More Fredonia
This is as transparent an academic freedom case as is imaginable: a professor publicly criticized the university's"diversity" policies, and the university responded by citing that criticism to deny him promotion. Remarks in the Inside Higher Ed comment section on the case were chilling: Roger Bowen criticized not Fredonia but Kershnar, who tried to work out a compromise where his op-ed pieces would be pre-screened for accuracy; regular commenter"UnApologetically Tenured" fretted that the case could undermine support for the badly needed" collegiality" criterion. U.T. never said why he/she disagreed with Bowen and the AAUP that using collegiality inherently threatens academic freedom, but promised that he/she only wanted to use collegiality only to fire"malevolent," rather than benevolent, colleagues. How reassuring.
Today's New York Post features a powerful op-ed co-written by FIRE president Greg Lukianoff and FIRE program officer Robert Shibley that explains exactly why the Kershnar case is so important.
Some of the views for which Kerhsnar was denied promotion? Saying that"$260,000 in salaries for SUNY-Fredonia's diversity and educational-development offices would be better spent on 'hiring more faculty or attracting talented students'"; and criticizing"'balkanized' fields such as Women's Studies and Multi-Ethnic Studies, programs whose record"hinders the free discussion of ideas and shows the concern for diversity to be nothing more than a mask for a political agenda."
Fredonia president Dennis Hefner claimed that these remarks"impugned the reputation of SUNY-Fredonia" and made Kershnar unsuitable for promotion. As Lukianoff and Shibley note,"What Hefner called 'misrepresentations' were little more than differences of opinion." Can Fredonia seriously claim that anyone who publicly criticizes women's studies and ethnic studies program as lacking in intellectual diversity should be denied tenure and/or promotion?
Fredonia, as a public institution, is bound by the principles of the First Amendment. I realize that teaching about US political or constitutonal history is very much out of fashion, but I assume that Pres. Hefner is at least vaguely familiar with the First Amendment.
Lukianoff and Shibley conclude:
Professor Kershnar's travails should serve as a wake-up call to those who believe that our nation's colleges and universities should be a"marketplace of ideas," where professors and students feel they are able to express their points of view, to point out problems and shortcomings within and outside of the university and to suggest remedies for these problems.
While free speech too often comes under assault on campuses these days, President Hefner's brazen attempt to control a professor's public speech is in a class by itself. Kershnar should get the promotion he merits and Hefner - or anyone else who seeks to use the office of university president to silence opinions they dislike - should be out of a job.
I wholeheartedly agree. What is the position of the SUNY trustees on this matter?