Former NYU professor José Angel Santana (also pictured) claims he was fired from the university after giving super famous actor, professional student, and fellow NYU professor James Franco a "D" in his “Directing the Actor II” class. The low grade came after Franco missed 12 of the 14 classes while filming 127 Hours. Santana wants his job back, and has now filed a lawsuit against NYU in Manhattan Supreme Court. more ›

This is hardly surprising: James Franco will now be a graduate film teacher at NYU. Why not! He's already accomplished everything else, from being a student of not just life but also almost every educational institute in America, to teaching a course about himself over on the West Coast, to soap opera acting, to mastering the art of the passive-aggressive Tweet and delete. Everyone can learn something from this guy! And now 12 lucky students will be able to, so long as they can fork over the $46,000 annual tuition at the school, and hide their real intentions for taking the class (you know who you are). more ›

Last month, rapper and producer Swizz Beatz was named "professor in residence" at NYU's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, and apparently he's been very helpful! He told the Daily News, "Once I started here, I realized these students needed a lot more help. They need contacts. They need guidance. They need a lot of different things. I want to provide that service." He even gave one student his personal email and said he would help find him a job. Just goes to show that all success can be yours if you attend an elite, private college. Sorry, BMCC kids. more ›

You know what's great about being a teacher? Options. For instance, if you're fired by the Department of Education after accused of sleeping with a 13-year-old student and coaxing another student into sending you nude photos, you can still get a job at Touro College teaching parenting skills. Which is what alleged pervy teacher Wayne Bartley reportedly did. more ›

A chemistry professor at Kingsborough Community College was awarded $7,700 in back wages and $10,000 in damages after accusing the college of firing her because she is Muslim. Hanaa Khalil, and Egyptian immigrant, says the college hired her without seeing her 2009 after she posted her resume on the college's website. When she showed up for work, Khalil told the Daily News that the secretary "turned her face when she looked at me ... she turned her face like she saw something real bad. It was clear to me it was because they found out that I was a Muslim." more ›

Brooklyn College alumnus Bruce Kesler has cut his alma mater out of his will over what he is calling an "unacceptable" book assignment. Like most colleges, Brooklyn College requires that incoming freshmen all read one book before they move in; the "common experience" is supposed to help the new class bond. This year the school chose "How Does It Feel To Be A Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America" by Brooklyn College professor Moustafa Bayoumi, whom Kesler describes as a "radical pro-Palestinian." Kesler writes on his blog: more ›

Just as the city braces for another jobs crisis, former NJ Gov. Jon Corzine is poised to take on three new titles. Effective immediately, he'll head up MF Global, a Wall Street options and futures firm; starting soon he'll be a partner at J.C. Flowers & Company, a buyout firm; and next semester, Princeton students will call him Professor. “I like working,” said the 63-year-old who broke 15 bones and almost died in a 2007 car accident. Maybe he'll tell those Princeton kids to buckle up! more ›

Cold-case investigators are ripping up the basement of a Queens plumbing-supply store in hopes of finding the remains of a Baruch College student who disappeared 12 years ago after her married chemistry professor got her pregnant. Cops received a tip a decade ago that Kristine Kupka might be buried beneath the Jamaica shop, but the man who managed the property—a cousin of professor and "prime suspect" Darshanad Persaud—wouldn't allow them to search. But according to the Post, after the building was leased to a new business, cops got permission and a "cadaver-sniffing dog" indicated the presence of human remains. more ›

"White, black and Hispanic undergraduates each comprise more than a quarter of the student body, and Asians account for more than 15%," said CUNY Vice Chancellor Gloriana Waters recently. The school loves to boast about its Crayola box student body, but faculty members come mostly in white. At a recent hearing on staff diversity, or the lack thereof, council members complained that of the university's 7,214 faculty members, only 12.3 percent are black, 8.3 percent are Hispanic and 10.5 percent are Asian, reports the Daily News. more ›

Tuesday night NYU computer science professor Sam Roweis jumped to his death from his 16th floor balcony at 1 Washington Square Village. The 37-year-old had allegedly been arguing with his wife about how to care for their 15-month-old "sickly" twins. Police say this triggered his suicide. more ›

A Columbia University educator accused of punching a female coworker after a racially-heated argument skipped his court appearance on Monday. After failing to appear in court, a bench warrant has been issued for the arrest of associate urban-planning professor Lionel McIntyre, and a judge ordered that his parole be revoked, according to the Columbia Spectator. more ›

Last night at 10:30 word came in over the newswire of a jumper down at 1 Washington Square Village, across from Bobst Library. This morning the NY Post reports that the man who jumped from a 16th-floor balcony in the apartment building was 37-year-old NYU computer science professor, Sam Roweis. He just started at the university last year, and was described by others as "a very happy, happy guy." more ›

A Binghamton University graduate student was charged with the murder of a professor. According to the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani, 46, allegedly stabbed "BU anthropology professor emeritus Richard T. Antoun... Antoun knew Al-Zahrani, a Saudi national, through his work in BU's anthropology graduate program, according to a statement released Saturday by Broome County District Attorney Gerald Mollen," who added, "There is no indication of religious or ethnic motivation." However, Al-Zahrani's apartment mates tell the paper that he "was confrontational, argumentative and 'acted like a terrorist.'" One said Al-Zahrani "came at me with a knife" while the other said, "He would be sitting here on the sofa and just blurt out, 'I just feel like destroying the world.'" more ›

Police arrested a Columbia University architecture professor suspected of punching a female colleague in the face in a racially charged bar brawl on Friday. Professor Lionel McIntyre, 59, allegedly struck Camille Davis, a production manager in Columbia's theater department, after arguing with her and another man about "white privilege" in Toast on Broadway and 125th Street. more ›

Former governor Eliot Spitzer, who denies that he's running for office next year (not matter what the Post says or hopes), is starting a new career: As an educator. According to Politics on the Hudson, he's teaching "a three-hour law and public policy class once a week in the political-science department for the fall semester" at City College of New York. CCNY spokesman Ellis Simon said, "We’re delighted that Eliot Spitzer has become an adjunct member of our facility. His experience as attorney general and as governor of the state of New York gives him a unique and powerful perspective that can only benefit our students." more ›

After a two year absence, 47-year-old Yeshiva University literature professor Jay Ladin returned to school last week as Joy Ladin, putting the oy in Joy by arriving at the midtown campus wearing a black skirt and pink lipstick. According to the head of the National Center for Transgender Equality, Ladin is the only transgender employee of a religiously conservative university in America. more ›

The Columbia University students' hunger strike to protest Columbia's non-inclusive attitudes about redevelopment and curriculum continues with one less striker. Just after midnight on Sunday, a post went on up on the Columbia Hunger Strike website saying, "This evening, one hunger striker was admitted to St. Luke's hospital. She will not continue the strike for personal medical reasons." The student, Aretha Choi, who attends Barnard, later wrote:...my disappointment increases as I remember the bitter... more ›