Institutional Betrayal: Inequity, Discrimination, Bullying, and Retaliation in Academia

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen D. Pyke

Institutions of higher learning dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and committed to diversity should be exemplars of workplace equity. Sadly, they are not. Their failure to take appropriate action to protect employees from inequity, discrimination, bullying, and retaliation amounts to institutional betrayal. The professional code of ethics for sociology, a discipline committed to the study of inequality, instructs sociologists to “strive to eliminate bias in their professional activities” and not to “tolerate any forms of discrimination.” As such, sociologists should be the leaders on our campuses in recognizing institutional betrayals by academic administrators and in promoting workplace equity. Regrettably, we have not accepted this charge. In this address, I call for sociologists to embrace our professional responsibilities and apply our scholarly knowledge and commitments to the reduction of inequality in our own workplace. If we can’t do it here, can we do it anywhere?

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 178-196
Author(s):  
Callum Scott ◽  
Yolandi Coetser

Due to an oft held presupposition by academic administrators that the humanities lack utility, it is common for humanities scholars to be fearful of the demise of our disciplines in institutions of higher learning. In a number of western institutions, humanities departments have been closed based upon this logic. Locating the discussion within the South African academy and based particularly upon the pedagogical experience of the University of South Africa, the authors note an emerging juxtaposition to the western utilitarian approach toward humanities. The decolonial turn is gaining traction in neo colonies and offers an approach away from western positivist-inspired reductivism. Therefore, from within the decolonial milieu, a recovery of the importance of researching and teaching themes of the human can arise when the conception of the person is integrally restored. We argue that when dominant knowledge systems are dislodged, space is created for epistemic plurality by which epistemic re-centring occurs. Doing philosophy in the decolonial environment affords the privilege of reclaiming humanity in the face of its neo colonial mutilation. This is even more so, when philosophy is taught through the dispersed mode of open, distance, and e-learning (ODeL), an andragogy that encourages recentring and decolonisation in both the theory and praxis of teaching and learning.


Sains Insani ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-14
Author(s):  
Ira Meilita Ibrahim ◽  
Taufik A. Latif ◽  
Afi Roshezry Abu Bakar ◽  
Muthualagan Thangavelu

The advancement of European dress to the rest of the world was linked to the definition of civilization as “a stage of social development considered to be more advanced” and “polite and good-mannered”. The widespread of their fashion style in the 19th and 20th centuries influenced the way the rest of the world attire. The fashion trend and dressing style thus change the purpose of dressing through time. The dressing style in campuses especially in private institutions of higher learning is under particular scrutiny, as it is often said to be inappropriate for a learning environment. This study looked at the importance of moral education, and its role in implementing the dress code for students among university students especially between two types of university i.e. public university and private university. It looked on the dressing style of students, both male and female, and the factors that lead to their dressing pattern which is common among students. This study also advocated the students’ understanding of the content of dress codes in their learning institution and the role played by moral education in regard to dress code. The overall study highlighted students’ perception towards the implementation of the dress code and punishment in their learning institution. The methodologies used to carry out this study are questionnaires and interviews. This study will therefore ascertain the important of dress code among students at higher learning institution and the role of moral education in cultivating values in order to dress properly or decently. Key Words: moral education, dress code, higher learning institution, civilization.


Author(s):  
Ellen Chung ◽  
Hamish B Coates

Community engagement is a phenomenon that has received increasing attention among institutions of higher learning in recent years, and students engaging with communities are generally seen as beneficial. Given this, surprisingly little is known about this form of engagement in Australian higher education, let alone methods to measure its benefits on students. This study discussed the development of the Student Community Engagement Benefits Questionnaire (SCEBS), a questionnaire that measures the perceptions of community engagement benefits among undergraduate students in Australia. The final questionnaire has 32 items allocated to four benefit scales: (1) Career skills, (2) Diversity skills, (3) Interpersonal skills, (4) Civic skills. Most benefit items had a factor loading of atleast 0.40 with its own scale. The results of the factor analysis revealed that the four scales accounted for 53% of the total variance. The alpha reliability coefficient for the four scales ranged from 0.79 to 0.91. Based on these findings, the Student Community Engagement Benefits Scale (SCEBS) is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used in the field of education. Undergraduate students also reported statistically significant changes in the four dimensions after participating in community engagement activities.


