BY DANIEL A. SEGAL An opera based on Michael Chabon’s novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, with music by Mason Bates and libretto by Gene Scheer, had its world premiere at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music on November 15. The opera is glorious, and the performance, with every note sung and played…
BY ILANA GERSHON Academic freedom sounds so academic—especially for employees frustrated at work because they are answering workplace surveys all the time, and yet somehow their insights about how to make an office or a task function better are never taken seriously. Faculty members are not the only experts in their workplaces, so, if we…
BY MICHAEL ANTHONY LEWIS It’s been over a year since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel; we’re still witnessing Israel’s response. All this has made the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians front page (or front screen) news. We’re constantly hearing debates about the perennial issues that make up this conflict. I’m a CUNY faculty…
BY JOAN W. SCOTT The victory of Donald Trump in the presidential election has caused great concern for many in academia. When, on the campaign trail, J. D. Vance, now the vice-president-elect, commented that “professors are our enemy,” when the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 called for the abolition of the Department of Education, and when…
BY TEXAS AAUP-AFT The following statement was released November 19 by the Texas AAUP-AFT. Upon the passage of Senate Bill 17 last year, Texas faculty warned of the detrimental impacts the state’s so-called ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and practices would have on the ability of colleges and universities to perform their duties…
BY ROBIN D. G. KELLEY This post is part of a blog series, organized by Annelise Orleck, that will focus on recent crackdowns on protests at US college and university campuses against Israel’s war on Gaza. You can read the first post and an introduction to the series here. On Monday morning, October 21, 2024,…
BY RYAN HARROD, DOUGLAS COST, ANDREA DEWEES, AND CINDY TRUSSELL Solidarity in collective bargaining for better wages and working conditions is the basis of any union activity. Pitting union members against each other is a common tactic employed by management in its union-busting strategy. It’s a tactic we are facing in Alaska. In the current…
BY KIMBERLY HARDY Who cares about the Black Lives Matter and woke movements now? This was the question a friend raised when I discussed the concept of my article for the recently published Journal of Academic Freedom, “A Precedent Set: Understanding the Florida Assault on Academic Freedom Targeting Black History and the Impact on Leadership…
BY AMIR HUSSAIN Critics and educators may plausibly perceive social media as preferring and promulgating fragmentary thinking, consumerist scrolling, and buzzwords over the attention to nuance and context that is cultivated in university settings. But the emergence of this arena nonetheless needs to be seen as relevant—even vital—for considering the intellectual and political landscape of…
BY EILEEN BORIS This post is part of a blog series, organized by Annelise Orleck, that will focus on recent crackdowns on protests at US college and university campuses against Israel’s war on Gaza. You can read the first post and an introduction to the series here. In yet another assault on academic freedom, civil…