“This is What They Say They’re Doing. And They’re Doing it!” A Conversation with Isaac Kamola, Director of the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom

BY CAROLYN BETENSKY At the AAUP Conference and Biennial Meeting last month, one of the most widely discussed sessions featured the presentation of a recent white paper written by Isaac Kamola, director of the AAUP’s new Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom. Manufacturing Backlash: Right-Wing Think Tanks and Legislative Attacks on Higher Education, 2021–2023…

AI-generated image of computer creating professor

ChatGPT and Academic Labor

BY JILL R. EHNENN AND CAROLYN BETENSKY Over the past few weeks, three scholars from political science and English departments—Corey Robin (political science, Brooklyn College and CUNY), Ted Underwood (English, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), and Eleanor Courtemanche (English, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)—have offered incisive and poignant reflections on what ChatGPT means to them, and us,…

Legacy Admissions and Privilege Laundering

BY CAROLYN BETENSKY In the wake of last month’s horrific Supreme Court decision overturning affirmative action, an organization called Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) filed a federal civil rights complaint against Harvard University, challenging their legacy admissions policy. As LCR litigation fellow Michael Kippins put it in a press release on their website: Harvard’s practice…

And Meanwhile, Back in Florida…

BY CAROLYN BETENSKY Earlier this month, I wrote of the conditions faculty were facing in COVID-denialist states.  Here is an update on recent developments in one of them. At the University of Florida, members of the Faculty Senate are polling campus stakeholders (faculty members, staff, and graduate assistants) regarding a proposed vote of no confidence…

Adding to the Already Egregious

BY CAROLYN BETENSKY Could we have a winner in the administrative malfeasance contest, COVID-19 division?  I think we may!  Of course, it’s too early to say.  The entries keep rolling in.  But this one is a contender. National University is requiring faculty to attend graduation at the San Diego Padres’ Petco Park in downtown San…