Academic Freedom and the Goldwater Rule

BY HANK REICHMAN Bandy Lee, a former Yale University faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, filed suit in federal court March 22 against the University alleging “unlawful termination… due to her exercise of free speech about the dangers of Donald Trump’s presidency.”  Lee charges that Yale fired her in…

Statement on Garrett Felber Case

BY HANK REICHMAN The termination earlier this month of University of Mississippi assistant professor of history Garrett Felber, ostensibly because he declined to communicate orally with his department chair while on leave, has attracted considerable attention, including an open letter to the administration protesting his termination, which has to date attracted over 5,000 signatures.  Because…

Another Challenge to Academic Freedom at Collin College

BY HANK REICHMAN Back in October when Lora Burnett, a history professor at Collin College in Texas, was hounded by internet trolls for a comment she made about Vice-President Mike Pence’s appearance during the vice-presidential debate, her administration buckled under the pressure and publicly denounced her, ignoring their own policy’s written commitment “to uphold vigorously…

Response to Julia Reuben

BY HANK REICHMAN No sooner had I posted my piece on Scott Atlas, Stanford, and the Hoover Institution than I received from a colleague a link to an essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “Where Academic Freedom Ends,” by Harvard education professor Julia A. Reuben, also prompted, it seems, at least in part by…

woman with masking tape over her mouth with a red circle and slash

CUCFA Welcomes Professor Napolitano to the Zoom Board; Calls on Her to Defend Academic Freedom

POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN Former homeland security secretary and Arizona governor Janet Napolitano, who earlier this year stepped down as president of the University of California system after seven years and retreated to a faculty position in the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, has joined the Board of Zoom, the company announced…