Woody Who Never Left Us
BY AARON BARLOW
The Answer to Campus Unrest—Another Kent State
BY MARTIN KICH Writing for the Detroit News, Michael Gerstein reports: A northern Michigan Republican Party official resigned on Wednesday after landing in hot water for implying in a tweet that university protesters in California should be stopped violently. Dan Adamini, the Marquette County Republican Party secretary, apologized for his tweet. It made national news…
Iowa Republicans Threaten the Living Conditions of Graduate Student Workers
BY MICHAEL MERANZE The following post by UCLA history professor Michael Meranze is reposted by permission from the Remaking the University blog that he runs along with UC Santa Barbara professor Christopher Newfield. As you may recall, a bill to eliminate tenure was recently introduced into the Iowa State Senate. After a good deal of…
Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right
BY HANK REICHMAN I thought of the old adage in my title when I read the following in today’s San Francisco Chronicle: UC Berkeley police are investigating the theft of names and emails of people interested in joining the Berkeley College Republicans, the student group whose invitation to Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart News prompted a…
North Dakota Bill Bans “Safe Spaces”
BY MARTIN KICH What follows are some excerpts from an article written by Andrew Haffner for the Bismarck (ND) Tribune: A bill described by its sponsor as a means to ensure freedom of speech in North Dakota higher education by rejecting ‘political correctness gone crazy’ has passed in the state House. “Rep. Rick Becker, R-Bismarck,…
Muscling My Way Over
BY ROB PLATH Guest blogger Rob Plath is a writer from New York. He lives in a subterranean hovel with his cat Daisy. He is a member of the AAUP. I’m sitting in my car. Monday. 7:45 AM. Traffic is at a standstill. It takes me over 1-½ hours to drive 42 miles to the…
The "New Civics": John Dewey Shall Rise Again
BY AARON BARLOW When I was young, Civics was a part of the web of education up to the college level. Everyone, after all, was expected to finish high school—and everyone was expected to have at least a rudimentary understanding of the structures of the political system of the United States and the responsibilities of…
Lakoff on Selecting Language to Contest Trumpism
BY MARTIN KICH If you have not seen Tavis Smiley’s interview with the linguist George Lakoff, it is very much worth watching. Lakoff offers much insight into how progressives need to frame issues in order to reach the broadest possible spectrum of voters: http://www.pbs.org/video/2365951602/. Here are the opening paragraphs of Lakoff’s blog post “Understanding Trump,”…
Responding to the "Professor Watch List"
BY MATTHEW BOEDY Guest blogger Dr. Matthew Boedy is in his second year as Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Composition in the English Department at the University of North Georgia in Gainesville, Ga. He is a member of the AAUP. When I stood in front of my students on the first day of the semester…
The "New Civics" in Action
BY AARON BARLOW In an opinion piece published by The New York Times, Leon Botstein, president of Bard College, writes: American colleges and universities, public and private, are properly seen as nonpartisan elements in civil society, committed to research and teaching in a manner that transcends ordinary politics. But to succeed, these institutions must ensure…