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Philosophy at St. Thomas University (Houston) – an update

The Director of Communications at St. Thomas University in Houston, Sandra Soliz, today sent a press release regarding the possible threats to philosophers and philosophy programs there. She included a note that said that “all tenured philosophy professors will receive continuous contracts by today.” There do not appear to be any untenured tenure-track professors. T..

Texas A&M President Regrets “Contributions… to misunderstandings”

Last week, Tommy Curry, professor of philosophy at Texas A & M University, began receiving racist hate mail and death threats as a result of an opinion piece by a conservative pundit who framed remarks of his in a misleading way. Surprisingly, the president of his university, Michael K. Young, had been taken in by this deception and publicly condemned Curry’s remark..

Philosophy Under Threat at Univ. of St. Thomas Houston (updated)

It is standard operating procedure at the University of St. Thomas (Houston) for faculty to receive and return their renewal contracts for the following academic year by May 15th. May 15th has come and gone, and not one of the 11 members of the university’s Department of Philosophy has received their contract (neither has anyone in the English Department there). (mo..

A Statement of Support for Tommy Curry

In response to the news that Tommy Curry, professor of philosophy at Texas A & M University, has been receiving racist hate mail and death threats owing to a mispresentation of his words by pundit Rod Dreher, and that the president of his university, Michael K. Young, publicly reiterated this misrepresentation, graduate students from across his university have autho..

Hypatia Controversy Updates (updated)

Below is a list of assorted commentaries on the ongoing Hypatia controversy, mostly lifted from one of the updates on the original post on the story. Recent additions at time of posting include: (more…)

Systematic Discrimination in Peer Review: Some Reflections (guest post by by Kyle Powys Whyte)

“As these issues of peer review and editorial review continue to arise every year, I hope people increasingly address the systematic problems—taking into consideration the ongoing history of discrimination and the thorough reforms that need to take place in the world of academic publication.”

The following is a guest post * by Kyle Powys Whyte, Timnick Chair in ..

Before We Go Forward (guest post by Alison Suen)

“…the conversation should have been about the issues, rather than the individual. Unfortunately, it did not begin that way.”

The following is a guest post * by Allison Suen, assistant professor of philosophy at Iona College.

(more…)

Hypatia’s Editor And Its Board President Defend Publication of Tuvel Article

“I firmly believe, and this belief will not waver, that it is utterly inappropriate for editors to repudiate an article they have accepted for publication… Editors must stand behind the authors of accepted papers. This is where I stand. Professor Tuvel’s paper went through the peer review process and was accepted by the reviewers and me.” (more…)

Anti-Abortion Philosophy Lecturer Fired

Stéphane Mercier, the visiting assistant professor of philosophy at the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium whose courses were suspended recently because of a lecture he gave in which he argued against a right to abortion, has been fired. (more…)

Philosophy Instructor Reportedly Abducted

Önder Asan, a philosophy instructor from Ankara, Turkey, was reportedly abducted there on April 1st. Asan had worked at one of the educational institutions* closed down by the Turkish government following the attempted military coup there last July. (more…)

“Fighting For Values”: A Message From The Head Of Philosophy at CEU (updated)

The following is a message from Professor Hanoch Ben-Yami, Head of the Department of Philosophy at Central European University (CEU), regarding recently proposed legislation threatening its continued existence in Hungary.

(more…)

University Suspends Philosopher After Lesson On Abortion (updated)

Stéphane Mercier, a visiting assistant professor of philosophy at the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, was suspended from his position, and had his classes cancelled, following a lesson he gave on the topic of abortion. (more…)

AAUP Issues Report On Adjunct Philosophy Professor Allegedly Fired For High Standards

Nathaniel Bork was an adjunct philosophy professor at the Community College of Aurora (CCA) for six years when he was fired a few weeks into the Fall 2016 semester. As reported here last November, Bork claimed that he was fired for refusing to lower the educational standards in his courses and threatening to complain about curricular changes (the “Gateway to Success..

Peter Singer Event Disrupted By Protestors

A University of Victoria event last week featuring philosopher Peter Singer (Princeton), organized by the university’s Effective Altruism club, was disrupted by protestors objecting to Singer’s views about disability. (more…)

Is There A Defense of Shouting Down A Speaker At A University?

