As best I can tell, the last time the name “Stanley Fish” appeared in the title of a post at this blog was August 2013. I did a post on Russell Jacoby’s New Republic piece, “Stanley Fish Turned Careerism into […]
academic freedom
Hamline University’s president is rebuked for an “inaccurate” and “harmful” approach to academic freedom. She responds by inviting Eric Dyson and Robin DiAngelo to campus.
I think they call this “doubling down.” Here is Mark Berkson at The Chronicle of Higher Education: On September 12, Hamline University held a forum on academic freedom. The forum was presented as a response to the incident that occurred last year […]
The American Association of University Professors on academic freedom in Florida
Today the American Association of University Professors released the “Preliminary Report of the Special Committee on Academic Freedom and Florida.” You can read it here. Here is the opening paragraph: In January 2023, the AAUP announced the establishment of a […]
The Washington Post praises recent moves to defend free speech on college campuses
Last month I wrote a post about Cornell University’s decision to reject a student resolution requiring faculty to issue trigger warnings for “traumatic conflict in the classroom.” Yesterday The Washington Post editorial board praised the Cornell decision and others like […]
A defender of liberalism and academic freedom opposes Ron DeSantis’s “anti-woke” agenda
Here is a clip from the end of Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s “State of the State” yesterday: I’ll let writer and political scientist Yascha Mounk, a defender of liberal values and academic freedom, take it from here. His recent piece […]
Is it still possible to teach Faulkner in Florida?
Here is Florida State University Diane Roberts‘s piece at The Atlantic, “‘Most Important, We Must Not Upset DeSantis‘”: In my senior Southern Literature class, I’m about to teach Go Down, Moses, William Faulkner’s great novel about how racism has warped America. […]
The University of Austin is taking shape
Roughly one year ago a group of intellectuals concerned with academic freedom founded the University of Austin. We covered its launch here and here and here. Much of the criticism that the University of Austin faced when it launched was […]
Universities and the culture wars
Wesleyan University president Michael Roth‘s answer to the “culture war” is “culture peace.” Here is a taste of his piece today at Insider Higher Ed: We have often looked to schools and universities as places where inquiry and debate can […]
“Does academic freedom protect professors espousing white supremacist ideas?”
Here is Michael BĂ©rubĂ©, and Jennifer Ruth at The New Republic: Does academic freedom protect professors espousing white supremacist ideas? The answer, for the past hundred-and-more years since the founding of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in 1915, has […]
David Bromwich on the state of the university
Over at The Chronicle of Higher Education, Len Gutkin interviews Yale English professor David Bromwich on the state of higher education. The interview comes on the thirtieth anniversary of Bromwich’s Politics by Other Means: Higher Education and Group Thinking. Bromwich […]
A University of Virginia student on the lack of intellectual diversity in American higher education
Emma Camp is just one voice at one school–the University of Virginia. I am sure campus progressives–students and especially faculty members–will dismiss her recent New York Times op-ed. When this post hits my Facebook page, I imagine a few academics […]
Jordan Peterson is retiring from the University of Toronto.
I am sure the 59-year-old psychology professor and critic of the “radical postmodern left” doesn’t need his University of Toronto salary. I imagine he can live a pretty comfortable life on speaking-fees alone. What does Peterson’s decision to leave his […]
Will Christian colleges and universities survive?
There is A LOT to consider in Catholic moral philosopher Charles Camosy‘s recent piece at America. Here is a section that got my attention: As institutions’ connections to Christianity become frayed, other ideologies have gained ground. Too often, Christian values […]
What is going on (again) at Southwest Baptist University?
We did a post on this Baptist college back in May. At that time we wrote about Dwayne Walker, a social work professor, who was denied tenure for his failure to affirm creationism and his views on homosexuality. Now Brian […]
Critics of the University of Austin prove why such an institution may be necessary
Yesterday I wrote about the University of Austin, a new university founded by intellectuals concerned with academic freedom in the larger academy. I am not familiar with all of the people behind this venture, but any initiative that includes Niall […]