Canada—University of British Columbia [Part 1] After Arvind Gupta suddenly resigned as the president of the University of British Columbia, Jennifer Berdahl, a faculty member at the university, wrote a blog post in which she discussed the possibility that the president’s sudden departure had been linked to an entrenched lack of diversity at the university.…
The American Studies Association is being sued by some of its members for a resolution supporting the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement. Kenneth L. Marcus, the president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law which is organizing the lawsuit, said: “People who join an academic association have a right to rely…
BY PETER N. KIRSTEIN Professor Iymen Chehade, Columbia College Chicago, and I are members of Illinois AAUP Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. We are appearing on a panel in Chicago that is sponsored by the United Nations Association as part of their Global Conflicts Resolution series. The panel is April 13 in Chicago’s…
BY TOM MCBRIDE Guest blogger Tom McBride is professor emeritus at Beloit College in Wisconsin. In Chicago there’s a sports talk radio station with a couple of afternoon hosts who insist that their callers think critically about the topic at hand. When Patrick Kane, the Chicago Blackhawks hockey star, was accused of sexual assault, callers would…
BY HANK REICHMAN The following is the text of my keynote address at the annual plenary of the University Senate at the University of Pittsburgh on March 30, 2016. Some passages in the text are taken from my essay, “Does Academic Freedom Have a Future?,” published in the November-December 2015 issue of Academe. I am…
BY JOHN K. WILSON John McAdams of Marquette University has written a letter to President Lovell, refusing to go along with the administration’s demands. McAdam’s lengthy letter outlines why he objects to his suspension and dismissal on both procedural and substantive grounds. Unless Marquette backs down, it seems likely that the administration will refuse to let him…
The following statement signed by AAUP President Rudy Fichtenbaum and First Vice-President Henry Reichman was released today, March 30. The American Association of University Professors does not normally take positions on alleged violations of or threats to academic freedom outside the United States, both because we are hesitant to impose our standards on others, whose…
BY SAFEI ELDIN HAMED Guest blogger Safei Eldin Hamed is Chair of the Center for Egyptian American Relations (CEAR). CEAR is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization founded in 2013 and incorporated under the laws of the state of Maryland in accordance with Section 501(c)(3). It was established as an educational and charitable organization, and focuses on promoting and strengthening…
This is an update to the list of signatories to the statement initially posted to this blog yesterday. Signatories [Some prominent names have been added to the front end of the list.]: Lawrence Cohen, Director, Institute for South Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley Navtej K Purewal Deputy Director, South Asia Institute SOAS University of…
Dear Friends and Colleagues, The statement that follows is being circulated in solidarity with the students and faculty of the Hyderabad Central University, presently under siege by the police and from the central government in India. In the past three days police and paramilitary forces have been occupying the HCU campus–dozens of students were beaten…