Matt Dillon Is Dead: Why We Need Videos on the Academe Blog

Marty, a man whose writing I very much admire and whom I hope to meet in person one day (I really wish his office was just down the hall from mine so we could go get coffee), wrote in his postscript addressing my post, which in turn had addressed a post on the Chronicle page…

It Is Illogical to Assert That Death Threats Do Not Have a Chilling Effect on Free Speech

Dear Ulf: I generally find your posts to be very amusing. But I think that you have missed not just the bullseye but the whole target in your most recent post. Regardless of how the writer of the piece may have slanted it, the core issue in this situation was that the speaker was scheduled,…

AAUP and CUCFA Announce Partnership Agreement

The following is the text of a media release issued this morning by the American Association of University Professors and the Council of University of California Faculty Associations. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Council of University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA) today announced that they have agreed to work together as…

Professor's Illogical Accusation that Right to Bear Arms Limits Free Speech

In a commentary published yesterday by The Chronicle of Higher Education, an English professor at Utah State under a headline with lack of logic (English professors should know better, I can say that, I am an English professor), “Guns on Campus Have Already Curtailed Free Speech,” blames the right to bear arms on “feminist and…

An Open Letter to High School Seniors

It’s October. For millions of American high school seniors, choosing what to do after receiving the high school degree begins now. It represents the first life-altering decision made by you about which you get to call the shots. Here are some important points to think about as you move into the decision-making season. The first…

Adding to the Armamentarium of Academic Freedom

Robert Kreiser, a former staffer of the American Association of University Professors Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure and Governance, spoke at an Illinois Conference annual meeting. I expressed an opinion that one of the AAUP’s most eloquent and powerful statements on academic freedom appeared in one of its lesser known Redbook documents: Academic Freedom in the Medical School. He…

Gaming Academic Freedom

Last week, at a meeting of the Academic Freedom Committee of the Professional Staff Congress (the CUNY faculty union), the name Anita Sarkeesian came up. Though she is not an academic (in the sense of being employed by a college or university), she felt forced to cancel an appearance at Utah State University due to threats…

At the Austin Airport Schlotzky's Kiosks: Their Workers Won't Be Heading to College

This past week at the Austin airport I was trying to grab a fast lunch with decent coffee without have to do so in two places. So I approached a wide open counter advertising java, with glass cages filled with all sorts of baked goods. Without having heard even what I wanted, the fast food…

Dressing Up as Biblical Figure for Halloween Creepy?

I had hoped to be scared this Halloween by maybe taking a creepy clown up on his offer to hug me in what looks like a setting out of some Masterpiece murder mystery. Of course clowns like mimes are creepy even if they don’t touch. But Googling Halloween and education, I need not have…

Halloween College Parking Special: Warning, Sobriety Could Result

In the spirit of Halloween, mischief its obligatory companion, it is only suitable to note the labyrinthine ways of parking instructions on college campuses all across America. In honor of one of the colleges from which I graduated, I will use it as an exemplar. I am certain many of you have your own spooky…

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