Columns:: Around Academe

since 12/15/98

Columns::September 17, 2001

Around academe

Group criticizes N.Y. factory
An anti-sweatshop group to which 82 U.S. colleges belong has criticized the injury rate at a company in New York that makes baseball caps for many of the members. The accusation by the Worker Rights Consortium is the first to be made against the labor practices of a U.S. company.
Workers at the New Era Cap Co. are currently on strike following a move by the company to cut wages for slower workers in an effort to speed up production. The company produces collegiate apparel for many U.S. colleges. Consortium members believe that U.S. factories must be held to the same standards as factories overseas. They have reported that workers have sustained repeated motion injuries while making baseball caps.

U. of Arizona examines joint union
Employees at the University of Arizona are trying to create the first union in the country for graduate teaching assistants, staff and faculty. The union would address issues of salaries and benefits.
A coalition of 15 to 25 employees met to discuss higher salaries and more comprehensive benefits, such as medical insurance, for all university employees. Graduate students are seeking tuition waivers, and faculty members are addressing teaching loads. Meetings between the coalition and university officials have produced positive results on both sides thus far.

Board understated tuition increases
The College Board’s annual reports on college tuition rates have understated the average increase in each of the past four years, analysts say. Discrepancies were found between tuition figures reported in press releases and the numbers published in recent editions of the board’s annual survey, the most widely circulated source of information on tuition trends. Each year tuition increases exceeded estimates by at least 0.9 percentage points.
College Board representatives say that the numbers are only meant to be a tentative average. Data for this year will be released Oct. 23.

Philanthropy giants join forces
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation plans to work with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for the next five years on a project they hope will strengthen liberal education in colleges.
The Hewlett Foundation has dedicated $7.5 million to the project. It is the first time the two organizations, located across the street from each other, have ever worked together.
The project is the result of concerns that higher education has placed too much emphasis on technical skills and career preparation. The organizations hope to strengthen traditional disciplines of the liberal arts.

--Jocelyn Newman

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