Academic Freedom under Attack in France

BY JOAN W. SCOTT For many years, in what now seems the distant past, France was known as the nation that welcomed refugees from authoritarian countries; revolutionary activists, artists, exiled politicians, dissident students, could find sustenance and support in the land of liberty, equality, and fraternity.  It is also the country whose philosophers gave us…

Open Letter for the Immediate Release of Jailed Academics and Civil Liberties Activists in India

POSTED BY JOHN K. WILSON We are members of a collective called International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India (InSAF India) and are a diverse group of diasporic Indian academics who are deeply concerned about the increasing assaults on academic freedom in India, in particular the attacks on, and incarceration of, anti-caste academics and scholars…

Philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson speaks into microphone at podium.

Judith Jarvis Thomson: A Reminiscence

BY MATTHEW W. FINKIN Philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson died on November 20 at the age of ninety-one. Matthew W. Finkin remembers her and her service to the AAUP below. Philosophy has lost a luminary. The AAUP has lost a stalwart. I have lost a friend. In philosophy, one need only glimpse at the Encyclopedia of…

The Coming Jubilee and Past Harms

BY ANDREW ROSS In one of the great ironies of our times, Joe Biden, who did more than any other politician to make it harder for individuals to escape their credit card debts and student loans, is likely to discharge a significant chunk of education debt once he takes office in January.  The “compromise and…

round stone seal of the University of North Carolina, bearing an image of a shield flanked by two torches and the words LUX and LIBERTAS divided by a diagonal line, with a brick background

A Telling Blame Game at UNC

BY JAY M. SMITH Last summer UNC–Chapel Hill became ground zero for COVID-19, setting off a prolonged exercise in blame-shifting. The dean of the College of Arts and Sciences recently convened an emergency meeting of department chairs at which she announced the provost’s “disappointment” in the faculty. Specifically, university administrators are disappointed that so many…

Another Pandemic Danger—Union Busting

BY A SAINT LEO UNIVERSITY FACULTY MEMBER In the face of challenging and even perilous working conditions, teachers at all levels need unions to help protect them during the pandemic. However, one university in Florida used the pandemic as an opportunity for union busting. The story of the unilateral disenfranchisement of faculty members at Saint…

Perspective: Retrenchment Has Been Suffocating My Voice, But I Won’t Let It

BY GRETCHEN MCNAMARA Wright State University plans to begin the retrenchment process that will result in workforce reductions. Elevate Dayton is publishing the perspectives of students, faculty, alumni and other Wright State community members that could be affected by the changes. Gretchen McNamara, a senior lecturer of music and union executive committee member, explores her torn feelings…