academic freedom

• 
• 6/12/2022
  

  Florida's Divisive Concepts Bill Mistakes What Historians Do, with Dire Implications

  by Jessica L. Adler

  The legislation would make it difficult – and even legally risky – for professors to perform the kinds of source-driven teaching that underlies the pedagogical goals of the discipline. 

• 
• SOURCE: KERA
  6/6/2022
  

  Collin College Prof Fired over Speech Lands at SMU

  Michael Phillips will join the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at SMU after his firing from Collin College over social media criticism of Confederate statues and other aspects of racism. 

• 
• SOURCE: Forbes
  6/3/2022
  

  Ellen Schrecker on the Parallels between Today's Attacks on Universities and the 1960s?

  by Marybeth Gasman

  Historian Ellen Schrecker's new book examines how the antiwar movement led the right to mobilize against universities, and the costs of that battle. 

• 
• 6/5/2022
  

  Regimes Around the World are Manipulating History and Threatening Historians

  by Ruben Zeeman

  Official attempts to hinder bona fide historical research and debate through legislation or other means, are the first signals that history is at risk of abuse – such efforts abroad are also a warning to historians in America. 

• 
• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  6/2/2022
  

  Do Heterodox Academy Surveys Tell Us Anything Useful About the Campus Speech Climate?

  Experts debate whether polls showing students perceive stifled speech on controversial subjects are reflecting or driving reality, and if they are being used in a conservative attack on higher education. 

• 
• SOURCE: Substack
  6/1/2022
  

  DeSantis Planned Sweeping Assault on Autonomy of Public Colleges in Florida

  by Jason Garcia

  The Governor proposed a sweeping set of higher education oversight reforms that would have consolidated power over public campuses, including the hiring of professors, with boards appointed by the governor. 

• 
• SOURCE: Salon
  5/31/2022
  

  The Far Right is Coming for Colleges

  by Kathryn Gin Lum

  Under the banner of "classical education" and civics, the far right is funding a growing number of academic centers to advance conservative views. Historians Michael Butler, Nancy MacLean and Bethany Moreton comment. 

• 
• SOURCE: Academe Blog
  5/19/2022
  

  What We Must Learn from the Boise State Hoax

  by John K. Wilson

  Boise State suspended multiple sections of a core course affecting nearly 1,300 students based on a lie told by a state legislator about the alleged mistreatment of a conservative student by fellow students and a professor; expect more of these attacks on higher education funding.

• 
• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  4/25/2022
  

  The Decline of Tenure is the Greatest Threat to Higher Education

  by Marc Stein

  While states like Texas threaten tenure politically, in California the instititution is under attack by austerity and attrition; either way, higher education itself is threatened by the abandonment of employment security. 

• 
• SOURCE: Commentary
  4/16/2022
  

  Dan Patrick's Illiberal Attack on Higher Ed

  by Jonathan Marks

  There are good conservative arguments for abolishing faculty tenure; Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick isn't advancing one of them as he seeks to punish political opponents for their ideas.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/10/2022
  

  Russian Students are Turning In Insufficiently Patriotic Teachers

  At least four teachers have recently been turned in by parents or students for opposition to the invasion of Ukraine, part of a campaign of identifying and targeting alleged traitors for retaliation. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Nation
  3/30/2022
  

  Nationwide, Faculty Fight for Academic Freedom

  by Ellen Schrecker

  "When they act collectively, professors have the power to protect academic freedom and the desire to teach the truth. Let us hope they also have the will."

• 
• SOURCE: North Carolina Policywatch
  4/6/2022
  

  Documents Show UNC Conducted "Sweeping and Disturbing" Investigation of Faculty over Donor Agreement Leaks

  When faculty leaked documents showing a large donor's involvement in the Nikole Hannah-Jones debacle, the University of North Carolina took aggressive action to identify the leakers. 

• 
• SOURCE: American Association of University Professors
  4/1/2022
  

  AAUP ID's Legislative Threats to Academic Freedom: Redefinitions of Antisemitism and Racism

  A recent AAUP report connects two politicized areas of inquiry – the history of racism in America and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – as the principal targets of right-wing efforts to censor reseach and teaching. 

• 
• SOURCE: WNYC
  3/29/2022
  

  Faculty Facing Targeted Harassment on Campus

  Recent reporting from the American Association of University Professors has traced an uptick in the targeted harassment of faculty members, most often those accused of having a liberal bias and of teaching “controversial” topics. Melissa Harris-Perry talks with faculty who have experienced it. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  3/21/2022
  

  Does Academic Freedom Really Require Tolerance for Prejudice or Falsehood by Faculty?

  by Michael Bérubé and Jennifer Ruth

  Academic freedom and free speech aren't the same thing, and it's time for professional standards in academia to recognize the necessity of drawing boundaries around bigotry and falsehood as potentially disqualifying for faculty members. 

• 
• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  3/17/2022
  

  Russian Academics See "No Future" at Home

  While many Western academics have focused on the danger faced by Ukrainian scholars, it is clear that the domestic politics of Russia are increasingly dangerous for academic freedom as well. 

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  3/10/2022
  

  Two Donor Controversies Show the Precarious Position of Jewish Studies Programs

  Financially precarious academic programs are potentially at the mercy of politically motivated donors whose philanthropy is subsidized by the tax code and affects public institutions without public input. 

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  3/4/2022
  

  When University Marketing Suppresses Academic Freedom

  by Silke-Maria Weineck

  For 31 years, the University of Michigan has sponsored an academic freedom lecture named for three professors suspended for refusing to cooperate with HUAC. This year, its marketing team did everything it could to conceal the identity of the lecturer: a lawyer who fights the silencing of pro-Palestinian activists.

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  3/9/2022
  

  Florida Legislature Seeks Conservative Stamp on Higher Ed

  "National higher-education experts and faculty members in Florida say the legislation is part of an attack on bedrock principles that preserve the academic autonomy of faculty members and institutions."