University of Oregon President Michael Gottfredson has signed a new policy protecting academic freedom, which is being called one of the best policies in the country for defending academic freedom. The passage of this policy also refutes the false notion that academic unions undermine policy-making by a faculty senate. In this case, the AAUP/AFT union president chaired…
The American conception of academic freedom arose with the Progressive Era in the 1890s primarily because of social scientists who advocated for reforms that negatively affected financial interests. The press – muckrakers and establishment papers – actively participated in the debate over academic freedom that took place during that time. The attention of the press sometimes helped professors…
That’s how Jamienne Studley, Deputy Under Secretary at the Education Department, regards the Obama administration’s proposed system of ranking colleges. “This is not so hard to get your mind around.” Actually, it is. All blenders have a single purpose. They take certain types of organic material and combine them into products of chosen consistency. They can be judged…
Before 1915, AAUP founders Arthur Lovejoy and James McKeen Cattell stressed the need for significant reform of the traditional mode of governance prevalent in US higher education. Both proposed to have the president be elected by the faculty and to reduce the power of governing boards. Lovejoy proposed that reforming governance be the main focus of the soon-to-be-founded Association, because it would…
Testimony of John McNay, President of the Ohio Conference of AAUP, on House Bill 484, before the Ohio State Senate Finance Committee, on May 13, 2014 Chairman Oelslager, Ranking Member Sawyer, and distinguished members of the Senate Finance Committee: my name is John McNay and I am President of the Ohio Conference of the American…
Our own Hank Reichman (click here to see a list of his posts) has contributed to a New York Times opinion section “Room for Debate” spread, “Tongue-Tied on Campus.” Not only is he an important contributor to this blog but Reichman is the AAUP’s first vice president and chairman of the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure. His most…
AAUP members should receive their print copies of the May/June issue of Academe over the next few days. In the meantime, they can read it online–as can anyone else (there’s no paywall around here). If you only know us through the blog, you may find the magazine worth your while. More in depth and carefully prepared,…
(Courtesy of Stanford University Archives) Stanford engineering professor Guido Marx (1871-1949) was a member of the committee that organized the founding meeting of the AAUP. Between 1915 and 1919, he served on the Council and on two committees related to membership. He also served on the first investigation of the University of Montana in 1915.…
Thanks to a post on Retraction Watch, I just read an essay by University of Michigan’s Gerald Davis, “Why Do We Still Have Journals?” He concludes: there is room for many kinds of contributions, and it is reasonable for journals and other kinds of outlets to have a division of labor. But it is worth being cognizant…
(John M. Mecklin, ca. 1940, Courtesy of Dartmouth College Library) That the AAUP made academic freedom its early focus, which happened largely by accident rather than design, was due to events surrounding its founding. If there was one academic freedom case before the founding that was specifically responsible for setting the course of the Association,…