High salaries and perquisites such as generous separation benefits, bonuses, housing, and housing improvements have provoked criticism and concern over the use of public or limited institutional funds. (MSE)

The Supreme Court's three 1986 decisions and March 1987 decision concerning affirmative action and their implications for hiring, promotion, layoffs, and admissions in higher education institutions are discussed. (MSE)

John Brademas' career in national politics and its effect on his approach to his work as president of New York University are discussed. (MSE)

Intense global technological and market competition is reshaping the world economic and political order in ways that have important long-term implications for the organization of research in America's universities. (MSE)

Presents a study which focuses on the use of network radio in the presidential campaigns of 1932 and 1936. Discusses the use of performance skills and sales techniques in broadcasts made by the Democrats and Republicans over the two major networks: the Columbia Broadcasting System and the National Broadcasting System. Examines how radio…

In many of the 40 states where assessment is required by state law or policy, faculty members and administrators have shaped assessment programs so that colleges have the flexibility to use several kinds of measurements, not just tests. Some of the political controversy brought about by assessment requirements are described. (MLW)

Discusses a 1947 study by Hyman and Sheatsley which investigated the political ignorance of the U.S. public. Examines the 1984 National Election Study, stating that a substantial segment of the U.S. public remains ignorant of political issues. Considers the dangers and implications of political ignorance (know-nothingism) in a democratic society.…

Recent history has demonstrated the importance of political decision making in limiting or enhancing social welfare services and the quality of life in the United States. The needs of undergraduate social work students are explored as they become sensitized to the possibilities and processes of social change. (Author/MH)

This working paper focuses on the educational planner as a bureaucratic actor. To explain planner influence or lack of influence in the policymaking process, practitioners need to explore the micropolitics of organizations and understand individual, organizational, and situational forces demanding their engagement. Planners need an engaged…

Examines language use in school contexts to address the relationship between power as a feature of social structure and power as an interactional process (the macro-micro issue in sociology). Illustrates the way in which political, economic, and legal considerations exert constraining influence on social interaction. (MM)

A gathering of anarchists, communists, socialists, communitarians, social democrats, gay-rights activists, and other radical groups at the National Student Convention broke up with little to agree upon. Students differed over whether they should forbid the inclusion of Marxist-Leninist groups. (MLW)

Discusses the "religious right" and censorship in the Texas textbook controversy; in Hawkins County, Tennessee; and in an Alabama state law dealing with voluntary school prayer. Concludes that unless groups monitor and oppose far right attempts to ban books and curricula, censorship will likely increase. (GEA)

Claims tests in this country have become political weapons instead of tools designed to assess the value and progress of current curricula. Calls for teachers to take charge of the tools (tests) to use them for the benefit of their students. (NH)

Relates how historical developments initiated the curriculum reform movement, which caused curriculum studies to become vulnerable to reconceptualization. Traces the movement from Sputnik in 1957 through reconceptualists' opposition to the mainstream field in the 1970s. The opposition has now become the field itself, which is characterized by…

The author explores the forces in American education that mitigate against research influencing practice. He focuses on the dual influences of "traditional wisdom" and "political interference," and defines the role of professional judgment and bias in determining the content of teacher education courses. (MT)