BY ALAN SINGER Academic freedom is often paired with freedom of speech, enshrined in the Bill of Rights as part of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. But freedom of speech is not absolute, and neither is academic freedom. Academic freedom is bound by the same legal restraints as freedom of speech, but…
POSTED BY JENNIFER RUTH On April 23, 2024, the AAUP-Penn Executive Committee issued the following statement. We condemn in the strongest terms the wave of recent repression of students and faculty engaged in peaceful and principled protest by university administrations across the country. These include the draconian treatment of students by the administrations of Barnard…
BY RACHEL IDA BUFF On April 7, Marquette University Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), with full knowledge and consent by the university administration, planted 41,000 flags to symbolize the death toll from the ongoing genocide in Gaza. That night, three Zionist educators not affiliated with the university desecrated the memorial. One of them carried…
POSTED BY JENNIFER RUTH AAUP President Irene Mulvey and the AAUP chapters of Barnard and Columbia released statements regarding Minouche Shafik’s testimony before the House Education and Workforce Committee. Below is Mulvey’s statement, followed by the chapters’ statement. Wednesday, before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, President Shafik threw academic freedom and Columbia…
BY HANK REICHMAN As a Columbia alum (College ’69), participant in that university’s 1968 student rebellion, advocate for academic freedom and free expression rights, and as a Jew, I have followed developments at Columbia over the past few days with great interest. On Wednesday came the appearance by the co-chairs of the university’s Board of…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Former AAUP President Cary Nelson’s latest book is Hate Speech and Academic Freedom: The Antisemitic Assault on Basic Principles (Academic Studies Press, 2024). John K. Wilson interviewed him by email about the book in Part I of this discussion. Here in Part II, Nelson examines issues raised since the manuscript was completed last…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN On Wednesday, April 17 when faculty members nationwide will be observing a National Day of Action for Higher Education, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik is scheduled to testify before the House Education and Workforce Committee. On December 5, that committee heard testimony from the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Former AAUP President Cary Nelson has just published his latest book, Hate Speech and Academic Freedom: The Antisemitic Assault on Basic Principles (Academic Studies Press, 2024). John K. Wilson interviewed him by email about the book. John K. Wilson: You and I disagreed about the Steven Salaita firing at UIUC. You argue…
BY THE BERKELEY FACULTY ASSOCIATION It is expected that the University of California Board of Regents will announce the appointment of a new Chancellor of the Berkeley campus on April 10. On April 1, in anticipation of this appointment, the Berkeley Faculty Association posted the following open letter. UPDATE 4/10: The Regents have announced the…
On April 17, higher ed unions, AAUP chapters, and student organizations across the U.S. are coming together for a national day of action to fight back against the coordinated assault on teaching and learning, and to mobilize for a system of higher education that serves the public good. Our aim is not just to beat…