The attempt to punish academic groups that support a boycott of Israel is growing beyond New York, with a bill introduced in the Maryland legislature. The AAUP quickly issued a statement condemning these bills: “Legislative interference in academic decision-making and with the freedom of scholars to associate and exchange views with their peers is even…
The New York Senate has passed Assembly Bill A.8392 to cut off state aid to any academic organization that supports a boycott. As the NYU AAUP noted, “Elected officials are seeking to use their fiscal powers to limit the range of academic expression simply because they disagree with its content. Passing this legislation would set…
Adjunct academics have been ignored, dismissed, underpaid, and exploited, but now somebody finally fears them. Unfortunately, it is a group of NIMBY residents in Evanston near Northwestern University who worry that adjunct faculty might live near them and lower property values. The Southeast Evanston Association expressed fears in an email about a proposed extended stay…
Colorado State University at Pueblo administrators have banned email access for sociology professor Timothy McGettigan after he sent an email to people on campus criticizing the administration’s budget cuts, compared the cuts to the Ludlow Massacre a century ago by calling top administrators “hitmen,” and promoted a rally on campus to protest the proposed cuts.
Chicago State University (CSU) administrators have sent another letter attempting to shut down or censor the CSU Faculty Voice blog. In November, AAUP VP Hank Reichman called CSU’s earlier letter to the blog “a thuggish effort to bully and frighten, with no legal or moral justification.” This new letter is even worse, and clear evidence…
I’m starting to think that the American Studies Association has become the Emmanuel Goldstein of our times, the mythical object of the daily two minutes of hate in the novel 1984. The outpouring of denunciations against the ASA, and calls for their suppression for daring to embrace a boycott of Israel, have made them the most…
Statement by the University of Colorado at Boulder chapter of the AAUP The University of Colorado chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) joins our Colorado Conference and our national association in condemning the University of Colorado’s assault on the reputation and academic freedom of sociology professor Patricia Adler. University officials have publicly…
Yesterday, the Kansas Board of Regents adopted a new policy requiring all state universities to target social media, in retaliation for David Guth’s tweets (see my previous defense). In one mindless decision, the Kansas Regents have instantly adopted one of the worst campus speech codes ever seen in the entire country. This policy is clearly…
I’ve always had some ambivalent feelings about boycotts. I agree with the AAUP’s strong and principled opposition to academic boycotts, and I think engagement in almost every case is better than a boycott. On the other hand, I believe that individuals have the right to engage in boycotts, that institutions have the right to urge…