BY JOHN K. WILSON The New Yorker revealed today that Laura Kipnis’ Title IX nightmare, discussed in her recent book, did not end when the book came out. In fact, six graduate students and four professors at Northwestern filed another Title IX complaint against her retaliation because of the book, and the administration investigated her for…
BY JOHN K. WILSON We have seen many cases recently of professors being fired for their political opinions on twitter, but the University of Tampa’s firing of Ken Storey today is one of the more extreme, ridiculous, and utterly bizarre examples. The University of Tampa announced: On Sunday, Aug. 27, visiting assistant professor of sociology…
BY JOHN K. WILSON When ESPN decide to shift an announcer named Robert Lee away from a football game at Charlottesville, the far right declared it was a crisis of political correctness. On Fox News, Tucker Carlson announced: Craziest story of the week: #ESPN dropping an announcer named #RobertLee from a game. The president of…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Today’s decision by the University of Florida to ban rental of space for an event by white supremacist Robert Spencer is a threat to free speech on campus, and the reasoning behind it poses a danger to a wide range of speech. University of Florida president W. Kent Fuchs justified his…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Harry Keyishian was a special honoree at the AAUP’s annual awards luncheon today ‘for his courage, integrity, and unstinting commitment to academic freedom.” This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Keyishian v. Board of Regents, which established academic freedom as “a special concern of the First Amendment.”…
BY JOHN K. WILSON At the 103rd Annual Meeting today, the AAUP members voted to pass resolutions on funding cuts to the University of Puerto Rico and Illinois colleges, imposed censure on two administrations, and removed two administrations from the censure list. The AAUP voted to impose censure on the Community College of Aurora in…
BY JOHN K. WILSON On Wednesday, June 14, 3-5pm at the Newseum in Washington DC, the Newseum and the AAUP are holding a special preview event for the AAUP annual conference, “The First Amendment on Campus: Freedom of Speech and the Press in Higher Education.” In order to attend this free event (which is open…
BY JOHN K. WILSON On Friday June 2, the Evanston Public Library held a hearing that may lead to the firing of librarian Lesley Williams this week. Her alleged crime? Posting a message on her personal Facebook page criticizing the library’s efforts at racial equity. This makes it an important case in the wake of…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Earlier this year, the AAUP issued a statement against targeted online harassment of faculty. This statement has added significance with the news that Princeton professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor has cancelled several speeches after receiving death threats in the wake of a commencement speech in which she called Donald Trump “a racist, sexist…
BY JOHN K. WILSON The National Association of Scholars (NAS) has issued its annual “Beach Books” attack on colleges for their common reading programs. According to the NAS, “Common readings frequently emphasize progressive political themes—illegal immigrants contribute positively to America, the natural environment must be saved immediately…” In reality, the NAS found that few of…