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CFP: Academic Freedom on the Managed Campus

For its next volume, scheduled for publication in fall 2020, the AAUP’s Journal of Academic Freedom seeks original, scholarly articles exploring the ways the myriad managerial techniques in use on campuses today affect academic freedom and democratic faculty governance. Actuarial concerns about liability result in decisions made beyond the purview of governance bodies and even campus administration. We seek submissions that contemplate professional life and practices of academic freedom in this context, as well as those engaged with the possibility of resistance to these new regimes.

Will New Chancellor Support Academic Freedom at Ole Miss?

BY HANK REICHMAN When early last month the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees (IHL) appointed Glenn Boyce as the new Chancellor of the University of Mississippi, faculty and students were outraged. Boyce had been hired as a consultant to the search committee for the new chancellor and was never formally submitted as a…

The Politics Classroom on Academic Freedom

BY HANK REICHMAN Last week I had the great pleasure of appearing on “The Politics Classroom,” a radio show and podcast on the University of Illinois at Chicago’s campus radio station, hosted by political science professor Kate Floros. We had a terrific conversation about academic freedom. And my thanks to Kate for the flattering title…

Scholarship is Global; Academic Freedom Should Be Too

BY HANK REICHMAN When I began work earlier this year on guest-editing the new issue of Academe devoted to “academic freedom around the world,” I was motivated by the recognition that, as I put it in the editor’s note, “Scholarship today is global” and “threats to scholarship outside the United States inevitably affect scholarship here.” …

Chinese flag superimposed on image of a classroom.

What the NBA Can Teach University Administrators

BY JENNIFER RUTH If you follow the news, you are already familiar with the controversy that erupted over a tweet by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey. To recap: On October 4, Morey tweeted, “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” The NBA is hugely popular in China. The Hong Kong protests decidedly are not.…

Threats to Academic Freedom are Threats to Freedom

BY LORI ALLEN When the topic of “academic freedom” appears in the UK media, it is often buried in the education section or overlooked until left-leaning publications like the Guardian pick it up. There may be a public perception that academic freedom is a matter primarily for elites, a concern of professors and pontificators worried…

New Academe Examines Academic Freedom around the World

POSTED BY KELLY HAND The new issue of Academe—guest-edited by Henry Reichman, chair of the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure and a contributing editor for Academe Blog—takes a critical look at the mounting global assault on academic freedom. Articles focus on threats to socially engaged scholars abroad, attacks on gender studies in Europe…

presidential building of the University of Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire

Students’ Academic Freedom to Heal from War in Côte d’Ivoire

BY ALFRED BABO Last June 1, 2019, a significant turn in Ivorian higher education went unnoticed. Indeed, it was probably the first time that the Federation of Students of Côte d’Ivoire (FESCI), a powerful and controversial union, was sponsored and officially supported by the Ivorian government—to which it does not have close ties—to organize its…

Will Yale Become More Like Singapore?

BY HANK REICHMAN In 2011 Yale University announced the establishment of a joint venture with the National University of Singapore, Yale-NUS, a four-year, fully residential undergraduate institution. The venture differs from overseas programs like NYU’s controversial Abu Dhabi campus (see here, here, and here) because it is ostensibly independent of Yale, offering its own degrees. …

Are You on a Blacklist?

BY FRANK BALDWIN The Hollywood Ten knew they were on a blacklist. The House Un-American Activities Committee held televised hearings to vilify screenwriters and other cinema professionals and cited them for contempt of Congress. Studio executives fired the group in a press release, a warning to the film industry that subversives were not employable. Public…

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