HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The National Labor Relations Board issued a ruling in December that could clear the way for much more unionization of faculty members at private colleges and universities. “Last week’s decision was the type of pro-union ruling that many unions have been hoping for since President Obama took office. But during President Obama’s first term, his nominees to the NLRB were blocked. When he made “recess appointments” — which bypass Senate confirmation requirements — the administration was sued and the rulings made by those appointees have been challenged as unconstitutional as a result of the nature of the appointments. But last year a Senate compromise cleared the way for confirmation of NLRB nominees whose rulings — while possible to challenge on their merits — aren’t going to face legal challenges because of the NLRB nomination process.”

This will not benefit the cost-control needed to help higher education survive in its present form. I suppose Kurt Schlichter-style conservative insurgents would get behind this sort of change for that very reason. In fact, people on the right could only dream of doing as much harm to the left as the campus sex wars, and the unionization crusade, are doing. . . .