graffiti of someone spraying free speech on a brick wall

The Stanford Arguments over an Academic Freedom Conference

BY JOHN K. WILSON A conference on academic freedom being held this weekend at Stanford has spurred controversy over its perceived conservative bias and closed format. A group of more than fifty Stanford academics signed “A Closed Conference on Academic Freedom is a Contradiction,” a statement denouncing the conference for its lack of public access.…

CUCFA Statement on Possible Strike by UC Student Employees

BY THE COUNCIL OF UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA FACULTY ASSOCIATIONS (CUCFA) The following statement was released on October 30.  Graduate students, postdocs, and other academic student employees are essential to the teaching and research mission of the University of California, especially as undergraduate enrollments rise. Given the escalating costs of living in California, 48,000 people in…

diamond-shaped yellow road sign warns "FASCISM AHEAD"

Neofascism, Florida Style—Part II

BY TIMOTHY V. KAUFMAN-OSBORN  A note from Academe Blog contributing editor Jennifer Ruth: This post is the second part of a two-part series on the DeSantis plan for higher education. It is required reading for all of us working to thwart the state-driven fascism (or what I have been calling “subnational authoritarianism”) that seeks to…

diamond-shaped yellow road sign warns "FASCISM AHEAD"

Neofascism, Florida Style—Part I

 BY TIMOTHY V. KAUFMAN-OSBORN A note from Academe Blog contributing editor Jennifer Ruth: This is the first part of a special two-part series by Timothy Kaufman-Osborn on the DeSantis plan for higher education. It is required reading for all of us working to thwart the state-driven fascism (or what I have been calling “subnational authoritarianism”)…

Books in a circle

Subtractive Scholarship

BY RICHARD P. PHELPS With each public remark a scholar may add to society’s collective working memory or subtract from it. Their addition is the new research they present in a journal article or conference presentation. The subtraction, when it occurs, is typically found in the scholar’s portrayal of previous research on the topic. Editors…

screenshot of website for Academic Freedom and the Public University conference

Online Conference on Academic Freedom and the Public University

BY PEDRO GARCÍA-CARO The University of Oregon’s Office of the Provost will host an online conference devoted to “Academic Freedom and the Public University” on Friday, October 14, 2022. Building on the university’s public defense of academic freedom, we invite faculty and administrators from other colleges and universities to participate. This conference will focus on…

Horace Chandler Davis, 1926-2022

BY JOAN W. SCOTT In the annals of academic freedom, Chandler Davis (Chan, as he was known to family and friends), who died last month, was a towering figure.  His principled refusal to comply (on First Amendment grounds) with a HUAC investigation of communism at the University of Michigan, led to his dismissal from the…