Former Prisoner Facing ‘Backlash’ For Pursuing Education
This post, by TTEF President Andres Idarraga on behalf of the Board of Directors, originally appeared on TTEF’s blog. The recent controversy surrounding a young man pursuing his education at the University of Rhode Island raises several societal issues. (“One student’s journey from state prison to URI sparks inquiry,” Katherine Gregg, 2/24/13). Should we encourage [...]
Brown May Cost More But Grads Have Less Debt
All else being equal, if a URI and a Brown grad both apply for the same job, the kid with the Ivy League degree is probably going to get the gig. That Brown diploma ought to be more valuable; at $54,000 a year, Brown costs a lot more than does URI, which runs the average [...]
Privatization of Higher Ed Violates State Constitution
As reported here and here, the University of Rhode Island has spent close to $500,000 on repairs of its president’s tuition-funded home, which is among the fringe benefits that come with the president’s job, such as a car, an expense account, and club dues. Excessive administrative spending is but one of many results of nationwide privatization of [...]
The Right Needs A Head On A Stick; Erik Loomis’ Will Do
It’s been a bad end of the year for conservatives. After deluding themselves into thinking they were going to win the presidential election by a landslide, they instead found themselves routed by a president they’d labelled “socialist” and claimed that he “palled around with terrorists.” And then in the wake of a national tragedy which [...]
Progress Report: RI Tops Region in Food Insecurity; Pension Compromise Talk; Roger Williams and Thanksgiving
We’re now the number one state in New England for food insecurity, reports the ProJo this morning. 15 percent of households in the state can’t afford the food it needs. This is a crisis of epic proportions that goes largely unaddressed because the influential class doesn’t tend to know many people that are affected by [...]
Progress Report: Tax Fairness; the End of Reaganomics; Free Market Lesson for Mike Riley; Curating the News
If Obamacare’s survival was the biggest policy victory of the election, a close second has to be tax equity. In his first post-election presser, Obama said yesterday the nation needs to ask the richest 2 percent of the population to pony up a few more tax dollars if we’re to avoid a fiscal disaster. Congressional [...]
Progress Report: Gordon Fox Gets Kicked; Gina’s Coffers; Comparing Pay Grades; Pirate Party, Lawrence Lessig
Gordon Fox’s reelection battle has become one of the most watched contests in Rhode Island, and Ian Donnis yesterday busted out what I think is the best local campaign journalism of the year summarizing his race against Mark Binder. “Fewer than 9,000 voters will decide one of Rhode Island’s most important elections on November 6,” [...]
URI Profs Shed Light on Why We Like to Be Scared
We Americans enjoy scaring ourselves so much we’ve dedicated a holiday to it, and I’ve got to admit that I prefer a good horror movie to all the candy associated with Halloween – and I have quite a sweet tooth! If you ever wondered why our culture enjoys the horror genre so much, three URI [...]
Progress Report: Hurricane Sandy Edition; Debate Schedule; Paving URI for Parking Lot; 10 Best Gaffs
While the wind is honking early this semi-stormy morning, the significant weather from Hurricane Sandy will be the when the moon tide high hits later tonight. The full moon high tide typically causes a little flooding all over the Ocean State; couple that with the wall of water a hurricane pushes along and we’ve got [...]
Progress Report: URI Is ‘Dramatically’ Underfunded; Local Politcal Dynasties; New Sales Taxes, Strange Speech in NK
In less than a decade, URI has cut spending by an astonishing 47 percent per student. Here’s how the Providence Journal put it: “State support for Rhode Island’s only public research institution has fallen so dramatically in the past decade that the mission and future of the University of Rhode Island are threatened, according to [...]
URI Profs Get Hearing for Unfair Labor Complaint
The state Labor Relations Board has “upheld the charge and issued a complaint” concerning the University of Rhode Island professors’ union unfair labor practice accusation against the Board of Governors for Higher Education, said Robyn Golden, administrator for the board. The complaint alleges that the Board of Governors violated state labor laws when it declined [...]
Labor History Society to Honor URI’s Molloy Tonight
If you believe singer Utah Phillips, the long memory is the most radical notion in this country today. It is in that vein some of us gather tonight in Providence at the Roger Williams Park Casino to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Rhode Island Labor History Society. For a quarter century Rhode Island’s organizers, [...]
RI Progress Report: Education Disparity, Homeless Bill of Rights, Brendan Doherty, Citizens United, the Ocean Mist
What you’ll notice when you look at GoLocal’s annual list of best high schools is the ones at the top of the list are in affluent towns and the ones near the bottom are in poorer urban areas. It’s that simple: we have a tiered education system in this state. Rich kids, and those lucky [...]
URI Contracts and the Privatization of Higher Ed.
At the March 19 meeting of the Rhode Island Board of Governors of Higher Education, the board was supposed to discuss the tentative agreement that had been ratified that very same day by URI faculty. Unfortunately, because of the disruption of this meeting by Occupy URI and the Raging Grannies, the board was so shocked [...]
RI Progress Report: URI Profs File Suit, West Warwick, Tar Heels on Marriage Equality, Doherty and US Chamber
URI professors have filed a lawsuit against the state saying the Board of Governors for Higher Education broke the law when they declined to ratify a contract they had already agreed to after Gov. Chafee weighed in on the matter. Profs may win in court, but in order to win in the court of public [...]
RI Progress Report: Austerity, URI Contracts, Police Unions
The Board of Governors for Higher Education meet tonight to decide whether or not to give raises to URI professors, and two other faculty unions, as tuition continues to skyrocket for students. The meeting is at 5:30 tonight, at CCRI’s Warwick campus, and according to the Projo, the professor’s union plans to bus faculty to [...]
ACLU: Narragansett Violated Renters’ Rights
The town of Narragansett issued overnight parking passes to three URI grad students in September. But they still got parking tickets in January. Why? “It’s the latest in continuing series of petty attempts to make students feel as unwelcome as possible in the town,” said Steven Brown, of the RI ACLU. “It seems like such [...]
Budgeting for Disaster: How RI Pays for URI
Should URI Faculty get a 3 percent raise? Let me tell you a story and you decide. URI is the big kahuna among the three institutions run by the Board of Governors. It educates about 16,000 students, around 10,000 of whom are from Rhode Island. Researchers there pull in about $80 million each year in [...]
RI Progress Report: Teachers v. Tuition, Ciccone, RIP Peter Lord
Rightfully, Sen. Frank Ciccone is emerging as the biggest loser in the incident in which his senate colleague Dominick Ruggerio was arrested for allegedly driving drunk and refusing a breathalyzer. Ciccone is accused of attempting to coerce Barrington police officers to let Ruggerio off by threatening legislative retribution. We’re not sure exactly which is more [...]
Why Did LGBT Expert Leave URI?
To announce an event to be held a the LGBTIQQ Symposium, running from April 2 through 6, URI issued a press release in which it announced the symposium while highlighting the following: “The University of Rhode Island will present a panel discussion focusing on the unique workplace experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex, queer or [...]
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