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CategoryBoxill Denies Teaching 160 Independent Studies
Jan Boxill, who recently resigned from her position as member of the philosophy faculty at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill following allegations last year that she played a major role in academic fraud involving fake classes there, is now defending herself. She was interviewed recently by The Daily Tar Heel, which reports:
Records obtained by The Da..
Suspect Reasons Behind Professor’s Firing
Thomas Jay Oord is tenured full professor of theology and philosophy at Northwest Nazarene University (as well as an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene), and he is being fired from his position for official reasons that apparently no one seems to believe. The official reasons have included: the university’s financial problems and low enrollment in the g..
Florida Gulf Coast U. May Lose Philosophy
Florida governor Rick Scott and the Florida board of governors, is calling for universities in the state to “examine their academic offerings, seeing if they can cut smaller, costly programs or those generating graduates with low job prospects and earning potential,” a committee at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) has answered the call, proposing for elimination..
Ludlow’s Appeal Fails
Peter Ludlow had sued Sun-Times Media, Cumulus Broadcasting, and Fox Television Stations, Inc., for defamation, including describing the sexual assault he has been accused of as “rape.” The lawsuit had been dismissed, and Ludlow appealed the dismissal. The appeal has now failed. The court “affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint alleging defamation and false..
Philosophy at University of Alaska, Fairbanks Is “Terminated”
There will be no more philosophy program at the University of Alaska, according to an article in the UAF Sun Star.
In an e-mail sent to philosophy students, Eduardo Wilner, department chair of philosophy and humanities said the program “is terminated.” Wilner says there will be a “teach-out period, meaning that all majors will be given time to finish in a ‘timely..
Police Violence, Race, and…?
By now most of you will have heard about the two most recent publicized incidents of police killing unarmed black men in the United States. (Warning: the following videos are very disturbing.) One was a shooting that took place in South Carolina:
The other, even more horrifically, was the allowing of a police dog to maul to death a New Jersey man who had alread..
Questions about the Confucius Institute
Kansas State University is about to open a Confucius Institute on its campus and some there, including associate professor of philosophy John Mahoney, are raising concerns. He writes in a guest editorial in The Collegian:
Is there an important difference between an international exchange program in which students cross borders to study abroad, and a international..
$500k Gift to Philosophy Department at Buffalo
The family of the late William H. Baumer, a longtime philosopher at the University of Buffalo who died last June, has donated $500,000 to create the William H. Baumer Excellence Fund. The fund will support various initiatives in the Department of Philosophy, including “financial assistance to undergraduate and graduate students, supporting graduate student travel an..
Students Object to Philosophy Prof’s Facebook Post About Gaza
Andrew Pessin, professor of philosophy at Connecticut College, is at the center of a controversy at Connecticut College regarding offensive speech for a Facebook post he wrote in August, 2014. In the post, reports Inside Higher Ed,
Pessin describes the situation in Gaza as one in which “a rabid pit bull is chained in a cage, regularly making mass efforts to escap..
From Ordinary Vandalism to the Philosophical (updated)
By now many of you have heard that Kant’s house was spray-painted with the words meaning something like “Kant is an idiot” (the BBC reports that it says “Kant’s a sucker”). The Moscow Times informs us that Kant’s home, in what was known as Prussia but is now Kalingrad, Russia, “is in ruins and has become a hot spot for drinking and debauchery among local youths.”
..
Dismissal of Undergrad’s Suit Against Northwestern Upheld
The February 2014 lawsuit filed by a Northwestern University undergraduate claiming that the university “didn’t respond adequately after she reported being sexually assaulted by philosophy Prof. Peter Ludlow,” dismissed in November, had its dismissal upheld this past Thursday in response to a motion by the undergraduate to reconsider the decision. The Daily Northwe..
Times Higher Ed University Rankings
Times Higher Education has released its 2015 “World Reputation Rankings” of universities. As its title suggests, this a reputational survey, so, subject to many of the same concerns and cautions that all such surveys raise. THE site says:
Some 10,507 senior scholars took part in this year’s invitation-only Academic Reputation Survey. They provided their time and ..
Ludlow’s Defamation Suit Dismissed
Judge John P. Callahan of the Cook County, Illinois Circuit Court has dismissed Peter Ludlow’s defamation lawsuit against a Northwestern University undergraduate who had accused him of sexual assault (previously; related material here). Ludlow’s lawsuit claimed that “the student knowingly made false statements to news media and Northwestern professors after rebuffe..
Jan Boxill Resigns
Jan Boxill has resigned from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, effective February 28th, 2015. Dr. Boxill, who had been implicated in an academic fraud scheme largely involving student athletes at the school, and whose appointment the university had initiated steps to terminate, had been a teaching professor in the department of philosophy, director of..
