Free Speech is Fine, But the College President Knows Best
BY HANK REICHMAN The president of Williams College in Massachusetts, a supposedly “elite” liberal arts institution, has ordered the cancellation of a student-organized speaking engagement by an author characterized by many as a white supremacist. In a letter to the college community on Thursday, Adam Falk said the views espoused in the writings of John…
Now the Shoe is On the Other Foot
BY HANK REICHMAN For some time we have been repeatedly assaulted by exaggerated claims from the political Right that student objections to institutional racism and sexism on campuses violate freedom of speech by imposing an orthodoxy of “political correctness.” Conservative pundits have openly mocked student charges that racist and sexist behavior can be traumatic for…
Academic Freedom Threatened in Poland
BY HANK REICHMAN Scholars in Poland have rallied to the defense of one of the world’s leading Holocaust historians after reports that Poland intends to withdraw a national honor because he claimed that Poles were complicit in Nazi war crimes. Polish-American scholar Jan T. Gross, Professor of History at Princeton University, is threatened with being…
“Agents of Change” Wins Awards at Film Festival
BY HANK REICHMAN Agents of Change, the documentary film about the student movements for ethnic studies at Cornell and San Francisco State Universities in the late ’60s and early ’70s, had its world premiere last week at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles. A rough cut of the film was previously screened to…
Support Growing for Potential CFA Strike
BY HANK REICHMAN Since the AAUP-affiliated California Faculty Association (CFA) announced dates last week for a potential April strike at all 23 campuses of the California State University (CSU) system, support for the union’s demand for a 5% salary increase has been growing. CFA President Jennifer Eagan has been hearing from large numbers of faculty…
Hunger on Campus
BY HANK REICHMAN Even as gourmet and gluten-free choices expand at some elite college eateries, Sara Goldrick-Rab and Katharine Broton have published an excellent, if deeply disturbing, article on “The Hidden Hunger Problem on Campus.” For many it may be hard to believe, but the evidence is clear that a significant portion of the student…
“They Are Using My Video As an Excuse”
BY HANK REICHMAN The student videojournalist who was threatened by professor Melissa Click, leading to a municipal assault charge, said Friday that he wants state lawmakers to stop using the incident to justify budget cuts for the University of Missouri (UM), according to a report in the Columbia Tribune. Mark Schierbecker’s video of Click —…
Colorado Community College AAUP Fighting for “Adjunct” Faculty
The following statement was released today by the Colorado Community Colleges AAUP: Alarmed by heartbreaking requests from their teaching colleagues for food, health-care, beds, housing, help with shut-off notices from the Xcel Energy, etc., the faculty majority in the state’s most financially secure system of colleges asked the State Board of Community Colleges and Occupational…
Strategic Planning Comes to Berkeley
BY HANK REICHMAN This morning University of California at Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks sent an email to the entire university community announcing a new strategic planning initiative. The entire lengthy but frustratingly vague message has been reproduced on the Remaking the University blog. Summaries were also quickly released by Inside Higher Ed and the Chronicle…