.

With a month and a half to go, a new Campus Equity Week page launched. What did Mission Control used to say? We have lift-off. Later than advised but well ahead of the 2009 and 2011 late starts.

From its inception, CEW was as a genuine grassroots effort. Yet without the focus of a dedicated home base and a point person designated to round up, report, announce and share resources, it was not thriving as it had earlier. Not that anyone wanted to see it go, but there was no concerted effort for a large scale push. Pockets of activities persisted on scattered campuses.

Announcements & Reminders

Due to technical difficulties, blog, Facebook and Twitter posts will be extremely limited until these are resolved. I will try to check in when I can but time and access will be limited. Needless to say, this will also effect our hour other pages will also be on hiatus. Pages syndicated to Facebook - OPFTA, Workplace, Changing Universities, and CFHE - will not be affected. Please send suggestions for additional subscriptions.

Closing reminders: don't forget Labor Day next Monday, September 2.  World Teavechers Day is October 5 ~ over a month away but still not too early to starting planning or to share your event with the world.


 
Today is the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. Tomorrow is a Nationwide Fast-Food Workers Strike. Both events share goals with and hold great significance for our own mission.

What does a theory of change look like?

…Change…we have different ideas about it (often so strongly held as to become more obstacle than motivation), what it is, how to achieve it…but whatever it is and by whatever means, we want it. I had the notion of writing about hours and spent more that a few pulling material and making notes by the time this article caught and held my attention. The piece, instead of jelling, was turning into The Blob. I needed a change. So do adjunct working conditions.

Firstly it’s ‘theories’ not ‘theory’. When people talk about a single ‘theory of change’ (ToC from now on), alarm bells should ring – in the worst case it’s just a new jargon for old-school linear change, impact chains, logframes etc. Instead of a deluded search for a single grand theory of everything, we need to learn to recognize and manage a range of theories, throw them at a problem, and see which ones are helpful (see my recent experience of doing this in Tanzania). 

Some but not all #highered groups offer suggestions for #HEA revamp

…@InsideHigherEd article notes administrators, admin oriented organizations, accreditors, ACE, even for-profits had a say. By stark and, frankly, shameful contrast, students, families, in the classroom educators, even HE unions were either not heard from or their input went without notice.


Were we invited? Our input solicited? Did anyone on the above list (higher ed media included) notice our absence? It's too late now: the deadline for input was August 2. Even the IRS treated adjunct faculty with more respect.

Read the rest at Higher ed groups offer suggestions for revamping Higher Education Act | Inside Higher Ed and then read the letter from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce...the one addressed to the "Higher Education Stakeholder" (but apparently not all of us...)