BY DANIEL A. SEGAL An opera based on Michael Chabon’s novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, with music by Mason Bates and libretto by Gene Scheer, had its world premiere at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music on November 15. The opera is glorious, and the performance, with every note sung and played…
POSTED BY JENNIFER RUTH Please consider signing this open letter to the NYU administration. The text is below. Click the preceding link to access the form itself so you can add your name. On December 12, the NYU administration invited the NYPD to arrest two faculty members who were supporting students involved in a nonviolent protest…
BY ILANA GERSHON Academic freedom sounds so academic—especially for employees frustrated at work because they are answering workplace surveys all the time, and yet somehow their insights about how to make an office or a task function better are never taken seriously. Faculty members are not the only experts in their workplaces, so, if we…
BY MICHAEL ANTHONY LEWIS It’s been over a year since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel; we’re still witnessing Israel’s response. All this has made the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians front page (or front screen) news. We’re constantly hearing debates about the perennial issues that make up this conflict. I’m a CUNY faculty…
BY JOAN W. SCOTT The victory of Donald Trump in the presidential election has caused great concern for many in academia. When, on the campaign trail, J. D. Vance, now the vice-president-elect, commented that “professors are our enemy,” when the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 called for the abolition of the Department of Education, and when…
BY JOHN K. WILSON In the war of words between advocates of the AAUP and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), we need to recognize the value of both organizations. I wrote an essay at Inside Higher Ed, “In Defense of FIRE,” responding to Joan Scott’s critique of FIRE. FIRE president and CEO…
BY TEXAS AAUP-AFT The following statement was released November 19 by the Texas AAUP-AFT. Upon the passage of Senate Bill 17 last year, Texas faculty warned of the detrimental impacts the state’s so-called ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and practices would have on the ability of colleges and universities to perform their duties…
BY KIMBERLY HARDY Who cares about the Black Lives Matter and woke movements now? This was the question a friend raised when I discussed the concept of my article for the recently published Journal of Academic Freedom, “A Precedent Set: Understanding the Florida Assault on Academic Freedom Targeting Black History and the Impact on Leadership…
BY AMIR HUSSAIN Critics and educators may plausibly perceive social media as preferring and promulgating fragmentary thinking, consumerist scrolling, and buzzwords over the attention to nuance and context that is cultivated in university settings. But the emergence of this arena nonetheless needs to be seen as relevant—even vital—for considering the intellectual and political landscape of…
BY HANK REICHMAN James Vernon, the Helen Fawcett Distinguished Professor of History at the University of California at Berkeley and former co-chair of the Berkeley Faculty Association, is also leading Berkeley’s recently launched Global Democracy Commons project. I was honored that James invited me to interview for the first installment of the program’s new monthly…