weapon tucked into the back of jeans behind hoodie

Trouble is Bruen

BY Z. W. TAYLOR AND PATRICIA SOMERS Only a few decades after the 1789 signing of the US Constitution, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison sat on the board of visitors for the University of Virginia. Both Jefferson and Madison, originalists and contributors to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, supported the University of Virginia…

Coronavirus

This Could Be Big!

BY HANK REICHMAN In the wake of a week of statewide campus protest against poor COVID-19 practices at Georgia’s state universities and colleges, more than 50 faculty members at the University of Georgia, full and associate professors in the life sciences, have announced that they will require masks in their classrooms, in violation of the…

People holding a mask over a sculpture.

Uniting Faculty through a Mask Battle

BY MATTHEW BOEDY When it became increasingly obvious to me and my colleagues in Georgia through campus town halls and meetings that our university system would not institute a mask mandate for all during our upcoming fall semester, our AAUP chapter grew concerned. The why of that decision is surely political, since Georgia is a…

Scrabble tiles spelling out "free speech."

Journal of Academic Freedom Explores Free Speech

BY RACHEL IDA BUFF We are pleased to announce the publication of Volume 9 of the AAUP’s Journal of Academic Freedom. The journal features recent scholarship on academic freedom and its relation to contemporary crises of austerity, shared governance, tenure, and collective bargaining. This year’s volume focuses on the intersections of academic freedom and free speech,…

From Ferguson to Parkland

BY HANK REICHMAN No doubt like every other reader of this blog I’ve been awestruck and inspired by the response of the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, to the horrific mass shooting that struck down 17 of their classmates.  They have spoken out boldly, demonstrated visibly and loudly, and organized…

Academe Confronts a New Reality for Faculty

POSTED BY KELLY HAND The new issue of Academe considers the state of the academic profession in a political climate that has exacerbated existing threats to higher education. Articles focus on challenges to academic freedom and collective bargaining, the recent upsurge in harassment campaigns targeting faculty members, and faculty activism. Follow the links in the table of…