POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following public response was addressed to the administration and regents of the University of Washington. We write as Jewish faculty, staff, alumni, and students of the University of Washington to voice our concerns with the Antisemitism Task Force’s Report, titled “Climate Assessment and Reports from the Antisemitism and Islamophobia Task…
BY CAROLYN BETENSKY In 2020, the AAUP began the process of designing a Racial Equity Initiative that would transform the organization at every level. President Irene Mulvey appointed Dr. Glinda Rawls, Associate Professor of Counselor Education at Western Michigan University and At-Large Council Member, to lead the AAUP on this journey. At the AAUP Biennial…
BY MICHAEL FERGUSON Following is the editor’s introduction to the spring 2024 issue of Academe, “Race and the AAUP,” out this week. The full table of contents for the issue can be found here. This issue of Academe takes an overdue step toward reconsidering the role of race in the AAUP’s history. In a time of backlash against racial…
BY LOGAN JOHNSON In 2020, state bans on teaching “divisive concepts” in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education began sweeping our nation. These prohibitions, referred to as educational gag orders, have put educators at risk of penalties if they incorporate materials and discussions in their classrooms regarding race, gender, LGBTQ+ identities, and minority narratives of United…
BY BERNIE MACHEN The following is the text of remarks by University of Florida President Emeritus Bernie Machen at a naming celebration for the Bud Shorstein Center for Jewish Studies at UF on September 7, 2023. The Jewish people are integral to the development of our world and have made many contributions over the ages. …
BY HANK REICHMAN Last month the New York Times Magazine published an article, “The Instagram Account That Shattered a California High School,” by journalist Dashka Slater. It recounted the troubling tale of a racist Instagram account, created by a California high school student and followed by just thirteen of his fellow students, all white and…
BY JUDY ROHRER This past Fourth of July weekend was one of the hottest in history, not just because of climate catastrophe but also the white-hot imperialist racism “born in the U.S.A.” The scorching weekend started with the Supreme Court’s denial of historical and ongoing US settler-colonial and racial structural violence in its decision to…
BY MARK S. JAMES In section II of his concurring opinion in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, Justice Clarence Thomas seems to suggest that affirmative action can be justified for elite colleges and universities, such as Harvard and the University of North Carolina, if they can explain how their past discriminatory treatment against people…
BY MARK S. JAMES One of the most discussed passages from the Supreme Court’s majority opinion on affirmative action comes at the very end. It reads: At the same time, nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality…
BY JENNIFER RUTH My colleague on various AAUP committees, Dr. Derryn Moten, emailed me and others today on the occasion of the ruling. His words offer perspective that someone like John Roberts is incapable of contributing and I asked if I could share the email on the blog. He begins with a quote from the…