BY HANK REICHMAN In a January 2018 political philosophy class at Shawnee State University in Ohio Professor Nicholas Meriwether addressed a trans woman as “sir.” It was an accident, but when the student approached him after class to request that she be called “Ms.” like other women in the class, Meriwether refused, claiming that his…
BY NADINE STROSSEN The following is a letter to Columbia University President Lee Bollinger from Nadine Strossen, the John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita at New York Law School, Past National President of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008), and author of HATE: Why We Should Resist it With Free Speech, Not Censorship. Dear Lee,…
BY HANK REICHMAN When last October Zoom declined to host seminars at San Francisco State University and New York University because one of the speakers, Leila Khaled, was associated with a group deemed “terrorist” by the U.S. government, which the company suggested might make it legally vulnerable, faculty groups and defenders of academic freedom protested. …
BY GINA TIGRI Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist party? This question was famously asked numerous times in the hearings held by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) amid the anti-Communist frenzy known as the Red Scare in the McCarthy era. A new higher education bill was recently…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following is the text of a press release issued yesterday by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). For background on this case see this previous post on Academeblog. Delegates to the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) Council voted today to censure the University of Toronto because of the…
BY GREGORY E. RUTLEDGE The current state of the union—recurring mass shootings, raging white supremacy (manifested in voter disenfranchisement, anti-immigrant hostility, violence against Asian Americans, and efforts to foment a racial civil war), a pandemic, outrageously foxy lying by US senators and representatives, and increasing economic desperation alongside massive wealth gains by billionaires—and the complacency…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Marquette professor John McAdams, who died on Thursday at the age of 75, was a controversial figure. His most important legacy will be the 2018 ruling of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in McAdams v. Marquette, which is incredibly important in establishing contractual protections for the academic freedom of professors at private…
BY HANK REICHMAN In a statement, “On Academic Freedom for our Higher Education Users,” Zoom has announced that it will leave content moderation issues to universities for virtually all matter “related to the institution’s academics or operations” and engage in content-based censorship only under rare, clearly delineated conditions. In short, the company now says it…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Here are some events happening in the next month that relate to free expression and academic freedom issues and may interest AcademeBlog readers (followed by some recordings of events held earlier this year, and deadlines for some proposals and grants. Readers are encouraged to mention additional events in the comments. Below…
BY STEVEN LUBET Hank Reichman’s recent post on the Bandy Lee case at the Yale Medical School raises an important point that deserves some further consideration. To recap, Dr. Lee has sued Yale for firing her from an unpaid, part-time position in the psychiatry department. Lee’s offense involved tweeting about the mental health of Donald…