…certainly not about the content of his tweets or of his character. Among other things, it’s about whether or not being scheduled to teach with students actually enrolled constitutes “hiring.” And that’s not a question any of us should have any disagreement on. Questions we on the faculty need to ask certainly include concern over the impact…
Rudy Fichtenbaum, President American Association of University Professors First I want to thank the University of Saskatchewan Faculty Association for inviting me to attend your Academic Freedom Event. I do not consider myself to be an expert on academic freedom. Thus, I am all the more so truly honored that you have asked me…
John T. McNay, a professor of history at UC-Blue Ash, is president of the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors. The following op-ed appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer on September 28 and is available at: http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/09/28/opinion-bloat-driving-uc-miami-costs/16410479/ We appreciate the column by David Hodge, president of Miami University, and Santa Ono, president…
The Campus Faculty Association of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was an early advocate of an American Association of University Professors investigation of the university’s administration. Throughout the Steven Salaita viewpoint-cleansing assault on academic freedom, CFA has sustained an impressive advocacy in support of academic freedom and shared governance. One of the benefits in being engaged in AAUP matters, is the…
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure is apparently investigating the Steven Salaita case. What will be achieved is unclear since the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, the highest unit an appointee can appeal a dismissal on campus, has already cast its unseemly vote to dismiss the professor eleven…
Hank Reichman, the First Vice-President of AAUP and a frequent contributor to this blog, is marking his retirement by teaching a seminar on the history of academic freedom in the American university. Unprompted, his provost handed him a sizable check and invited him to organize a broader symposium, a speakers series, on the history of…
I was initially going to add this brief post as a comment on Ulf Kirchdorfer’s new post “Papa John’s Pizza Plot: Heimlich Maneuver Needed for Schools, Parents, and Students,” but then I realized that I had more to say than would be appropriate for a “comment.” Ulf’s post is insightful and wryly humorous, and you…
After a very contentious search, the Board of Trustees of Florida State University have announced that John Thrasher will be the institution’s new president. The firm originally hired to facilitate the search was fired after faculty and students organized protests against the firm’s very obvious interest in promoting Thrasher’s candidacy and very superficial interest in…
This is a guest post by Miranda Merklein, a contributor to the recent September-October issue of Academe. Merklein is the acting president of the Santa Fe Community College-AAUP chapter, where she works as an adjunct professor. She also teaches at Northern New Mexico College. Follow her on Twitter @MirandaMerklein. The organizing drive really picked up over the…