academic labor
TagPhilosophy Colloquia: How Much Does Your Department Pay Speakers?
A philosophy professor in charge of his department’s colloquium series has asked what the norms are regarding honoraria. (more…)
The Fourth Branch (guest post)
“We shouldn’t attempt to fit ‘outreach’ or ‘engagement’ into one of the existing three categories . It doesn’t fit neatly into those categories. And, more importantly, all of us should be doing it as part of our jobs, not just a few of us. We are in an all-hands-on-deck situation.” (more…)
Humanities & Other Areas Threatened at Brighton
The administration of the University of Brighton earlier this month announced a plan to layoff over 100 faculty members and 30 support staff, focusing the cuts particularly on the humanities, in which “every single member of its teaching team has been selected for potential redundancy.” (more…)
More Details on the Dispute Between JPP & Wiley
The Chronicle of Higher Education has followed up on Wiley’s firing of Robert Goodin (ANU) from the editorship of the Journal of Political Philosophy. (more…)
Statement of Non-Cooperation with the Journal of Political Philosophy (updated with list of signatories)
The following resolution, prompted by recent developments at the Journal of Political Philosophy, was drafted by Simon Căbulea May (Florida State) with input from others. (more…)
What’s So Bad About “Bad” Philosophy?
In some domains, “overall quality depends on how good the worst stuff is,” while in others, “overall quality depends on how good the best stuff is, and the bad stuff barely matters.” (more…)
Rutgers Strike Suspended; Unions Accept “Framework” for New Contracts
“The leadership bodies of our three unions have voted to accept a framework for new contracts and to suspend our strike and return to work immediately.” (more…)
Rutgers Faculty on Strike; Most Philosophy Faculty Support It (Updated)
Rutgers faculty yesterday began a strike, halting teaching, research, and service activities as part of the effort to obtain pay raises, more job stability for adjunct professors, living wages for graduate student workers, increased support for caregivers, greater security in academic freedom, and other improvements. (more…)
A Norm for How Much Service Work You Should Take On
In a post about work-life balance at Crooked Timber, Ingrid Robeyns (Utrecht) writes: “it would help if we would all agree that we should do our fair share of the slack & service work, and what that would entail”. (more…)
Temple U. Philosophy Faculty Express Support for Striking Grad Students
Graduate students at Temple University have been on strike since the end of January, seeking an increase in wages, more affordable healthcare, longer parental and bereavement leave, and better working conditions. (more…)
Citation Rates by Academic Field: Philosophy Is Near the Bottom (guest post)
Academia’s emphasis on citation rates is “mixed news” for philosophy: it can bring attention to high-quality work, but tends to make philosophy and other humanities fields look bad in comparison with other areas, says Eric Schwitzgebel (UC Riverside), in the following guest post. (more…)
Work-Life Balance
Times Higher Ed (THE) has released results from its 2022 Work-Life Balance survey. (more…)
How Much Do You Referee?
How many journal submissions do you referee each year? (more…)
Potemkin U. (guest post)
“We are mired in inevitably betraying and ignoble practices, obliged to pay mindless obeisance to useless cant or to perform pantomimes of actually important values made ridiculous through endless, unanswered repetition…”
A Little Rough Data About Journal Refereeing in Philosophy
Is there a refereeing crisis in philosophy? There has been a fair amount of discussion about this over the past couple of months. What was missing from much of this discussion, though, was data. So I asked for some. (more…)
A Public Database of Referee Service (guest post)
A few years ago, Neil Sinhababu, associate professor of philosophy at the National University of Singapore, wrote about the “publication crisis” in academic philosophy in a post entitled “2,000 Spaces for 10,000 Papers: Why Everything Gets Rejected & Referees Are Exhausted.” In this guest post*, he follows up with a proposal for how to help make things better. (more..
What Professors Do
With Winter Break coming, professors, you have some time—maybe a month or so—to kick back and just relax. And let’s not forget those three months during summer when you don’t have to work. And don’t you get a fall break and a spring break, too? Sweet. (more…)
Columbia Grad Students Striking, University Striking Back (updated)
Graduate students at Columbia University went on strike last month, for the second time this year, as they attempt to negotiate a labor contract with the university. (more…)
Letter Protesting Midwestern State University’s Treatment of Nathan Jun (updated)
There’s currently an effort underway to gather signatures for a letter in support of philosopher Nathan Jun, who resigned from his tenured professorship at Midwestern State University following the university’s maltreatment of him in regard to freedom of speech and medical-related issues. (more…)
Analytic Philosophy, Inclusiveness, and the English Language
Philosophers are endorsing a set of principles “to address the structural inequality between native and non-native speakers , and to provide as many scholars as possible globally a fair chance to contribute to the development of contemporary philosophy.”
Philosophy Professor Resigns to Protest University’s COVID-19 Plan
Jeremy Fischer, who until yesterday was a tenured associate professor of philosophy at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), resigned from his position to protest his university’s COVID-19 policies for the coming term. (more…)
Children, Academia, and the Life of the Mind
“If children take time away from a habit of intellectual activity that is bad in itself, it’s hardly a real accusation against them.” (more…)
Sounding the Alarm: 2021-2022 COVID Risks at Unprotected Colleges and Universities (guest post)
Some faculty will be teaching this fall at schools in areas with low vaccination rates, whose administrators cannot or will not require vaccinations, mask-wearing, or social distancing. What, if anything, should faculty at such places, and possibly elsewhere, do? (more…)
Sci-Hub & the Philosophy Grad Student “Pirate Queen”
You may know that Sci-Hub is a means by which to freely access academic research that normally requires a subscription or purchase. Did you know its founder, Alexandra Elbakyan, is a philosophy graduate student? (more…)
Liverpool Philosophers Object to Planned Layoffs at University, Call for Support
The members of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Liverpool have authored a letter in support of the actions being taken by their union in response to planned layoffs (redundancies) of colleagues in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences (more…)
Junior Yearly Progress Reports in Pandemic Times
A junior faculty member has questions about the assessment of faculty on the tenure-track over the past year, particularly regarding how such faculty should, if at all, discuss how the challenges of the pandemic affected their progress. (more…)
Academic Freedom Alliance Formed
A group of scholars have created a new non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the academic freedom of higher education faculty (more…)
New Editors at “Analysis”
The philosophy journal, Analysis, will soon have new editors. (more…)