BY DAVID MOSHMAN Academic freedom, in the definitive 1940 AAUP Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, includes “full freedom in research and in the publication of the results.” Any law that prevents publication of academic research because it reaches conclusions the government deems objectionable is a clear violation of academic freedom. In recent…
BY DANIEL A. SEGAL Several AFT locals—including Local 6741, which represents all AAUP members in advocacy chapters—have put forward resolutions for consideration at next week’s AFT convention in support of divestment by the AFT of its Israeli state bond holding. Calls for divestment typically face questions about the opacity and complexity of particular financial instruments.…
BY ALAN SINGER Founded in 1636 as Harvard College, Harvard University is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Today, as one of the elite American universities, it is at the center of much of the conflict over how a university should respond to protests over the war in Gaza. Claudine Gay…
BY ROTUA LUMBANTOBING Ahead of tonight’s presidential debate, Inside Higher Ed put together a piece on what “higher ed leaders, thinkers, reformers, and skeptics what they’d ask Biden, Trump, or both candidates if CNN magically handed them the microphone.” Read that here. As the newly elected vice president of the AAUP, I contributed some questions…
BY GARY TOTTEN A highlight of my work as a journal editor is the pleasure of helping authors, especially early career researchers and graduate students, interpret conflicting peer review reports and improve their arguments and writing. The important work of academic journals to disseminate cutting-edge research in a timely manner and thus advance their fields…
BY DAVID MOSHMAN Discussions about campus matters related to Gaza, including posts on this blog, have focused on free speech issues associated with campus protests. Let me shift the focus. Universities should indeed support freedom of speech, but their primary function is to seek and communicate the truth, including the truth about Gaza, and their…
BY PHILIPP W. ROSEMANN On June 14, 2024, the Board of Trustees of the University of Kentucky followed President Eli Capilouto’s recommendation to approve a number of fundamental changes to the governance structures of Kentucky’s flagship university. The board’s actions included the abolition, with immediate effect, of the university senate, which for one hundred years…
POSTED BY HASSAN MELEHY In response to reports in April and May of a colleague’s classes being secretly recorded by an associate dean, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s AAUP chapter has issued the following statement. Details on the recording incident involving Professor Larry Chavis of UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, may be found…
BY IAN LUSTICK The following is the text of remarks delivered at a rally in support of academic freedom at the University of Pennsylvania on January 22, 2024. First let me say that I have nothing against billionaires. While I can’t say that some of my best friends are billionaires, I can say that, from…
BY ALAN SINGER On May 3, fifty-nine students and other protesters were arrested at New York University and The New School, a partner institution, who had created an encampment protesting against the continued Israeli assault on Gaza. According to New School president Donna Shalala, she asked the NYPD to arrest demonstrators because they were blocking…