BY HANK REICHMAN Aaron Barlow (here and here) and Martin Kich (here) have already posted items to this blog about the recently renewed legislative threats to academic freedom in Wisconsin, with Aaron calling appropriate attention to the excellent op-ed piece published in today’s New York Times by UW-Madison professor Donald Moynihan. But because I and…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following statement was approved by the Council of the American Historical Association (AHA) at its meeting on January 5: The AHA upholds the rights of students, faculty, and other historians to speak freely and to engage in nonviolent political action expressing diverse perspectives on historical or contemporary issues. We condemn…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN On December 1, the AAUP, the College Media Association (CMA), the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) released a report, Threats to the Independence of Student Media, shining a light on threats to student media and faculty and staff advisers. The report reaffirms and expands…
BY HANK REICHMAN This week’s controversy over Drexel University professor George Ciccariello-Maher’s tweet about “white genocide” has once again raised the perpetually thorny issue of academic freedom’s claim to protect the “extramural utterances” of faculty members who speak as private citizens. As of this writing it appears that Drexel administrators have disavowed any intent to…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following is excerpted from a piece published earlier this month in University World News by Ole Petter Ottersen, rector of the University of Oslo, Norway. How should universities confront a post-truth world? By Ole Petter Ottersen In a world characterised by increasing turbulence and conflict, and of inequities and dissatisfaction,…
BY MICHAEL MERANZE The following guest post by UCLA history professor Michael Meranze is reposted from his Remaking the University blog. As you have probably seen, George Ciccariello-Maher, a political scientist at Drexel University has come under fire for tweeting “all I want for Christmas is white genocide,” following his tweet and his condemnation at…
BY HANK REICHMAN “All I want for Christmas is white genocide.” That was the content of a tweet posted Christmas eve by George Ciccariello-Maher, associate professor of politics and global studies at Drexel University. Ciccariello-Maher was trying to make an ironic political point and was not in fact calling for mass killing, but that didn’t…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN Threats to Academic Freedom from the Government Threaten American Principles MADISON, WI—Dec. 21, 2016 The American Association of University Professors UW–Madison Chapter reaffirms the critical importance of preventing government overreach that would restrict the rights of our students to a high quality education that values and encourages critical thinking. When our…
BY HANK REICHMAN In a victory for both academic freedom and science an appeals court ruled today that climate change scientist and AAUP Committee A member Michael Mann can sue two conservative writers over allegations that they defamed him. The case centers on posts written by Rand Simberg in a Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) blog…