Although some consider electronic publishing to be the wave of the future, publishers must first build an infrastructure of citations, copyrights, authentication, and preservation to make it work well. Consistency is a crucial consideration in making information and documents accessible, and significant resources must be dedicated to archiving…

Two views of the future of peer review for college and university faculty promotion are presented. One proposes that open files will mean less candid peer reviews and that evaluators may be called on to defend their evaluations in court. The second argues that openness has not led to increased litigation. (MSE)

Looks at the history of fair use of copyright-protected works, from concerns about photocopying to emergence of early guidelines, opposition, and continuing struggles to interpret the Copyright Act of 1976. Argues that no current fair use guidelines have the force of law; indeed, the law is a less complex measure than most guidelines. Recommends a…

Increased appreciation of the commercial value of intellectual property has triggered a major debate on college campuses, focusing on two issues: ownership of intellectual property and use of copyrighted works in teaching and research. Because these raise faculty-rights issues, faculty must identify its claims and interests clearly and make itself…

A strong economic recovery offers higher education only some relief. Educators must respond in new ways to economic problems. Higher education offers the best chance for finding regional and national solutions, but, ironically, it must reshape itself to do so. (MSE)

A 1998 court decision ruled that a recent Virginia law requiring official approval for state employees to put materials with "sexually explicit content" on the Internet was unconstitutional. However, the extent to which the First Amendment will protect academic freedom in cyberspace in this case and for other issues is not clear. (MSE)

The actions of Clark College in terminating, for reasons of financial exigency, two faculty members previously granted indefinite tenure are reviewed according to the AAUP statement of principles and recommended institutional regulations on academic freedom and tenure, and procedural standards, and found to be in violation. (MSE)

The focus on the debate over college teaching vs. faculty research productivity, although important, ignores the central issue of the need to restore proper funding for higher education. Underfunding higher education ultimately destroys both quality and access and affects the public sector the most. (MSE)

Discusses "National Labor Relations Board v. Yeshiva University," which ruled that college faculty were managers and thereby excluded from collective bargaining, focusing on why the Supreme Court classified professors as managers, whether the Court did something unusual in this case, or whether faculty is simply the unlucky vanguard of a…

Intellectual property questions, as they concern college faculty, are composed of many issues and have substantial and far-reaching implications for the work of faculty and students and for administrative decision making. Both faculty and the American Association of University Professors must become involved to guard against incursions of academic…

The northeast's economic problems have had a serious impact on higher education in student access, faculty contracts, faculty "brain drain," rising tuition, more time spent completing degrees, and decaying facilities. Higher education must shift its emphasis away from mere survival and back to creativity in teaching and research. (MSE)

The American Association of State Colleges and Universities' recently revised policy concerning the termination of faculty in conditions of institutional financial exigency is criticized in the context of AAUP's stated guidelines and standards. (MSE)

When a large group of nontenured part-time English department faculty were summarily dismissed, a significant segment of the English curriculum was left largely unattended, and other problems arose throughout the institution. (MSE)

Although a casual analysis might suggest that a faculty member cannot afford a two-term sabbatical leave, factors affecting income loss from sabbaticals have changed. These include an increase in the number of two-income households, general increases in salary levels, and substantial revisions in federal tax law. Income loss from sabbaticals,…

Forces raising the cost of higher education will not disappear even in a stronger economy. Most research universities will be faced with balancing the scope of their individual commitments and the nature of their relationship with other institutions with advancement of knowledge and education at the highest levels. (MSE)