2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 50-69
Author(s):  
Muhammed Haron

As a discipline, “Islamic studies” has attracted serious attention by a number of institutions of higher learning in predominantly nonMuslim societies. While southern Africa’s communities witnessed the inclusion of “Islam” as a subject in the faculties of theology at various regional universities as well as Christian seminaries, Muslim communities have clamored for the appointment of Muslim staff at universities to teach courses on Islam. On the whole, these educational developments bode well for the teaching and studying of Islam regionally, even though the purpose and objectives for doing so differ radically from one institution to the other. This essay first seeks to offer a brief insight into the teaching of “Islam” as a subject in theological/oriental/religious studies programs; it thereafter reflects upon “Islamic studies” as a social science discipline that has been included in the social science and humanities syllabus. It focuses on the BA Honors program to show the themes chosen for these programs and how scholars redesigned and changed these programs to meet modern needs. Apart from using “social change” as its theoretical framework, it also brings en passantinto view the insider/outsider binary that further frames the debates regarding the teaching and studying of Islam at these institutions in southern Africa generally and South Africa in particular. 


Author(s):  
Roger L. Geiger

This chapter reviews the book The University of Chicago: A History (2015), by John W. Boyer. Founded in 1892, the University of Chicago is one of the world’s great institutions of higher learning. However, its past is also littered with myths, especially locally. Furthermore, the university has in significant ways been out of sync with the trends that have shaped other American universities. These issues and much else are examined by Boyer in the first modern history of the University of Chicago. Aside from rectifying myth, Boyer places the university in the broader history of American universities. He suggests that the early University of Chicago, in its combination of openness and quality, may have been the most democratic institution in American higher education. He also examines the reforms that overcame the chronic weaknesses that had plagued the university.


2000 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Polly Walke

A growing number of Native scholars are involved in decolonising higher education through a range of processes designed to create space for Indigenous realities and Indigenous ways of managing knowledge. Basing their educational approaches on Indigenous ontologies and epistemologies, they are developing Indigenist approaches within higher education. Ward Churchill (1996:509), Cherokee scholar, explains that an Indigenist scholar is one who:Takes the rights of indigenous peoples as the highest priority …who draws on the traditions – the bodies of knowledge and corresponding codes of value – evolved over many thousands of years by native peoples the world over.


1984 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 6-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan M. Fishman

The Socratic method was the major pedagogic tool at the first great Western university, Plato's Academy, and continues to be respected, at least in theory, by teachers at our institutions of higher learning. Yet today many of Plato's heirs in the university community seem to hold several perhaps innocent but nonetheless serious misconceptions concerning the Socratic technique. As a political scientist interested in the history of political philosophy, I have developed some thoughts on this subject in response to repeated inquiries by colleagues and students alike.One popular inaccuracy describes the Socratic method as an openended question and answer process. Actually, the Socratic approach has a singular purpose, namely the search for truth, and it is this explicit goal rather than an informal procedure of give and take which distinguishes the Socratic method from other teaching techniques.


IFLA Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 034003522110182
Author(s):  
Evans F Wema

This article reviews literature on the use of virtual learning environments by highlighting their potential and the challenges of introducing the same in Tanzania. It introduces the concept of virtual learning environments by demonstrating their applications to support teaching and learning. The article discusses the use of virtual learning environments in teaching information literacy courses by highlighting the success of using such tools in facilitating the teaching of information literacy courses to library users. In this review, special emphasis is placed on attempts by Tanzanian institutions of higher learning to introduce web-based teaching of information literacy and the challenges faced. The review reveals the need for Tanzanian institutions of higher learning to develop virtual learning environments to facilitate the teaching of information literacy courses to students and faculty so as to reach many of those who may not manage to attend the face-to-face information literacy sessions that are offered by librarians on a regular basis.


Author(s):  
Lei Wu ◽  
Yunong Huang ◽  
Qiang Chen ◽  
Yu Shi

Abstract Field placements provide social work students with opportunities to learn to handle ethical difficulties in a professional manner. In many developed countries, field staff are generally employed to supervise social work students’ field placements. ‘Code of Ethics’ and other ethics documents have also been developed to guide students’ professional activities. However, there is a lack of field staff, ‘Code of Ethics’ and other ethics documents in China, which may lead to ethical difficulties amongst students during their field placements. Based on the interviews of twenty-four social work students who completed field placements in 2016 at a university in China, this research revealed that students encountered many ethical difficulties in field placements. They tried to handle the difficulties in the beginning, but gradually adapted to the difficulties passively due to the lack of support. Most students also reported that they adhered to social work values and ethics in field placements and learned from field placements. The findings suggested that social work profession associations, Departments or Schools of Social Work, social work agencies and social work academia in China need to collaborate to create a more professional and supportive environment for students’ field placements.


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