In 2013, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom documented the banning of 307 books in locations across the United States. The ten most frequently banned books of 2013 were the following: Captain Underpants (Series), by Dav Pilkey. Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison.…
The following is an op-ed piece prepared by the Berkeley Faculty Association, which was published today in the Daily Californian, an independent student-run newspaper that covers both the University of California, Berkeley campus and the city of Berkeley. This fall, the campus celebrates the achievements of the 1964 student movement that made Berkeley famous for…
This is a guest post by Ron Bramhall, a contributor to the recent September-October issue of Academe. Bramhall is a senior instructor in the Charles H. Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon. He teaches business leadership and communication, and the legal environment of business. He represents the interests of approximately 950 contingent faculty as…
Should instructors allow students in their classes to use electronic media devices — laptops, tablets, smartphones — in class? That question has often been a hot one among teaching faculty and opinions vary widely. Recently Clay Shirky, who teaches telecommunications and journalism at New York University, decided after many years to ban the devices from…
This is a letter from the University of Iowa AAUP chapter to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise seeking reinstatement of Professor Steven Salaita. It is admirable that an AAUP chapter from another campus would engage itself in this manner. I think chapter solidarity in upholding AAUP principles and statements is essential in affirming the…
Let’s assume that a Chinese family, anxious to provide their child with a world-class education, searches the web to determine where to start. They also base their search on anecdotal reports of friends, among numerous other factors. But the Chinese family is unlikely to visit the United States to participate in an extended college tour…
And this is good old Boston, The home of the bean and the cod, Where the Lowells talk only to Cabots, And the Cabots talk only to God. John Collins Bossidy’s old saw kept running through my mind as I read Thomas Frank’s “All These Effing Geniuses: Ezra Klein, Expert-Driven Journalism, and the Phony Washington Consensus” on…
On January 23, 2014, Christopher G. Kennedy was reelected by his peers as chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. In the public relations announcement it praised his putative transformation of the board into an ethical model of leadership: “During his five years as chairman, the board has restored confidence in the…