BY HANK REICHMAN The University of Chicago has earned well-merited praise for its powerful 2014 “Statement on Principles of Free Expression,” a document that has been endorsed by a growing number of institutions. That statement, authored by a committee chaired by Geoffrey R. Stone, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law and former Provost…
BY PETER N. KIRSTEIN Emanuel Goldman’s, “Why an Academic Boycott of Israel is Wrong,” appears in the May-June 2016 issue of Academe: Magazine of the A.A.U.P. The article is needlessly inflammatory and dismissive of ethical challenges to Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Professor Goldman claims that its supporters, which includes many tens of thousands of students…
BY ANN MESCHER The following is a guest post by Ann Mescher, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle. Please join this urgent request from faculty members and students at the University of Washington. If you agree, please add your name to our petition linked below, and forward to your colleagues, family…
Today is the start of the Scholars at Risk 2016 Global Congress, “Universities in a Dangerous World: Defending Higher Education Communities and Values” at McGill University in Montreal. If you are not fortunate enough to be in Montreal in person with us, you can watch a livestream of all the events beginning today at 1pm…
BY HANK REICHMAN On June 4, following Committee A’s annual spring meeting, present and former AAUP leaders, activists, and staff members gathered in Washington to join family members and friends in honoring the memory of Jordan E. Kurland, who passed away in January at the age of 87, still actively employed by the AAUP. Jordan…
The editor of the Toledo Blade just published an editorial titled “A Bauble for a Buddy,” questioning both the appropriateness and the efficacy of John Kasich’s appointment of Richard Ross, a former state school superintendent, to the Bowling Green State University board of trustees. The appointment needs to be approved by the State Senate,…
Some of you may have seen the item in the Chronicle of Higher Education on Scott Scarborough’s resignation as President of the university of Akron [http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/akrons-controversial-president-will-step-down-immediately/111739?cid=pm&utm]. That article includes the official statement released by the university’s Board of Trustees. A follow-up article, “U of Akron Chief’s Resignation Ends a Rocky Presidency,” is available at:…
BY PATRICIA S. BOWNE There’s been a lot posted here about Alice Dreger, but I don’t see any review of her book. Here’s one I wrote back in March 2015, when it was hot off the presses (this review previously appeared on The Royal Academy at Osyth blog). ———————– It’s been a while since I…
BY JONATHAN REES Last week, the learning management system (LMS) at the University of California – Davis went down right before finals week. It didn’t take too long for the vendor to restore it, but this kind of message from the administration there, quoted by Phil Hill at the blog e-Literate, probably didn’t inspire very…