University regulations and faculty rights were thrown to the wind in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Such are the conclusions of a blue-ribbon panel that investigated New Orleans universities for the American Association of University Professors (see Physics Today, November 2006, page 28). As a result, on 9 June the AAUP censured Loyola University, Tulane University, Southern University at New Orleans, and the University of New Orleans.
Being placed on the censure list is “a statement to the academic community and the public at large that things are amiss at the institutions in question,” says the AAUP’s Robert Kreiser.
The specific transgressions vary from institution to institution, but a common feature “was that they abrogated or did not follow their own policies or AAUP recommendations with regard to dealing with financial exigency,” Kreiser says. “They showed inadequate or no respect for tenure, undertook little or no meaningful consultation...
