New Publications of Inter

New Publications of Interest F A C U L T Y Workers’ Rights As Human Rights Edited by James A. Gross Cornell University Press: Ithaca, NY (available August 2003) Until recently, the international human rights movement and nongovernmental organizations, human rights scholars, and even labor organizations and advocates have given little attention to worker rights as human rights. Author James A. Gross, professor of collective bargaining with the ILR School, finds, however, that employers, not just governments, have the power to violate workers’ rights. Workers’ Rights as Human Rights provides a new perspective on U.S. labor relations law by using human rights principles as standards for judgment. The authors also present innovative recommendations for what can and should be done to bring U.S. labor law into conformity with international human rights standards. This volume constitutes a long overdue beginning toward the promotion and protection of worker rights as human rights in the United States. Contributors include ILR Senior Lecturer Lance Compa, and Lee Swepston from the International Labor Office. N E W F R O M I L R P R E S S The State of Working America 2002- 2003 by Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein, and Heather Boushey • ILR Press The State of Working America, prepared biennially since 1988 by the Economic Policy Institute, includes a wide variety of data on family incomes, wages, taxes, unemployment, wealth, and poverty—statistics that enable the authors to closely examine the effect of the economy on the standard of living of the American people. FACULTY NEWS and other universities work. She said: “The course showed me how the endowment works and got me to look at town-gown issues like Lake Source Cooling and the West Campus construction initiative more objectively. I still call up Professor Ehrenberg for advice on editorials.” Seth Harris, also a former student and Sun staffer, said of Ehrenberg, “He not only taught the economics of the University, but he told us stories from his experience as a vice president that truly made it come alive.” And Aaron Page, another former student, who continued his own research on a courserelated project even after the course was over, called the class invaluable: “I developed a greater appreciation for the difficult job of college administrators in balancing the interests of different stakeholders,” Page said. Ehrenberg offered the course in conjunction with the University of Virginia last year Francis Peters 8 and hopes to team with another institution next year. This story by Linda Myers was originally published in the October 31, 2002, issue of the Cornell Chronicle, and is reprinted here with permission. The James J. Lack Amphitheater is one of the classrooms in new Ives Hall equipped with distance learning technology. See article on page 26.

FACULTY NEWS ILR Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior Michael Lounsbury listens in on a lively group discussion during his Service Learning class. Inside the Classroom Service Learning (ILROB 322/ SOC 323) by Alicia Smith Walk by Ives 112 on a Tuesday afternoon and you will likely see a classroom filled with students engaged in a lively discussion about the difference between a stranger and an outsider, whether a culture of poverty exists, or the definition of deviance. These students are part of Professor Lounsbury’s service learning class: a course designed to engage undergraduates in organized service opportunities as a means of enhancing course content and promoting civic responsibility. The class is popular (demand for seats is greater than supply), and it is clear that students are excited about this “hands-on” approach to learning. As part of the class, students spend two to four hours per week at a local community or governmental organization working on a service-learning field project, while at the same time learning sociological theory in the classroom. The list of prospective field projects is long and diverse and includes everything from training to become a disaster responder with the Red Cross Emergency Services, to preparing health education workshops at the Ithaca Youth Bureau, to teaching clients how to use computers at the downtown Women’s Opportunity Center. The goal is to provide a reciprocal learning process where students simultaneously apply theory to practical situations and develop a more comprehensive understanding of theoretical perspectives learned in class by participating in carefully selected servicelearning field projects. An assistant professor in the department of organizational behavior, Professor Lounsbury came to the ILR School in 1999. In his short time with the ILR School, he has been awarded the Kaplan Faculty Fellowship in Civic Engagement (2002) and the General Mills Award for Innovation in Teaching (2001), demonstrating Cornell’s support of public service learning. Lounsbury developed his service learning course with help from Cornell’s Public Service Center, an organization founded in 1991 to provide opportunities for students to participate in service-learning through volunteering, work-study or project implementation. S O U N D B I T E S “Unions are clearly in a defensive mode. Unionized operations have been hit disproportionately by layoffs. It is a tough period right now for labor. ” — Richard Hurd, professor of industrial and labor relations and director of labor studies, commented in a New York Times article on February 25, 2003, reporting on the annual meeting of the AFL-CIO. 9