OK, I had an idea of what this $25 word meant when U of M professor Eva von Dassow used it in her speech to regents last month, but I just had to look it up. verbigeration: n. the constant or obsessive repetition of meaningless words or phrases, as in mental illness. Example: All of the Read more →
A YouTube video that’s blazing its way through the academic community is a 3-minute speech last month to regents by U of M professor Eva von Dassow, who rails about what she sees as the U’s calculated starving of the liberal arts. Von Dassow, who teaches classics and Near Eastern studies, argues that the university’s leaders are overstating Read more →
MPR’s Tim Post looks at how officials are figuring out what to pay the future chiefs of both the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system (MnSCU). What each man gets so far: University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks ranks as one of the highest-paid public college presidents in the U.S. His Read more →
Calebrw via Wikimedia Commons You can’t please everyone Here’s a blog post I stumbled upon by a parent who just recently finished a campus tour of St. Olaf. I’m always curious what they and their children think of campuses. In this case, they didn’t think much of what they saw: an overly frank tour guide; a Read more →
PerfesserC via Wikimedia Commons A Navigate scholarship pays for Denise’s tuition at MCTC To get a deeper view of the struggle that illegal immigrants have in getting an education, check out this piece by MPR’s Sasha Aslanian on a student group that helps illegal immigrants get into college and find ways to pay for it. Read more →
I recently mentioned an article about how students are having a hard time articulating to potential employers what they got out of their studies abroad. The Chronicle of Higher Education’s 7 Signs of Successful Study Abroad Programs mentions something the University of Minnesota does that I think might help that. In short, it connects its overseas Read more →
Randy Stern via Wikimedia Commons Students aren’t biting like they did last year Those ingrates! After the university and state of Minnesota cough up around $290 million to build the Gophers a new stadium, the Minnesota Daily reports that students are slow to buy tickets this season. Sales are down by about 15 percent compared Read more →
St. Cloud State has begun its attempt to cut as many as 90 probationary (tenure-track) faculty by sending out layoff notices to 26, the St. Cloud Times reports. The notices are a sort of early warning to the 26, and are not a final dismissal. Those 26 represent just over $2 million in payroll, and the university faces Read more →
User:K.lee via Wikimedia Commons Planned obsolescence — not just for appliances anymore In light of the recent federal legislation to reduce the cost of textbooks, The New York Times offers a series of essays in its Room for Debate feature on “The Real Cost of Textbooks.” The book publishers supported the legislation. But a number Read more →
Alex Friedrich