BY THE AAUP-PENN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE We were alarmed to read reports that Penn has been “invited” to sign a so-called “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” by the federal government, and that failing to do so would jeopardize federal funding. When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact…
BY JOHN WARNER AND ANNA FEDER The following is a repost of a piece that originally appeared on “Academic Freedom on the Line,” a Substack run by Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom fellow John Warner. The past few weeks have seen a volume of violations of academic freedom not seen since the Red…
BY WILLIAM MATTHEW MCCARTER For more than fifty years, I’ve been learning. For more than twenty years, I’ve been teaching. If at this stage I can’t profess something worth hearing, then I ought to quit and sell insurance. Students don’t pay for PowerPoints or rubrics. They pay for professors who profess. The word itself comes…
BY IAN FINSETH The following is an imaginary communiqué from a fictitious administrator of an invented university to its faculty. It is satire (one hopes). Dear colleagues: Here at the University of the Southern Upper Midwest, we know that our customers don’t pay tuition for such woo-woo things like expanding their intellectual horizons, developing a…
BY DALE E. MILLER In “Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity,” Professor Lisa Siraganian throws down a gauntlet. After offering “seven theses against viewpoint diversity in any of its guises,” she writes that “if viewpoint diversity means committing oneself to a robust debate about truth and values, then the movement should be open to responding to…
BY JONATHAN REES In the last week of classes of the spring 2025 semester, our administration announced a deal that would allow Barnes & Noble to take over our university bookstore. It included an arrangement that would guarantee students access to all their textbooks on the first day of classes, in exchange for students paying…
BY HANK REICHMAN Charlie Kirk did not deserve to die. As so many have pointed out, political violence—whatever the source—must be condemned for both its immorality and its destructiveness. Much as I have abhorred Kirk and the movement he represented, we are all worse off today than we were before he stepped to a podium…
BY MATTHEW BOEDY The last week I have been around the world on Zoom interviews. From Australia news to Europe to the United States in every time zone. I had to turn down Chinese state TV. And I also had a series of awkward attempted dialogues with students. Not just about the events of the…
BY MICHAEL SCHWALBE Most Americans are accustomed to authoritarianism by virtue of their daily experiences in the workplace. Managers make, interpret, and enforce the rules by which private companies operate; they say what goes, and they can use force to impose their will. Employees who resist can be disciplined or fired, often without due process…
BY THE COALITION FOR ACTION IN HIGHER EDUCATION On Tuesday this week, a subcommittee of the House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing titled “Unmasking Union Antisemitism.” Subcommittee Chair Rick Allen (R-GA) began the meeting with the following remarks: Today we will hear about how unions like the United Electrical Workers and a United…