This item contains the agenda, minutes, and attachments for the Faculty Senate meeting on this date. There may be additional materials from the meeting available at the Faculty Center.

The aim of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was to represent the interests of all South African students nationally and internationally. The challenge then to the liberal NUSAS leadership was how to meet the demands of black students for a politically relevant policy while simultaneously retaining the loyalty of its white middle class and often conservative membership. In 1957, the black University College of Fort Hare returned to NUSAS to participate in the national union’s campaign against the imposition of apartheid on the universities. Consequently, NUSAS adopted the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the foundation of its policy. Sharpeville and the increasing number of black students associated with NUSAS contributed to the further politicisation and leftward movement of the national union. The emergence of two new exclusively African student organisations together with the decision of a student seminar in Dar es Salaam that NUSAS be barred from all international student forums as its demographics precluded it from representing the aspirations of the black majority was the pretext for a far-reaching interrogation of NUSAS’s structure and functioning. Henceforward NUSAS would play a ‘radical role’ in society. This played into the hands of the government and its proxies, the new conservative students associations which sought to slice away NUSAS’s moderate to conservative white membership. The arrest of current and former NUSAS officers implicated in sabotage provided more grist to the right wing mill. In an attempt to manage this most serious crisis, as well as to continue functioning in the increasingly authoritarian and almost wholly segregated milieu of the mid-1960s, NUSAS abandoned its ‘radical role’ and increasingly focussed on university and educational matters. Nonetheless, the state intensified its campaign to weaken NUSAS. By means of legislation, the utilisation of conservative student structures and the intimidation of university authorities, the government attempted to ensure that segregation was applied at all NUSAS-affiliated universities. It was the application of segregation by cowed university authorities that precipitated the New Left-inspired student protests at NUSAS-affiliated campuses in the late 1960s as well as the establishment of the separate black South African Students Organisation, the latter leading to the exodus of all black students from NUSAS. / History / D. Litt. et Phil. (History)

Ce doctorat se penche sur les conditions d’émergence d’une figure de « l’artiste universitaire » aux États-Unis au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Il s’intéresse au contexte intellectuel et politique qui a accompagné ce changement radical de paradigme dans l’enseignement artistique américain et tente d’en observer les répercussions sur les modalités d’écriture d’une histoire de l’art dont les instances productrices sont elles-mêmes considérablement renouvelées. Accordant une place importante aux réformes de l’enseignement supérieur, cette thèse souligne le rôle instrumental de cette nouvelle figure dans la requalification de la recherche universitaire entre les années 1930 et 1960. Toutefois, loin d’être la simple conséquence d’aspirations politiques, l’artiste universitaire s’incarne dans des parcours hétérogènes ne partageant pas nécessairement les mêmes pratiques ou les mêmes objectifs. De manière convenue ou plus inattendue, nombre d’artistes dont le nom a été associé aux universités ont participé à une refonte des modalités de production des savoirs. Pourtant la reconnaissance de ces contributions individuelles s’est avérée beaucoup plus problématique que la célébration générique d’un nouvel art américain porté par des artistes « éduqués ». Aussi, cette thèse s’attache-t-elle à observer ces questions sous un angle épistémologique et à mettre ce déficit paradoxal de crédit académique en regard de pratiques contemporaines de l’histoire et de l’histoire de l’art. Ce dernier aspect est plus spécifiquement étudié à travers le parcours de Donald Judd et sa volonté d’opposer à l’idéalisme philosophique européen une pratique « réaliste » de l’histoire de l’art / This doctoral thesis explores the conditions in which the figure of the ‘academic artist’ emerged in the USA following World War II. The intellectual and political climate for radical change in the American visual arts educational paradigm is evidenced as are its repercussions on the profound renewal of agencies involved in art history production. Importance is given to reform in higher education and the instrumental role the academic artist played in redefining academic research between the 1930s and the 1960s. Such figures were far from being merely aspirational in political terms as is apparent in their range of trajectories, their practices and goals which did not necessarily coincide. Many artists, whose names were associated with academia, contributed – some conventionally, others less predictably – to new ways of producing knowledge. Yet recognizing such individual contributions posed many more problems than the more generic celebration of the new American art personified by “educated” artists. My dissertation therefore views these issues from an epistemological standpoint, weighing what paradoxically was an academic deficit against contemporary practices in history and art history. The latter is examined through the specific case of Donald Judd and his determined stance against European philosophical idealism via the “realistic” practice of art history