Freiburg Ditches “Heidegger” Chair (2 updates)
The University of Freiburg, the academic home of Günter Figal—who recently stepped down from the leadership of the Martin Heidegger Society in the wake of the publication of Heidegger’s Black Notebooks—has decided to convert the faculty chair long dedicated to the Heideggerian tradition to one dedicated to philosophy of language. It has also downgraded the line ..
Dan Kaufman’s Lawsuit Against CU-Boulder is Filed
After filing four notices of claim last August, Dan Kaufman has now officially filed his lawsuit against CU-Boulder, “alleging the school both discriminated and retaliated against him because he has a disability.”
From an article in the Daily Camera:
Kaufman alleges that by kicking him off campus and taking other actions against him, CU violated his rights und..
Update from Abbate on McAdams (updated)
Cheryl Abbate, the former Marquette University philosophy graduate student who had become the target of a smear campaign by associate professor of political science John McAdams, has responded to some of the claims being made in various articles since it was announced that Marquette is seeking to fire McAdams. She writes:
It should be noted that there are a numb..
Marquette Seeks to Fire McAdams
John McAdams, the Marquette University associate professor of political science who posted demonstrably false and damaging statements about philosophy graduate student Cheryl Abbate and her teaching on his blog (see here, here, and here), has been told that the university is starting the process to revoke his tenure and fire him.
The Dean of Marquette’s Klingler ..
Germany’s Heidegger Society Chair Resigns (updated)
Günter Figal (Freiburg) resigned his position this past Thursday as chair of the Martin Heidegger Society in the wake of the publication of Heidegger’s Black Notebooks (Schwarze Hefte), which many believe show that Heidegger’s antisemitism was more central to his thinking than previously thought. Figal, who had held the position since 2003, is reported to have said ..
Philosophers and Theorists on the Charlie Hebdo Attacks (updated)
Yesterday, twelve people were shot dead at the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine. It was reported that the gunmen shouted “We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad” and “God is Great” in Arabic (“Allahu Akbar”), and so the attack is believed to be the work of militant Islamists in response to offensive cartoons that appeared in the magazine.
..
New Philosophy of Science Association Officers
Sandra D. Mitchell (Pittsburgh HPS) has been elected President of the Philosophy of Science Association (PSA). Professor Mitchell will serve a two-year term (from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016) as Vice-President and President-Elect of the PSA, after which she will serve a two-year term (January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2018) as President of the Assoc..
Government Attempts to Interfere in Universities in Macedonia
Students and faculty in Macedonia have been protesting attempts by the government there to impose state-supervised exams for university graduates. Response to faculty involvement in the protests has been to propose a requirement that the government’s ministry of education approve the composition of thesis committees and be involved in thesis defenses.
Todd May (Cle..
UNC Trying to Fire Jan Boxill
The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is trying to fire philosopher Jan Boxill for her role in widespread academic fraud at UNC, according to an Associated Press report:
Steps to terminate University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill philosophy professor and former faculty leader Jeanette Boxill started on Oct. 22, the same day that a scathing report into..
Philosophers on Torture
The Report on the C.I.A.’s Use of Torture from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was released several days ago. As we have occasionally done in the past for other events, I would like to open a spot here at Daily Nous for comment on the report, for collecting links to commentary elsewhere from philosophers on this report, for suggestions of philosophical o..
Oregon Philosophy Faculty Removed from Courses (Updated)
“One by one, objecting faculty members are being removed as instructors of record for classes that they teach with graduate teaching fellows or classes taught by GTFs that the department supervises” reports The Register Guard. As Oregon University’s graduate student teaching fellows strike (previously) continues, the university’s administration is now engaging in a..
New Center for Ethics and Education
Harry Brighouse (Wisconsin) and Anthony Laden (University of Illinois, Chicago) are launching the Center for Ethics and Education, the chief aim of which is to bring philosophical thinking to bear on educational policies and practices. The Center will be funded by a $3.5 million grant from the Spencer Foundation. In an article at the University of Wisconsin website,..
University of Tehran Statement on Khatami
The University of Tehran has issued a statement on the plagiarism allegations against Mahmoud Khatami (reported earlier here and here). I have been provided with two translations of the statement. One is by someone who prefers to remain anonymous. It is reprinted below. The other is by Shirzad Peik Herfeh, assistant professor of philosophy at Imam Khomeini Internat..
Westboro Baptist Church to Picket Marquette (updated)
The Westboro Baptist Church, a bizarre anti-gay cult comprised largely of the extended family of its late founder, is planning to picket on the campus of Marquette University this Sunday (correction: next Monday) morning, citing Fox News’ misleading account of Marquette graduate student Cheryl Abbate’s handling of an undergraduate’s desire to discuss same-sex marri..