Image of the Iowa state capitol, with an American flag flying on the right side of the image

Iowa under One-Party Rule

BY LOIS K. COX AND KATHERINE H. TACHAU The actuality of the Iowa legislative session makes the time a few months ago when we wrote “The Erosion of Support for Education and Tenure in Iowa” for the winter 2023 issue of Academe seem halcyon in contrast. Our fears for the future of public education in…

Horse with Boise State Broncos emblazoned on a boulder.

Learning from the Boise State Hoax

BY JOHN K. WILSON On March 16, 2021, Boise State University ordered the suspension of fifty-five classes enrolling more than 1,299 students in its required course, UF 200: Foundations of Ethics & Diversity. The mass suspension lasted for eight days, and it is one of the largest targeted suspensions of a course in the history…

Group of AAUP/AFT at the Colorado state capitol

Facts Disarm Threats to Proposed Colorado Collective Bargaining Bill

BY CAPRICE LAWLESS It is not only Colorado’s thousands of higher education faculty who stand to benefit through collective bargaining, but also Colorado’s hundreds of thousands of college students, their parents, and our state’s 5.7 million  taxpayers. Why? Because when employers and employees make decisions together through collective bargaining, those negotiations require disclosure of financial…

A white division symbol appears on a dark gray surface that looks like an eraser, sitting in a receptacle on top of a lighter gray surface.

What Does It Mean to Teach Divisive Concepts?

BY DALE E. MILLER Several states have taken or are considering measures to prohibit the teaching of “divisive concepts.” In my state, Virginia, new governor Glenn Younkin immediately issued Executive Order Number One (E.O. 1), “Ending the Use of Inherently Divisive Concepts, Including Critical Race Theory, and Restoring Excellence in K–12 Public Education in the…

Jim Crow 2.0

BY JENNIFER RUTH In a speech in Georgia on Tuesday, President Biden called voter suppression and election subversion “Jim Crow 2.0.” Criticism of the comparison was swift. The “worst hyperbole to date,” an op-ed in Boston Herald called it. Republican Senator Tim Scott* of South Carolina took to the floor to express his irritation and…

Florida’s and China’s Viewpoint Monitoring Laws

BY THOMAS A. BRESLIN Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and his allies have used conflict-of-interest policies meant to keep China from poaching American intellectual property to muzzle Florida’s public college and university professors. So doing, they’ve managed to deny the public access to the expertise of public university and college faculty members, threatened public health, put…