Spying on Muslim Students

Candace de Russy responds to my post on profiling of Muslim student groups by calling me part of the “chorus of ostriches screeching” about the NYPD. De Russy claims, “it is discerning, not dumb, to face up to the obvious fact that the Internet is used by jihadis to spread their poison.” I have no doubt that the internet…

A Crusade for Censorship at Harvard

On March 3-4, students at Harvard are organizing a “One State Conference: Israel/Palestine and the One State Solution.” I don’t want to delve into the charges of bigotry that can be leveled by either side. My concern here is about freedom of speech. On David Horowitz’s Frontpagemag, Steven Plaut harshly condemned the conference in over-the-top…

The Danger of Courts Deciding Faculty Hiring

In the case of Teresa Wagner v. Carolyn Jones, a conservative candidate for a law professor job alleges political discrimination at the University of Iowa. Peter Wood writes, “We have seldom had so clear a case of a conservative academic being steamrolled by a politically correct faculty.” He’s right. This isn’t a very clear-cut case…

Occupy Education

The following guest post is by Craig Vasey, professor of philosophy at the University of Mary Washington and a member of the AAUP’s national Council. Yesterday I wrote about how faculty at relatively privileged institutions can feel we are operating in a bubble, insulated from the catastrophes befalling higher education, especially public higher education, in…

Are You Working Inside a Bubble?

The following guest post is by Craig Vasey, professor of philosophy at the University of Mary Washington and a member of the AAUP’s national Council. Signs of a coming disaster for American higher education are all around us. That’s why the AAUP Council, of which I am a member, endorsed the Occupy Wall Street movement…

It’s Not Much Fun to Lose Your Name

The following guest post was authored by Cary Nelson, the president of the American Association of University Professors. Will the day come when a successful student tells a prospective employer “I’m a graduate of Rutgers-Camden” and the employer answers “Never heard of the place?” That is the future New Jersey’s governor and some other state…

The Censorship Monologues

It’s Valentine’s Day, and time once again for right-wing Catholic groups to denounce academic freedom at Catholic colleges. But it’s also time for them to celebrate a victory in making The Vagina Monologues the most-censored play in America. The far-right Cardinal Newman Society reports that nine Catholic colleges will be presenting the play this year:…