December 2nd, 2009
In the summer of 1996, I stood at the edge of what may well have been the largest and most expensive construction zone of the past half-century of human existence: Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. In the wake of the fall of the Wall in 1989, the entire war-damaged, Cold War-neglected city center was being razed and completely rebuilt from the ground up.
Never in my life have I witnessed such a vast beehive of cranes, cement trucks, earth moving equipment, and, of course, thousands of construction workers, all swarming over vast tracts of excavated urban real estate and dozens of steel building frames in various stages of completion. In one massive effort, 21st century architectural wonders were springing up everywhere to evict, once and for all, the lingering ghosts of 1945.
Yesterday, I walked once again (as I do almost daily) through another construction zone that never fails to remind me of Potsdamer Platz, albeit on a much smaller scale: the UW-Madison campus. And on that occasion the same questions occurred to me that always do:
Posted in Facilities, The UW-Madison Campus, The University Budget | No Comments »
November 27th, 2009
For those of us on the faculty, the concept of “furlough days” is as disconnected from reality as the concept of “sick days.”
Every month we have to fill out and submit a form that lists the specific hours on specific days that we took “sick leave.” The bureaucratic fiction behind this ritual is that faculty work 9-5 days and 40-hour weeks and that any day missed because of a cold is a day of productivity lost forever.
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Posted in Compensation, Retention, State-University Relations | 1 Comment »
November 26th, 2009
In our quest to further enhance the visibility of this site, we now have a Twitter and Facebook presence. If you are a Twitter or Facebook user, follow our status updates to get real-time notifications of new posts and other information. And if you are a Facebook user, you can become a fan (click on the button to the right of the name) to show your support.
Here is the Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sifting-and-Winnowing/187340228469
Here is the Twitter page: http://twitter.com/SiftandWinnow
Please consider sharing the above links with your own Twitter and Facebook friends.
And happy Thanksgiving!
Posted in Site Information | No Comments »
November 23rd, 2009
Based at least on the number of people who publicly referred to Sifting and Winnowing during the restructuring controversy over the past month-and-a-half, it seems clear that this site is taken seriously as a place to go for informed independent commentary on campus policy issues. We look forward to bringing in many new contributors and to covering a wider range of issues in coming weeks and months. As always, we welcome suggestions for both, and we encourage unsolicited contributions — see this page for details.
We have now added a new feature to this site, one that is intended to complement the main S&W page: an open community discussion forum for UW-Madison that allows anyone to post informally about almost anything without moderator involvement (except in clear cases of spamming or other abuse). From the main S&W home page, the link to the new forum is found under “Sifting and Winnowing Resources” in the sidebar on the right.
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Posted in Future topics, Site Information, The UW-Madison Campus | No Comments »
November 22nd, 2009
Late last night, I was thumbing through the stack of thesis and dissertation drafts that had been given to me by students in anticipation of a December graduation. I swore under my breath over the unpleasant task ahead — not the reading per se but rather the gratingly unaesthetic form in which I had to read these tomes. Each one represented approximately two journal papers worth of content inefficiently spread out over 120+ double-spaced, single-sided sheets of text and oversized figures. Some of these were not early drafts requiring extensive copy-editing; they were final drafts requiring only my approval and that of my fellow readers before being deposited with the Graduate School.
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Posted in Graduate School, The UW-Madison Campus | 6 Comments »
November 16th, 2009
Just days ago, this forum reposted a message that had been circulated by the AAUP concerning loopholes in the legal protection of speech on campus due to a controversial Supreme Court ruling in 2006.
Today, in the article “Free speech constraints spark criticism, concern”, the Daily Cardinal has reported that Prof. Donald Downs (Political Science) is taking up that issue with our University Committee. That article, and the background information from the AAUP, is essential reading for anyone who might ever disagree with an administration decision.
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Posted in Academic freedom, Graduate School, Shared governance, The UW-Madison Campus | No Comments »
November 13th, 2009
This memo by Dean Gary Sandefur (Letters and Sciences) was copied to L&S faculty, staff, and graduate students. It is reproduced here for the convenience, and public comment, of S&W readers. – Eds.
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Posted in Graduate School, Letters and Sciences, Restructuring proposal, The UW-Madison Campus | 2 Comments »
November 11th, 2009
The following broadcast message from Provost Paul M. DeLuca, Jr., was received on November 11, 2009 and is reposted here for the convenience of S&W readers (a similar or identical message also appears on the Provost’s own website). Public comments are strongly encouraged. – Eds.
November 11, 2009
Dear Faculty, Staff and Students:
As you know, we have been reaching out to get your views into the challenges that confront us as a research and learning community. A potential realignment of our research infrastructure has, not surprisingly, resonated in different ways with many of you. I write today to let you know that your comments and concerns will be important factors in any change that may be implemented. The strength of our university is derived primarily from the creativity and hard work of our faculty, staff and students. Without your efforts and inspiration, UW-Madison would not be the great university it is, and thus any substantive change to our research apparatus will occur only through the combined efforts of the campus community. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Graduate School, Restructuring proposal, Shared governance, The UW-Madison Campus | 2 Comments »
November 10th, 2009
The following broadcast message was sent out by the American Association of University Professors to its membership on November 10, 2009. It is reprinted in its entirety here for the convenience of S&W readers. – Eds.
The right of faculty members at public colleges and universities to speak freely without fear of retribution is endangered as never before.
In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government can restrict the speech of public employees when they comment on issues related to their “official duties.” Although the decision specifically set aside academic speech, recognizing that additional constitutional interests were at stake, several lower courts have ruled recently that faculty members who speak out on matters affecting their institutions are not protected under the First Amendment. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Academic freedom, Shared governance | No Comments »
November 6th, 2009
We post here, unedited and without editorial comment, the complete text of an informational letter circulated by Letters & Sciences summarizing changes in the collective bargaining agreement for Teaching Assistants and Project Assistants, as signed recently by Governor Doyle.
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Posted in Collective bargaining, Instruction, Letters and Sciences, State-University Relations, The University System | No Comments »