November. The holiday spirit (bah humbug?) starts kicking in.
Families and friends gather together for Thanksgiving…via computer.
Say what?
The Associated Press reports health officials are outlining a scenario in which large Thanksgiving gatherings would be highly unadvisable.
And take a guess which group of people could start the proverbial snowball rolling downhill?
Yup, students.
As more schools open for in-person instruction and more college students return to campuses, small clusters of cases could widen into outbreaks in late September. Public fatigue over mask rules and other restrictions could stymie efforts to slow these infections.
According to KVIA-TV, big changes could be coming to New Mexico State University.
“We need to look very carefully at the budget,” explained Carol Parker, the university’s provost.
Under the proposal, the College of Education would be consolidated with the College of Health and Social Services. The new college would also add eleven majors from the College of Arts and Sciences.
The Guardian reports economist Thomas Piketty is standing up to Chinese bullying.
Piketty told the Guardian the Chinese publisher Citic Press had sent his French publisher a list of 10 pages of requested cuts in June from the French edition of the book, and a further list in August related to the English edition.
“I refused these conditions and told them that I would only accept a translation with no cut of any sort. They basically wanted to cut almost all parts referring to contemporary China, and in particular to inequality and opacity in China,” he said.
A valuable lesson for American companies that kowtow to China’s demands.
It’s a story likely to be written many times and across the United States over the next 12 months: the elimination of full-time faculty positions at colleges and universities.
As MLive reports, Adrian College has announced planned cuts.
According to a news release from the Adrian College Association of Professors (ACAP), Jerry Wright, vice president for business affairs at Adrian College, sent a letter to ACAP saying the college intended to eliminate 10 faculty members over the summer followed by another 12 layoffs in the fall of 2021.
If all 22 positions are indeed cut, that would represent roughly 23% of the 95 full-time faculty.
