A Critique of “Standing with Professional Ethics”

BY DAVID PALUMBO-LIU I appreciate the opportunity to respond to Professor Hank Reichman’s criticism of our statement in support of Professor John Cheney-Lippold’s refusal to write a letter of recommendation for a student wishing to participate in a Study Abroad program in Israel. Cheney-Lippold cites as his reason his commitment to the Boycott, Divestment, and…

Standing with Professional Ethics

BY HANK REICHMAN Yesterday a group of faculty supporters of the BDS movement posted to this blog a statement, “Standing with John Cheney-Lippold,” which called on readers to support University of Michigan Professor Cheney-Lippold’s decision not to write a letter of recommendation for a student seeking to study for a semester in Israel.  They offer…

In Defense of Editors

BY AARON BARLOW This past Monday saw publication of my last issue as Faculty Editor of Academe. After six years, it is time for change and I thoroughly approve of the AAUP’s plans for the magazine going forward. In fact, I suggested many of them. When I awoke a few hours ago,  I saw that another…

Standing with John Cheney-Lippold

BY Richard Falk, Cynthia Franklin, Terri Ginsberg, Salah Hassan, David Klein, Adam Miyashiro, Bill V. Mullen, David Palumbo-Liu, Andrew Ross, and Snehal Shingavi John Cheney-Lippold, an associate professor of American Culture at the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor, has been criticized by some supporters of the State of Israel for declining to write a letter of recommendation…

Targeted Harassment and the Kavanaugh Nomination

BY HANK REICHMAN Recently the AAUP and others have been calling attention to the growing phenomenon of targeted online (and direct) harassment of faculty members, which has become a major threat to the academic freedom of everyone in higher education.  In January 2017, the AAUP issued a statement noting how individual faculty members “have been…

Lightbulb on blackboard, surrounded by idea bubble drawings.

Academic Values and Innovation

BY LESLIE BARY Yesterday a public official, dropping the name of the Lumina Foundation, asked Louisiana faculty for ideas on how to innovate. Did we need help learning to use technology? Would mini-grants help us find new books to replace the outdated ones we might be using? Perhaps we do not need books, but teaching…