The Center for Constitutional Rights has issued this “media advisory” concerning tomorrow’s lawsuit over open-records claims under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. The issue of donor influence on the Steven Salaita summary dismissal case is a key aspect of this struggle for academic freedom and academic due process. The battle for open records, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, between the University…
[Guest Blogger Ira Allen is an assistant professor of Rhetoric and Composition at the American University of Beirut.] In November of last year, alongside scholars from around the disciplines, I signed an open letter written by philosopher John Protevi. The letter urged Marquette University to support embattled philosophy graduate student Cheryl Abbate and to “take steps…
The Hiring Policies and Processes Review Committee is a faculty committee impaneled last October by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty senate and Provost Phyllis M. Wise. It has recommended the University of Illinois System Board of Trustees no longer approve new faculty hires and cease all personnel decision-making below the position of an…
I would like to add a few items to John Wilson’s fine summary of the law suit filed in US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on behalf of Steven Salaita. The Center for Constitutional Law and the Chicago civil rights law firm Loevy and Loevy have been providing legal counsel to Professor Salaita. The…
BY AAUP STAFF In her January–February 2015 Academe article, “Investigative Procedures in Academic Freedom and Tenure Cases,” Debra Nails describes the AAUP’s procedures for academic freedom and tenure investigations, in which dedicated member-volunteers work closely with staff to produce widely respected reports that treat serious violations of the AAUP’s principles and standards. Using her own…
BY AAUP STAFF In the January–February 2015 Academe issue, Ann H. Franke provides an overview of the AAUP’s century-long role in upholding and protecting the principles of academic freedom and tenure. In her article, “A Century of Change,” Franke offers her thoughts about “how things have been going and where they may be headed with that…
The issue of possible donor influence in the Steven Salaita contract-revocation case is significant because on-campus personnel decisions should not be influenced by external actors. Academic freedom and shared governance are severely attenuated if universities and colleges outsource, and are unduly influenced by off-campus forces intruding into personnel and hiring processes on campus. Remember Alan Dershowitz and the…
I received permission from Gregory Scholtz, Director, A.A.U.P. Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure and Governance, to release this letter: December 30, 2014 Dr. Phyllis Wise Chancellor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Swanlund Administration Building 601 East John Street Champaign, Illinois 61820 Dear Chancellor Wise: The approval and December 23 release by the UIUC Senate Committee…
On December 9, James McNair, writing for Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, has explored the many implications of a pending gift from the Koch Brothers and Poppa John’s CEO John Schnatter to the University of Louisville. The article, the full text of which is available at http://kycir.org/2014/12/09/university-of-louisville-set-to-get-millions-from-charles-koch-foundation-and-papa-johns-ceo/, opens: “Declines in state appropriations and negative financial trends…