POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN On November 1, Brian Soucek, Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of California at Davis, spoke as part of the UC Davis Forums on the Public University and the Social Good on “Academic Freedom: Dangers and Distractions.” Professor Soucek is the outgoing chair of the University of California’s…
BY HANK REICHMAN In March, more than 3,000 student workers at Columbia University in New York City went on strike after more than two years of unsuccessful negotiations over the university’s first graduate student labor contract. Yesterday they walked out again, this time indefinitely. The Student Workers of Columbia–United Auto Workers has bargained with the…
BY MARTHA MCCAUGHEY AND SCOTT WELSH In the fall 2021 issue of Academe we describe the problem of a “shadow curriculum” in the form of student-affairs programming that (re)shapes students’ education on campus, encroaching on the faculty’s role in governance of courses and curriculum. From our perspective as faculty members guided by AAUP principles, such…
BY JOHN K. WILSON On October 22, I testified as an expert witness on academic freedom at a hearing to dismiss Lars Jensen, a tenured math professor at Truckee Meadow Community College (TMCC) in Nevada. Because I wasn’t able to make my full argument about Jensen’s case (the attorney for the administration opposed my testimony,…
BY JOHN K. WILSON In Part 1 of my defense of Lars Jensen, a tenured math professor at Truckee Meadow Community College (TMCC) in Nevada, I examined why TMCC can’t fire Jensen for his pedagogical choices, or some trivial complaints about his paperwork. But now I want to focus on the core reason why TMCC…
BY DANIEL A. SEGAL On April 15 of this year, Pitzer College’s Title IX Coordinator informed me that a student had filed a complaint against me alleging both “harassment on the grounds of sex/gender” and “harassment on the grounds of ancestry.” The case ended with a determination that there were no violations of policy, no…
BY HANK REICHMAN Recently I had the pleasure of discussing academic freedom with Keith Whittington, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University and chair of the Academic Freedom Alliance, for that organization’s podcast. His interview with me is now available at the link below. My thanks to Keith and to the AFA for…
BY CAPRICE LAWLESS For organizers, the benefit of watching Hogan’s Heroes reruns cannot be overstated. The 1960s sitcom details how inmates of a German World War II prisoner of war camp thwart enemy plans night and day, right under the noses of their Nazi warders. Twist that design just slightly, and you can reframe their…
BY LOUIS HOWARD PORTER If carpenters are needed it is well and good to train men as carpenters. But to train men as carpenters, and then set them to teaching is wasteful and criminal; and to train men as teachers and then refuse them living wages, unless they become carpenters, is rank nonsense. ––W. E.…
BY ALICE FREIFELD After 27 years at the University of Florida, I retired on the first day of class this fall, effective immediately. This despite the fact that I flew back to Gainesville anxious to get back into the classroom. I love teaching. The delta variant was on the upswing, and I was delighted by…