Daniel DiSalvo, professor of political science at the Colin Powell School at the City College of New York, sits down with me to talk about faculty unions. We have a wonk-ish (yes, ears up you policy-hounds!) but fascinating conversation as we dive into the details of last year’s Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, which struck down mandatory fees to public-sector unions. That turns out to have some ramifications for college professors, and we look at a recent case involving St. Cloud University Professor Kathleen Uradnik, in which NAS filed an amicus brief.
We also touch on public pensions and their correlation to state spending on higher education, discuss the way “academic freedom” has changed over time, and hear a bit about Dan’s story—including one habit he picked up at Skidmore College that remains with him to this day.
