BY HANK REICHMAN The Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia today (June 21) recognized New York’s Bard College as an “undesirable organization.” According to the ministry, Bard’s activities in Russia “pose a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and security” of Russia. The designation threatens, and may well guarantee, the termination of a longstanding…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN Last year my book, The Future of Academic Freedom, received the American Library Association’s Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award for best published work for the previous two years in the area of intellectual freedom. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic the awards ceremony had to be cancelled, but now, a year later…
BY HANK REICHMAN In November 2017 the AAUP released a report on National Security, the Assault on Science, and Academic Freedom, which decried “increasing restrictions on and threats to the global exchange of scientific research and the academic freedom of American scientists to interact with foreign colleagues,” especially those from China. In 2019, the AAUP…
BY HANK REICHMAN Last week I posted to this blog a statement from Stanford University students, faculty and alums that called out the Stanford College Republicans (SCR) for instigating the widely publicized and controversial firing of a recent Stanford graduate by the Associated Press because of social media posts she had made that were pro-Palestinian. …
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following statement in support of fired Associated Press reporter Emily Wilder (Stanford ’20), signed by over 500 Stanford University students, faculty, staff and alums, was published May 24 in the Stanford Daily. A link to the petition form is here. To see the full list of signatories go here. As…
BY HANK REICHMAN Apparently it was all a hoax. Two months ago Boise State University suspended 52 class sections of a required general education class with some 1300 students in what John Wilson on this blog called “one of the largest attacks on academic freedom in American history.” The move came in response to an…
BY HANK REICHMAN Today I was on a Zoom call with someone who only half-jokingly referred to the periodical Teen Vogue as the country’s leading socialist publication. While the magazine still focuses on “fashion, beauty, and entertainment news for teens,” its coverage of politics–and of higher education–has been remarkable. Take, for example, this piece published…
BY HANK REICHMAN In the current issue of Academe magazine I reviewed a new book, Free City! The Fight for San Francisco’s City College and Education for All. It’s a terrific book, which details the five-year fight to save the college from an over-aggressive accrediting agency and expand access. I had previously posted frequently about…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following statement and list of demands is seeking support. For a full list of current signatories and to sign go here. For more coverage of the pending closure of Mills College and the faculty response go here and here. Also, you can watch this powerful video presentation to Mills…
BY HANK REICHMAN In a January 2018 political philosophy class at Shawnee State University in Ohio Professor Nicholas Meriwether addressed a trans woman as “sir.” It was an accident, but when the student approached him after class to request that she be called “Ms.” like other women in the class, Meriwether refused, claiming that his…