academic freedom
TagTexas Tech Chancellor Opposes Freedom, Endorses Inefficiency
Texas Tech University System Chancellor Brandon Creighton, in a memo yesterday to the presidents of the universities in the system, announced a policy to “ensure that classroom instruction fully complies with state and federal law, Board of Regents policy, and Chancellor directives.” The memo includes a remarkable flowchart. (more…)
The Charade of Banning “Advocacy”
“Leaders at these institutions want to ban only certain topics from discussion. To do so, they have issued vague directives that no one knows how to interpret.” (more…)
A Mess at Texas A&M
The Texas A&M University System’s Board of Regents took steps yesterday to impose its conservative ideology on college students by prohibiting professors from teaching certain ideas about race and gender. (more…)
Opposing Orthodoxy about Heterodoxy
“Whenever I see people engaged in philosophical debate or argument, I want to see people trying to win. I like my philosophy adversarial, aggressive, combative, and even hostile. I think there are some good reasons for this approach… but I also think it’s more fun that way. (more…)
Philosophers at Clemson Defend the Academic Freedom of Colleagues
Two philosophers at Clemson University, each in their own way, have responded to their employer’s punishment of faculty for their comments following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. (more…)
Speech under Authoritarianism (updated)
Governments in the United States are ramping up their attacks on freedom of speech, with state and federal officials getting people—including professors—fired or investigated for expressing their opinions about public figures, and the president suggesting he will shut down media that is critical of him and his allies. (more…)
What Will It Be Like To Be An Academic In Ten Years?
Many of you reading these words are young or middle-aged academics. Many of you envision yourselves continuing to work or starting careers in academia. (more…)
Be Careful What You Teach: Trump’s Minions May Get You Fired
A lecturer in the English Department at Texas A & M University was fired from her position after a student in one of her courses complained that she was “not entirely sure is legal to be teaching… because according to our president, there’s only two genders… and also this very much goes against not only but a lot of people’s religious beliefs.” (more…)..
Trump’s Halting of Harvard’s Funding Ruled Illegal
Yesterday, Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court in Boston vacated the Trump administration’s orders to freeze or terminate billions of dollars in federal funding to Harvard University, calling them “arbitrary and capricious” and “violative of the First Amendment.” (more…)
Columbia University Caves
Door #1: Lose at least $400 million in federal grants.
Door #2: Lose at least $221 million and your institutional autonomy. (more…)
Administrators, Trustees, Students, and the Future of the Liberal Arts
“The tragedy of the contemporary academy is that even when traditional liberal learning clearly wins with students and donors, it loses with those in power.” (more…)
Teaching Under Hostile Conditions
“The many sources of harm and hostility we collectively face—as philosophers, as educators, and as humans—seem too numerous to name, let alone to seriously contemplate or effectively cope with.” (more…)
Philosopher Wraps Cooperation with Trump in Flag of Academic Freedom
Alex Byrne (MIT) has written an op-ed in The Washington Post in which he admits to being one of the co-authors of the US government’s “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria” Report, discussed previously. (more…)
Philosopher Resigns from Naval War College in Protest of Trump’s & Hegseth’s Policies
Pauline M. Shanks Kaurin, a philosopher specializing in military ethics, just war theory, and applied ethics, has resigned from her position as the Admiral James B. Stockdale Chair in Professional Military Ethics at the Naval War College (Newport, Rhode Island), because she believes that “the kind of teaching and research the Navy once hired her to do will now be im..
When to Be a Hero (guest post)
“Is now the time to be a hero?” (more…)
Non-US Institutions Marketing Positions to US Scholars Looking to Flee the Country
The continuous news about agencies like the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation having their funding cut and their grants being rescinded, the Trump administration’s attacks on academic freedom, plus the high-profile emigration of some US academics, has created a marketing opportunity that non-US institutions of higher education..
West Point Philosophy Professor Resigns After Trump’s Incursions on Academic Freedom (updated)
“I will be resigning after this semester from my tenured position at West Point after 13 years on the faculty. I cannot tolerate these changes, which prevent me from doing my job responsibly. I am ashamed to be associated with the academy in its current form.” (more…)
AAPT Board Condemns Trump’s Attacks on Higher Education
The board of directors of the American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT) has issued a statement condemning “a series of Trump administration attacks on the core principles of higher education”. (more…)
Judge Orders ICE to Free Philosophy Major it Abducted
Mohsen Mahdawi, the graduating philosophy major at Columbia University who was taken into custody by hooded and masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during his appointment for a US citizenship application interview, has been ordered freed by a federal judge, several news outlets have reported. (more…)
University Presidents Against “Government Overreach”
“As leaders of America’s colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.” (more…)
Harvard Sues Trump Administration
Today, Harvard University filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the billions of dollars in funding it has cut and threatened to cut to the university and its researchers. (more…)
Columbia Philosophy Statement on Mahdawi / Fundraiser
The Department of Philosophy at Columbia University has issued a statement about Mohsen Mahdawi, the philosophy major taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this past Monday. (more…)
Canadian Association of University Teachers Issues US Travel Warning
The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), a federation of independent associations and trade unions representing university teachers and other academic professionals has advised academics to refrain from “non-essential” travel to the United States.
Harvard “will not negotiate over its independence” (updates)
“The University will not negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights.” (more…)
Will Columbia Be Taken Over by the Federal Government?
Columbia University is “one of the most premier research and teaching institutions in the world, and that institution dies tomorrow.” (more…)
On “Chilling Effects” and the “Rowdiness” of Free Speech
“Whatever reasons there are that might justify the state saying that free speech is not being protected, the fact that some people felt intimidated by the permitted rowdy and contentious speech of others cannot be among them. (more…)
Israeli Gov’t Cancels Philosopher Who’s a Grandson of a Holocaust Survivor
Omri Boehm, associate professor of philosophy at the New School for Social Research, was scheduled to speak at the Buchenwald concentration camp liberation anniversary celebration this weekend. (more…)
AAUP & AFT Sue Departments of Justice, Education, and other Federal Agencies
Last week, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) filed a lawsuit to “challenges the Trump administration’s unlawful and unprecedented effort to overpower a university’s academic autonomy and control the thought, association, scholarship, and expression of its faculty and students.” (more…)