Last week, Charles Murray, a social scientist at the American Enterprise Institute, was scheduled to give a lecture at Middlebury College, at the invitation of a student group. Before he began speaking, though, many students and faculty in the audience stood up, turned away from the stage, and “shouted and chanted for such a long period that Murray couldn’t speak.” ..

The Ghost of Senator Joe McCarthy Haunts a Philosophy Graduate Student (guest post)

The following is a guest post * by Charles H. Seibert, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cincinnati. It is about his experiences as a politically-minded graduate student in the 1960s—and the professional consequences that followed. (more…)

Philosopher’s Comments On Immigration Cause Stir On Campus

Remarks on immigration by Dan Demetriou, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota, Morris, have been a subject of controversy at the school recently, according to Inside Higher Ed. (more…)

When Professors Express Intimidating Opinions

We’ve seen the following: the questioning of a professor’s ability to teach well because of the effect on his or her students of the professor’s expression of a controversial opinion. This was one element of the debate surrounding Steven Salaita’s tweets. For example, he wrote on Twitter, “If you’re defending #Israel right now you’re an awful human being.” Concerns ..

Discussing Politics in the Classroom

Tempted to talk politics in the classroom? It may behoove you to take a look at “Frequently Asked Questions for Faculty in the Wake of the 2016 Election,” a document put together by American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). (more…)

APA Issues Statement on 2016 US Presidential Election

The board of officers of the American Philosophical Association (APA) today issued the following statement on the 2016 U.S. presidential election:

Leading up to the United States presidential election one month ago and in the weeks since, the nation has experienced increasingly divisive rhetoric and a rise in bias-based attacks on members of vulnerable groups. In..

The Anti-Authoritarian Academic Code of Conduct (updated)

People are wondering how authoritarian the United States government will become under a Trump administration. There’s no way to know for sure. Perhaps the answer is: no more than it already is. Or perhaps Trump, who seems to be some combination of much less knowledgeable of and much less respectful of the limits of executive power than any previous U.S. president (e..

Philosopher Refuses to Hand Over Passport; His Talks Cancelled

The other day, Jonathan Webber, a philosopher at Cardiff University, sent out a series of tweets detailing how the University of Hertfordshire, at which he was supposed to give a pair of talks, required he provide a scan of his passport in advance. (more…)

Was A Philosophy Professor Fired For Refusing To Lower His Standards?

Colleges in Colorado have the option of offering “guaranteed transfer” (GT) courses. Standards for these courses are set by statewide requirements called the “GT Pathways Requirements”. The idea is that students taking GT courses at, say, a community college, are getting the kind of quality education that students at the state’s major universities are receiving, so ..

The Autonomy of University Ethics Centers

Wednesday afternoon, Gordon Hull, associate professor of philosophy at University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and director of the school’s Center for Professional and Applied Ethics, put up a post on the Center’s webpage about the recent police shooting of an unarmed black man, Keith L. Scott (see the bottom of this post for that text). (more…)

Barthold Retaliation Case Settled

This past April I reported that Lauren Barthold, associate professor of philosophy at Gordon College, a Christian liberal arts college in Massachusetts, had filed a lawsuit against the college for retaliating against her for her public statements (such as a letter to the editor of a newspaper) disagreeing with college president Michael Lindsay over whether federal c..

Which Ideas Are Students Protected From? Which Are Faculty Fearful to Defend?

Here are some empirical claims about higher education in the United States. In comparison to 100 years ago:

There are fewer or weaker institutional, social, and material obstacles to non-white-male people entering academia.
Academics today regularly and with institutional approval study a greater number of topics, including topics previously thought taboo or unwo..

APA Joins Condemnation of Turkey’s Attacks on Academic Freedom

The board of officers of the American Philosophical Association (APA), in a unanimous vote, decided to officially sign on to a statement from the Middle East Studies Association condemning the Turkish government’s recent attacks on academic freedom, according to a post at the Blog of the APA. (more…)

Blasphemy Charges Against Philosopher Dismissed

In April, philosophy professor Sheikha al-Jassem (Kuwait University) was charged with blasphemy after a television interview in which she discussed freedom of religion and the importance of a secular basis for law in Kuwait. She has now informed me that she was cleared of all charges. She writes: (more…)