Les libertés universitaires sont fondamentales pour assurer la pérennité des sociétés démocratiques : sans elles, l’enseignement supérieur ne peut remplir son rôle qui est de dé-battre des connaissance acquises et d’en découvrir de nouvelles, ainsi que de les transmettre aux générations futures. Pour exercer cette double mission de recherche et d’enseignement, les universitaires doivent être libres de mener des investigations et d’en publier les résultats ; libres de choisir le contenu et la forme de leurs cours ; indépendants de tout pouvoir politique ou économique. Avec ces libertés, viennent cependant des responsabilités : les libertés universitaires ne pourraient conserver leur légitimité si elles ne s’accompagnaient pas du respect des exigences résultant de la déontologie universitaire. En France, les libertés universitaires sont singulières. Elles se distinguent de la définition qu’en proposent le droit allemand – à travers le concept de Wissenschaftsfreiheit – et le droit anglo-saxon – qui a consacré la liberté académique. Cette spécificité devrait permettre de répondre à la contradiction entre la soumission des enseignants-chercheurs français au statut général de la fonction publique – qui encadre les libertés individuelles des fonctionnaires – et la nécessité pour eux d’exercer leurs fonctions universitaires sans entraves. Cependant, les libertés universitaires telles qu’elles sont consacrées en France ne semblent pas, dans un contexte largement renouvelé, en mesure d’opérer efficacement cette conciliation : il convient, dès lors, d’étudier leur contenu et leurs sources. L’approche comparée mettant en perspective trois modèles différents – allemand, américain et britannique – permet d’envisager des possibilités d’évolution du droit universitaire français. / Academic freedom is fundamental to ensure the longevity of democratic societies: whithout it, higher education cannot play its part, which is to question acquired knowledge, to discover more and to transmit it to the next generation. To fulfil this double mission of inquiry and teaching, faculty should be free to investigate and to publish the results of their research; free to choose the contents and the form of their courses ; independant from politic and economic powers. However, with this freedom come some responsabilities: the academic freedom would not be legitimate if faculty did not respect the requirements of professional ethics.In France, academic freedom is singular. It is different from the definition stemming from the German law – at the origin of the concept of Wissenschaftsfreheit – and from English legal tradition – that created the concept of « academic freedom ». This specificity should overcome the contradiction between the compliance of the french university professors to the civil servant Act – which limits the individual freedoom of the state employees – and the need for them to exercise their academic functions freely. Nevertheless, academic freedom as defined in France does not seem able, in an innovative context, to ensure this conciliation, so that it becomes necessary to study its content and its sources. The comparative approach will allow to propose some possibility of evolution for French higher education law.

The thesis explores the potential of African higher education institutions in assisting the New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in its quest to affectively achieve its goals. My contention is that higher education institutions need to be favourably positioned in terms of institutional autonomy and academic freedom to assist the achievement of the NEPAD goals. Moreover, there is a need for deliberative democracy, if the NEPAD goals are to be achieved affectively, especially from the perspective of higher education institutions.

This study aimed at exploring the level of job satisfaction among academic staff members in Ethiopian public universities. For this purpose, a conceptual framework incorporating group of constructs, namely university policies and support, working conditions, student achievement, and demographic factors was developed based on the literature reviewed in the study. A descriptive survey research design was employed in the study to collect and analyse quantitative data obtained from participants. Clustered and systematic random sampling techniques were used in the study to choose 400 academic staff members from eight public universities. A questionnaire comprising closed- and open-ended questions, and Likert scale items was adapted in order to gather data from the participants. Descriptive and inferential statistical procedures were used to analyse the relationships between all the study constructs with the help of IBM SPSS, version 25. The study revealed that there were significant differences among different demographic groups, and positive relationships between job satisfaction and its defining constructs. The study also found that most of the academic staff members were dissatisfied with their jobs. Female academic staff members were more significantly dissatisfied with students‟ discipline policy, university governance and support, their salary, workload, communication, and students‟ achievement than male academic staff members. Male academic staff members were, however, more significantly satisfied with the promotion policy and more significantly dissatisfied with reward than the female academic staff members. The study revealed that academic staff members significantly differed in the level of job satisfaction corresponding to their age and qualification. The study also indicated that academic staff members significantly differed in the level of job satisfaction corresponding to their work experience and academic rank. Significant correlations between the eight constructs and job satisfaction of academic staff members were also found in the study. Finally, the study recommended directions for policy amendment and implications for practice and future research relevant to the issue under study. / Educational Studies / D. Phil. (Education)

This item contains the agenda, minutes, and attachments for the Faculty Senate meeting on this date. There may be additional materials from the meeting available at the Faculty Center.

This item contains the agenda, minutes, and attachments for the Faculty Senate meeting on this date. There may be additional materials from the meeting available at the Faculty Center.

Accelerating from 2022 and continuing through 2024, the state of Florida has experienced significant policy changes, particularly within the realm of higher education and affairs of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Many progressive officials, experts, and activists assert arguments that the state is on the verge of evolving into an authoritarian regime while many illiberal policies are being produced through the Florida legislature and current executive leadership—social and economic sectors are consequently threatened in order to maintain political oppression. The Stop W.O.K.E. Act has served as a catalyst for shifting the state's political stance on DEI, culminating in a chain reaction of similar forms of legislation which create serious ramifications onto civic life, creating a tense environment in the state. Along with suppression of DEI, academic freedom especially has been jeopardized with Florida's next line of students and instructors left to bear the consequences. The following research will contribute to theory and understanding, by analyzing the common misconceptions that revolve around nuanced terms such as “woke”, DEI, and CRT, while also examining how these influenced legislation in other states. This paper will also investigate precisely how the Act was enacted in Florida by conducting research on theoretical perspectives, governmental proceedings, discourse among officials, court battles, and impacts that can likely last for generations, leading to potential harms onto the nation as a whole.

This dissertation is a study of academic freedom, an issue which is regarded as a precondition for the university's successful execution of its task, namely the advancement and dissemination of knowledge. To understand what academic freedom really implies and entails, a historical review was undertaken of the various interpretations of academic freedom in the Medieval Italy and France, Imperial Germany, the late 19th century and the 20th century American and South African universities. As an ideal, academic freedom implies the free but responsible search for knowledge and truth. The historical review revealed, however, that academic freedom has at times been misunderstood and abused. The realisation of true academic freedom in South African universities was the motivating force behind this study. Therefore, this study is concluded with guidelines and recommendations grounded in the historical review that will hopefully promote academic freedom in South African universities. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (History of Education)