This is a guest post by John McNay, a contributor to the May–June issue of Academe. McNay is a professor of history at the University of Cincinnati–Blue Ash. A specialist on the Cold War, he has published books and articles on that period, but his most recent book is Collective Bargaining and the Battle of Ohio: The…
Since today is Bertrand Russell’s birthday (he was born in 1872), I wanted to share this short segment from my dissertation on the history of academic freedom about Russell’s firing from CCNY and the first court case to mention the words “academic freedom”: A turning point in academic freedom came in 1940. That year marked the…
By Andrew Scheinman A few weeks ago, the AAUP released its Report on the Steven Salaita affair at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), in which it concluded that UIUC and its Chancellor Phyllis Wise violated Salaita’s academic freedom and committed serious breaches of governance when they “un-hired” Salaita by Wise’s not forwarding his hire…
From the Conclusions of the report, “Academic Freedom and Tenure: Felician College (New Jersey)”, May, 2015: In terminating the appointments of sixteen fulltime faculty members, seven of whom sought the Association’s assistance, the administration of Felician College attributed its action simply to “the exigency of the college’s financial status” without any further explanation. The administration’s…
From the Conclusions of the report, “Academic Freedom and Tenure: The University of South Maine” of May, 2015: In terminating the appointments of sixty of the 250 full-time faculty members and eliminating, reducing, or consolidating numerous academic programs, allegedly on financial grounds, the administration of the University of Southern Maine acted in flagrant violation of…
The event launching the new advocacy chapter at Miami University seems to have been a great success. There was standing room only in the room where the event was held, which seated about 135 people. The co-presidents of the chapter gave a very rousing speeches, which drew applause from the crowd. In addition, AAUP President…
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of joining the leadership and some members of the Illinois Conference at their annual meeting in Chicago. I had previously met several of those in attendance, and I had the opportunity to meet in person several others with whom I have corresponded about posts to this blog and…
The faculty at Miami University in Ohio have formed an advocacy chapter, initially consisting of about 100 of the university’s 700 full-time faculty. The formation of the chapter will be marked formally with an on-campus event on April 29, featuring a talk by AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum. An article in the Dayton Daily News notes…
This essay originally appeared in Logos: a journal of modern society and culture. The first paragraph was edited to reflect subsequent revelations concerning the Association and the Great War. Howard Zinn died five years ago in 2010. The American Association of University Professors was founded 100 years ago in 1915 to defend academic freedom for professors…
The following is the text of my keynote address at “Hurdles on the Horizon: Governance & Student Success in the Connecticut State College & University System,” a conference organized by the Faculty Advisory Committee to the CSCU Board of Regents for Higher Education at Manchester Community College on April 10, 2015. Let me begin by…