UC Regents Make a Muddle of Academic Freedom

Here is another excellent perspective on the University of California Board of Regents consideration of a proposed “intolerance policy” by UCLA History Professor Michael Meranze, posted originally on his Remaking the University blog.  This Wednesday the Regents Committee on Educational Policy will be taking up the Final Report of the Regents Working Group on Principles…

UC Faculty Groups Challenge Proposed “Intolerance” Policy

On Wednesday of this week, the University of California Board of Regents will meet to consider a number of controversial proposals, among them a revised version of a proposed “intolerance policy.” The policy, which was prompted initially by allegations of harassment of Jewish students, had met with wide criticism when first proposed last Fall from advocates…

Chancellor White Turns Back on Faculty

BY HANK REICHMAN Last week shortly before I left for Washington, D.C. to attend meetings of the AAUP Foundation Board and the AAUP Executive Committee, I learned that California State University (CSU) Chancellor Timothy White would be addressing a breakfast there hosted by the California State Society, “a social networking organization” serving Californians in the…

ACCJC On the Ropes

Recent developments in the continuing controversy surrounding the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) and the California community college system suggest that the commission may be heading out of business, at least in California if not nationally. Tomorrow, March 21, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges will consider a resolution…

A Conservative Defense of Academia

BY HANK REICHMAN It has become a commonplace assumption that conservatives are a vanishing breed in academia and that American colleges and universities are inherently hostile to right-leaning political views.  This assumption fuels not only the often tiresome complaints from the right about “political correctness” on campus, but also the increasingly destructive assault by Republican-controlled…

My Questions for Chancellor White

BY HANK REICHMAN On February 29, California State University (CSU) Chancellor Tim White visited the CSU East Bay campus and addressed a public meeting of faculty, staff and students.  White was greeted by some 40 student and faculty demonstrators who later joined others in the audience.  As readers of this blog know, the CSU faculty…

“Ethics Failures” at the University of California

BY HANK REICHMAN In the wake of embarrassing revelations about the astronomical sums paid to campus chancellors for “service” on corporate boards that may involve conflicts of interest, the University of California faced another embarrassment when the Dean of the Law School at Berkeley resigned yesterday amid a sexual harassment scandal.  Sujit Choudhry’s resignation as…

New Alliance Defends CUNY

BY HANK REICHMAN “CUNY is for the People” read some of the signs at a highly-charged rally outside New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s midtown office in New York City yesterday. Organized by a new and broad coalition, CUNY Rising Alliance, the rally kicked off a community-based campaign to demand increased public investment in the City…

Tenure Weakened in Wisconsin

The AAUP issued this statement today after the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents adopted a new policy weakening tenure protections. Tenure in Wisconsin It is now clear that the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents has adopted a policy that provides weaker protections of tenure, and thus of academic freedom, than what has…