Harkness Tower at Yale

A University or a Billionaires’ Toy

BY JASON STANLEY Yale University is a central democratic institution, a fact recognized by its tax-exempt status. It provides a forum in which society’s most difficult issues can be confronted and freely discussed. The University educator is thus tasked with presenting their students with intellectually rigorous foundational challenges to tradition; that is the role of…

More on Yale and the Goldwater Rule

BY STEVEN LUBET Hank Reichman’s recent post on the Bandy Lee case at the Yale Medical School raises an important point that deserves some further consideration.  To recap, Dr. Lee has sued Yale for firing her from an unpaid, part-time position in the psychiatry department.  Lee’s offense involved tweeting about the mental health of Donald…

Academic Freedom and the Goldwater Rule

BY HANK REICHMAN Bandy Lee, a former Yale University faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, filed suit in federal court March 22 against the University alleging “unlawful termination… due to her exercise of free speech about the dangers of Donald Trump’s presidency.”  Lee charges that Yale fired her in…

Will Yale Become More Like Singapore?

BY HANK REICHMAN In 2011 Yale University announced the establishment of a joint venture with the National University of Singapore, Yale-NUS, a four-year, fully residential undergraduate institution.  The venture differs from overseas programs like NYU’s controversial Abu Dhabi campus (see here, here, and here) because it is ostensibly independent of Yale, offering its own degrees. …

Seeking Diversity at Yale

BY HANK REICHMAN Last fall Yale University was one of the more prominent institutions where student demands for diversity and racial justice made headlines. I previously commented at some length on the Yale events in a November post, “Racism and Academic Freedom at Yale.”  In a second post a few months later I commented as…

On David Cole’s “The Trouble at Yale”

Among the most controversial and widely publicized controversies during the recent autumn of student unrest was that surrounding the incident at Yale University, where a residence hall adviser’s email about Halloween costumes prompted a national debate over the allegedly competing values of free speech and racial justice.  I previously commented at some length on the…

On the Resignation of Erika Christakis

I just learned this morning via a report on Inside Higher Ed that Erika Christakis, the associate master of one of Yale University’s residential colleges, has decided to stop teaching at the university, in part because of the continuing controversy over an email message she sent about Halloween costumes.  Although some students have demanded her…