BY MARJORIE HEINS Harry Keyishian, the last surviving plaintiff in the most important Supreme Court academic freedom case of the twentieth century, died on April 4 at the age of 93. He was one of only five University of Buffalo professors who in 1964 refused to sign an anti-communist loyalty oath and was the first…
BY B. M. RYAN Imagine a junior scholar, anxious about tenure, grants, and professional recognition, carefully preparing a manuscript that sits at the intersection of two fields, seeking to connect them in a way that could advance knowledge. The scholar submits the work to a journal affiliated with a public university. That journal is staffed…
BY DANIEL A. SEGAL At this dire moment of relentless attacks on academic freedom, educational excellence, and rights of campus speech and assembly, we still have big-time college athletics—gridiron football, in particular. This is especially visible at Indiana University. Even more than at most colleges and universities, the administration of IU’s President Pamela Whitten has…
BY MINOLI PERERA This piece was first published in The Daily Northwestern. At the beginning of 2025, my lab and my science were flying high. We had recently been awarded a R01 grant by the National Institutes of Health to study genetic predictors of cardiovascular drug response in Puerto Ricans. I knew as a scientist…
BY ROBERT M. KAPLAN Peer-reviewed scholarship remains the central currency of academic life. It advances careers, drives innovation, informs policy, stimulates economies, and lays the groundwork for the next generation of inquiry. Yet the very system designed to vet and disseminate knowledge increasingly drains enthusiasm from scholars—especially early-career investigators—by subjecting them to burdensome, time-consuming, and…
The following is a letter submitted by Nancy MacLean, a fellow at the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, to the Commission for Public Higher Education (CPHE) concerning the CPHE’s proposed evidentiary guidance for accreditation standards. The CPHE is a new accrediting body aimed at first implementing their standards at certain public universities…
POSTED ON BEHALF OF THE COALITION FOR ACTION IN HIGHER EDUCATION On behalf of the Coalition for Action in Higher Education (CAHE), we share with you a template titled Know Your Governing Board. This document’s purpose is to encourage and enable us as faculty members to learn more about bodies that too often do not…
BY NATE BENNETT When a Northeastern University professor was discovered secretly using generative AI tools to create course materials while prohibiting students from using them, the controversy exposed more than personal hypocrisy. It illustrated a broader legitimacy crisis confronting higher education. Versions of this story surface repeatedly in conversations with colleagues: AI is already woven…
BY KATIE RAINWATER AND MARTHA SCHOOLMAN University administrations in red states (including Texas and Florida) are increasingly using vague statutes and oral directives to pressure faculty to trade away their academic freedom. In Florida, departments in at least two universities—including Florida International University, where we both teach—recently adopted a censored Introduction to Sociology textbook and…