PEN Reading List on Diaspora and Migration
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The PEN list is available at: https://pen.org/diaspora-migration-reading-list/?utm. If you click on the book image, you will be linked to a review in a major newspaper or periodical.
Measles, Mumps, Vaccinations, and Different Kinds of Misinformation
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH I came across the following two stories over the last several weeks: Nearly 5,000 Students Get Shots at Temple University amid Mumps Outbreak A mumps outbreak on the campus of Temple University in Philadelphia has reached the triple digits. The city health department said the number of confirmed and probable cases…
Responding to Conservative Watchdogs
BY MATTHEW BOEDY When some conservative media outlet contacts you, with a picture of a lecture slide or assignment from your course, implying a bias against their conservative agenda, do you respond? If so, how? I am not imagining a hypothetical scenario. The headlines of conservative websites such as Campus Reform and College Fix suggest…
Solidarity Notices
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Walkouts Held at 3 Seattle Community Colleges to Protest Funding Crisis Faculty, staff and students at South Seattle College, Seattle Central College and North Seattle College participated in walkouts on their campuses from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday [April 16]. They say state funding has dropped, causing tuition to rise to…
Florida Survey Proposal Raises Academic Freedom Concerns
BY HANK REICHMAN Last year the AAUP’s Committee on Government Relations released a report, “Campus Free-Speech Legislation: History, Progress, and Problems,” which concluded that campus free-speech laws and academic freedom are “false friends.” Nevertheless, such legislation continues to advance in several states. Especially troubling is a proposal that has moved out of committee in the…
Yesterday in Colorado–and Elsewhere
BY MARTIN KICH Yesterday, teachers, parents, and students across Colorado were spared any sort of repeat of the Columbine massacre, but as the anniversary of that horrible tragedy approaches, they, and all of us, were reminded of just how vulnerable our schools remain. Indeed, the same can be said about the vulnerability of most of…
Middlebury College’s “Snowflake” Administration
BY HANK REICHMAN When I saw the headline this morning on Inside Higher Ed, “Another Speaker Unable to Appear at Middlebury,” I immediately thought, “Haven’t those students learned that shutting down speakers is not only wrong but counter-productive?” Two years ago Middlebury students famously shouted down conservative speaker Charles Murray and a faculty member was…
He’s Gotten a Degree from MIT
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH At a House committee hearing on “The Need for Leadership to Combat Climate Change and Protect National Security,” Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie was questioning former Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry is regarded as an expert on climate change who helped to develop the Paris climate accord. He has criticized President Trump…
“Talkies” on The Future of Academic Freedom
BY HANK REICHMAN I spent a thoroughly enjoyable hour today discussing The Future of Academic Freedom with host Kris Welch on KPFA radio’s show “Talkies.” You can listen to it here:
OCAAUP Testimony on FORUM Act
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH Last Tuesday, April 9, Ohio State professor and OCAAUP member Lisa Voigt testified on House Bill 88, the “Forming Open and Robust University Minds” or FORUM Act, also called the “Campus Free Speech” bill. Calling the bill unnecessary, Voigt stated in her tstimony that the First Amendment already protects free speech…