BY MICHAEL DECESARE Administrative encroachment. Governing board overreach. Political interference. In light of these and other ominous trends, the need has never been more urgent for faculty to reclaim a central role in the government of our colleges and universities. The May–June issue of Academe, now available on the AAUP website, is devoted to academic…
BY HANK REICHMAN “A university without student protests against visiting speakers would be like a forest without birds.” — Timothy Garton Ash, Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World, p. 155 This is the first of three four posts in a series. The issue of the right of controversial and sometimes deeply offensive invited…
BY DON ERON This guest post comes from remarks by Don Eron at the April 29 Academic Freedom Symposium at the University of Colorado Boulder. Don Eron is a retired University of Colorado Boulder writing instructor and a member of the national AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. The AAUP I’d like to talk about…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Here are some upcoming 2017 events related to the AAUP and academic freedom: The AAUP Annual Conference is being held on June 14-17 in Washington DC. Register now: April 15 at midnight EDT is the deadline for early bird rates. Note that during this year’s event, there will also be a special…
BY THE NORTH CAROLINA AAUP CONFERENCE The following is, first, a press release from the North Carolina AAUP followed by the vision statement itself: Boone, NC/Chapel Hill, NC March 9, 2017 The state conference of the leading professional organization of American college professors has released a vision statement entitled “Reclaiming Higher Education for All North Carolinians”…
BY AARON BARLOW If you want to teach students to think, you have to challenge them—challenge their beliefs and assumptions. Confirming what they (or their parents, or their communities) already believe does not serve that purpose. You also need to teach students to be honest with themselves and to examine their own beliefs by standards…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following statement was issued by the AAUP earlier today, February 1, 2017. The 2016 election has exacerbated a political climate that was already inimical to academic freedom. Six years ago the American Association of University Professors conveyed its concern that “the war on terror, the conflict in the Middle East,…
BY HANK REICHMAN The following is the text of a talk I delivered on January 30 at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. I want to thank the Whitman AAUP chapter, the faculty committee on academic freedom and due process, and the Whitman administration for their invitation, hospitality and support during my illuminating two-day visit.…
BY HANS-JOERG TIEDE Anton Julius Carlson served as AAUP president from 1936 to 1938. He was once described by another former AAUP president as the Association’s “war horse” of that period of time, serving on Committee B on Freedom of Speech and on a total of four investigative committees between 1930 and 1941. Carlson chaired the famous…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following document was prepared and released jointly by the AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). It may be accessed in .pdf format at https://www.aaup.org/news/faqs-faculty-after-2016-election Recently, the United States has experienced an unprecedented spike in hate crimes and threats, both physical and verbal, on college and university campuses. These…