BY HANK REICHMAN Yesterday’s election results in Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere have boosted the spirits of Democrats and progressives. One of the less widely publicized results, however, has been the stunning rebuke suffered by book-banners and transphobes like Moms for Liberty in school board elections in Iowa and elsewhere. In the past, Iowa school…
BY HANK REICHMAN As higher education reels from continuing assaults on academic freedom, tenure, shared governance and education itself in states like Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, we now face the possibility that another state’s major flagship institution may soon exist only as a shadow of its former self, the victim of a…
BY HANK REICHMAN Last month the New York Times Magazine published an article, “The Instagram Account That Shattered a California High School,” by journalist Dashka Slater. It recounted the troubling tale of a racist Instagram account, created by a California high school student and followed by just thirteen of his fellow students, all white and…
BY HANK REICHMAN A bit over two years ago I posted to this blog a piece about a decision by Russia’s prosecutor general to designate New York’s Bard College as an “undesirable organization.” Since 1997, Bard had been collaborating with St. Petersburg State University, offering a program of open enrollment liberal arts courses for students…
BY HANK REICHMAN Sociologist and internationally renowned Marxist thinker Boris Kagarlitsky, a professor at the Moscow Higher School of Economics and head of the Moscow think tank The Institute for Globalization Studies and Social Movements, was arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) on July 25. He stands accused of “justifying terrorism” under Part…
BY HANK REICHMAN On May 15, Medaille University in Buffalo, New York (until last summer, Medaille College) announced that it will cease operations and close after 148 years on August 31. The announcement came less than a week after neighboring Trocaire College informed Medaille it would pull out of an agreement to purchase the school,…
BY HANK REICHMAN I usually admire American Prospect editor Robert Kuttner’s writings, but a short piece published online today, “The Republican Attack on Tenure,” got my hackles up a bit. Most of the piece is fine, calling appropriate attention to the assault on both tenure and academic freedom being waged by the GOP in red…
BY HANK REICHMAN The recently released preliminary report of the AAUP’s special committee to review an apparent pattern of politically, racially, and ideologically motivated attacks on public higher education in Florida, which I am co-chairing, concludes that “academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance in Florida’s public colleges and universities currently face a politically and ideologically…
BY HANK REICHMAN The so-called “heckler’s veto” is much in the higher ed news these days, with Inside Higher Ed this week running a piece, “Shouting Down Speakers Who Offend,” focusing on incidents at SUNY Albany, Stanford, and San Francisco State Universities. The Stanford incident has prompted two prior posts to this blog (here and here).…
BY HANK REICHMAN Victor Garlin, professor emeritus of economics at Sonoma State University, who served four terms as president of the Sonoma State chapter of the California Faculty Association, passed away at the age of 87 February 26 after a brief illness. Sonoma State professor emeritus of political science Andy Merrifield, who succeeded Victor as…