Strange and disturbing things have been happening to major libraries and archives as those responsible try to embrace the digital future. There has been no shortage of protests. Both individuals and organizations have responded in every way they could imagine to stop what they saw was destructive behaviour.

Simmering conflicts in higher education have reached the boiling point across Canada and around the globe. Teach-ins, occupations, strikes, and mass protests are being mobilized against exorbitant tuition fees, declining educational quality and mismanagement.

This collection has a straightforward ambition — to redirect the interpretive perspective that readers bring to Lawrence Durrell's literary works by returning their attention to his short prose.

A year after a media storm that shook his campus and his life, George Rammell can at last breathe a sigh of relief. A CAUT investigation into the seizure and destruction of his artwork by the Capilano University administration found his sculpture was an expression of protest and his academic freedom was violated by the seizure.

It seems that being an academic activist these days means living in a near-conti­nuous state of outrage. I feel it myself, as I’m sure has been evident in some of my columns over the past year. Perhaps the ability to healthily maintain such a state is a pre-requisite for engagement in academic staff association and CAUT service.

Academic staff at the University of Victoria have ratified their first collective agreement. The University of Victoria Faculty Association announced June 5 that an overwhelming majority of members voted in favor of the five-year agreement.

Publishing giant Elsevier’s recently announced plan to “unleash the power of academic sharing” has been greeted with derision by a global alliance of library and research organizations.

CAUT has appointed Valérie Dufour as director of communications. In the newly-created position, Valérie’s primary focus will be on strategy formula­tion, publication content develop­ment, feature writing and issues management.

Manitoba Finance Minister Greg Dewar’s first budget received a nod of approval from post-secon­dary groups across the province for investment commitments, while in other provinces, cuts and austerity measures have been the rule.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2015–2016 budget delivered April 30 was worse than expected for post-secondary education, critics say, with tuition fee increases for some students and a cut to university operations.

Veteran reporter Nick Martin and Ryerson University student Angelyn Francis are the winners of the 2015 CAUT Excellence in Education Journalism Awards.

Does academic freedom entitle university professors to be as provocative as they wish when expressing their views on issues of the day? This question has come alive with three recent cases involving professors making politically charged statements on controversial issues.

CAUT will move to censure any Nova Scotia university attempting to trigger a new provincial law that removes their workers’ right to strike, undermines academic freedom, and imposes debilitating fines on unions or their representatives who don’t fall into line.

The shaky economy seems to have prompted Canada’s CEOs to pontificate on what steps should be — nay, must be — taken to solve our economic woes as a nation. Case in point: on March 30, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) released a paper titled “Career ready: Towards a national strategy for the mobilization of Canadian potential.”

Universities and colleges are coming under increased pressure to change the way they operate these days. And this would be a good thing, if it were in response to the intellectual, pedagogical and social concerns of those who truly understand and care about the integrity of higher education.

The administrations of Athabasca University and the University of Manitoba face possible censure by CAUT Council in November unless they agree to remedy violations of basic university governance principles and address concerns about academic freedom.

The 2015 federal budget tabled last month was another disappointment for Canada’s academic and research community. Many of the research funding announcements appear to be directed to politically-driven initiatives in targeted electoral areas, or for business-led collaborations.

David Schindler, one of Canada’s most influential environmental scientists and former Killam Memorial Professor of Ecology at the University of Alberta, is CAUT’s 2015 Distinguished Academic.

The elimination of most post-secondary tuition caps in Nova Scotia is a move that could spell disaster for the wider university community, critics are warning.

CUPE Local 3912, representing almost 800 contract academic staff at Mount Saint Vincent University, Dalhousie University and Saint Mary’s University, and Calgary-based Mount Royal Faculty Association with a membership of 770 regular and contract academic staff, were approved for CAUT membership at the association’s recent Council meeting.