BY PAUL A. DILLER Many universities throughout the United States are mandating COVID-19 vaccines for students, faculty, and staff. The pandemic and associated restrictions have battered many segments of society, and higher education has not been immune. Social distancing, online courses, mask wearing, and the cancellation of sports and activities significantly disrupted the campus experience;…
BY ALEX ZUKAS Like many other university administrations across the United States, National University in San Diego, CA, is using the COVID-19 crisis as cover to enact draconian measures, some of which were mentioned on this blog in July 2020. Most recently, the university is requiring faculty to sign a liability waiver to access their…
BY HANK REICHMAN When last October Zoom declined to host seminars at San Francisco State University and New York University because one of the speakers, Leila Khaled, was associated with a group deemed “terrorist” by the U.S. government, which the company suggested might make it legally vulnerable, faculty groups and defenders of academic freedom protested. …
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN Responding to the AAUP’s statement opposing Florida’s “viewpoint diversity” legislation, a colleague teaching at a major research university sent me this poem. The would-be poet wishes to remain anonymous; something about preserving dignity. This year marks the 25th annual April celebration of National Poetry Month, so I thought it worth posting. …
BY STEVEN LUBET Hank Reichman’s recent post on the Bandy Lee case at the Yale Medical School raises an important point that deserves some further consideration. To recap, Dr. Lee has sued Yale for firing her from an unpaid, part-time position in the psychiatry department. Lee’s offense involved tweeting about the mental health of Donald…
BY HANK REICHMAN Bandy Lee, a former Yale University faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, filed suit in federal court March 22 against the University alleging “unlawful termination… due to her exercise of free speech about the dangers of Donald Trump’s presidency.” Lee charges that Yale fired her in…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN Last week, John C. Eastman , Professor of law at Chapman University and senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, posted an op-ed on the Newsweek web page arguing that Sen. Kamala Harris is not a natural-born citizen and hence ineligible for the presidency since her parents were not citizens at the…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Today, Donald Trump tweeted: “Too many Universities and School Systems are about Radical Left Indoctrination, not Education. Therefore, I am telling the Treasury Department to re-examine their Tax-Exempt Status…and/or Funding, which will be taken away if this Propaganda or Act Against Public Policy continues. Our children must be Educated, not Indoctrinated!”…
BY JOHN K. WILSON On July 6, the Trump Administration reached yet another new low in bigotry and incompetence, by decreeing that it will deport international students at colleges that choose to protect their students and faculty with online courses in the midst of a deadly pandemic. ICE announced, “The U.S. Department of State will…
BY JOHN K. WILSON California’s Leonard Law, passed in 1992, is unique in the country: It requires private universities to protect some elements of the First Amendment just like a public university. Last month, the Stanford Daily wrote about the Leonard Law controversy on campus, focusing on the Stanford College Republicans and their claim that…