BY AARON BARLOW The 1940 AAUP Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure argues that: Tenure is a means to certain ends; specifically: (1) freedom of teaching and research and of extramural activities, and (2) a sufficient degree of economic security to make the profession attractive to men and women of ability. Freedom and…
BY JOHN K. WILSON This afternoon (Thurs. April 19 at 1:30pm ET), AAUP political organizer Monica Owens will be holding a Facebook Live event about the threat from legislating free speech. It’s an important time to address these issues, especially since South Carolina has become the first state to pass the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which…
BY ELIZABETH J. MEYER The topic of free speech on college campuses has been an important one and one that continues to be debated particularly in the wake of Milo Yiannopolis’s speaking tour last year and the 2016 presidential election. With groups like Turning Point USA pouring significant resources into sponsoring conservative speakers like Ann…
BY WENDY LYNNE LEE Guest blogger Wendy Lynne Lee is a professor of Philosophy at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. On the morning after the 2016 election of Donald Trump many of us were bleary; some were despairing, and I was both. But I was also clear-headed and I understood then, just as I do now,…
BY AARON BARLOW One of the greatest examples of a reaction to totalitarianism is comedian Charlie Chaplin’s film The Great Dictator (1940). This very funny—when it is not tragic—movie ends with a speech resonating even in today’s political milieu. Here’s a bit from it: The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Several days ago, Sasha Ingber contributed an article to the Washington Post on how “Trump’s Presidency Has Prompted a New, Nationwide College Course on Why Democracies Collapse.” The course has been developed by Robert Balir, an assistant professor of political science at Brown University. A specialist in post-conflict security in Africa,…
BY HANK REICHMAN Listening to right-wing Republican whiners, you’d think that America’s college and university campuses have been overrun by thuggish “snowflake” leftists busily drowning out conservative voices in the name of some sort of ideologically purist “political correctness” dismissive of free speech. After U.C. Berkeley failed to find a safe venue for her…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following is from the Washington Post: A high school student was suspended for “disrespect” after he called his congressman’s office and told lawmakers — as he recalls it — to “get off their f‑‑‑— asses” and pass gun-control laws. Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) has defended his staff member for reporting 17-year-old Noah…
BY JOHN K. WILSON A funny thing happened during comedian Hannibal Buress’s set at Loyola University of Chicago on March 17: The Administration cut off his mic. And then when Buress tried to continue his performance unamplified, the Administration turned up the music to drown him out. Eventually, Buress was allowed to return to the…