USD is a private institution and so is not bound by the First Amendment, but it is required to live up to its promises to abide by the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure. USD law professor Tom Smith is being investigated by his university for posting and online comment criticizing the Chinese government on his personal blog. Details are at theFire.org.
Just weeks after the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) filed suit against Haskell University President Ronald Graham for refusing to approve the newspaper as a student organization and for shorting its account over $10,000 in funding following critical coverage of the university, FIRE now reports that President Graham has attempted to limit free speech rights of faculty, by forbidding them from expressing opinions about the school’s administration. Details are available in a Fire Newsdesk article.
The protection and furtherance of academic freedom is a core value of the AAUP. We must always be wary of attempts to silence those who may disagree with us,regardless of how inane, illogical, unscientific, fantastic, or politically unpopular (or popular) their views may be. In today’s Academe Blog, John K. Wilson discussed a recent controversy concerning the Hoover Institution, a partisan political think-tank at Stanford University. The controversy erupted after three conservative members of the Hoover Institution asked that the faculty and the student newspaper be prevented from publishing views contrary to their own. They wanted censorship. Wilson provides a…
An AAUP investigating committee looking into governance issues at eight institutions has now concluded interviews with the principal parties at each institution and is drafting its report. As reported in Academe Blog, the first finding they will report is that we are in the midst of the worst crisis in academic governance in decades.
The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Public Affairs Advisory Committee is preparing to bring scientist’s concerns to lawmakers and administration officials next year. In preperation for that work, thwy are conducting a survey to more clearly understand what those concerns are. Please take a few minutes to complete the online survey before January 15th.
BY RUDY FICHTENBAUM (March 10, 2020) AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum issued the following statement today on the coronavirus (COVID-19). As we are learning, COVID-19 (the coronavirus) has the potential to present a serious challenge to the health and safety of our campus communities. At this time, campuses in Washington State, New York State, California, Nebraska, and elsewhere have closed or moved to all-online teaching, and a number of study-abroad programs have been cut short or suspended altogether. Administrations are taking the potential health impact of the virus seriously, and we applaud their efforts to do so. The safety of the…
AAUP has created a web page, Coronovirus for Higher ED, that provides useful information and links to resources regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. I encourage members to make use of this page.
UCLA AAUP, in cooperation with the UCLA Faculty Association and CUCFA (Council of UC Faculty Associations), has sent the following letter to President Napolitano asking her to begin Spring quarter 2020 two weeks late, on April 13. March 16, 2020 TO: President Janet Napolitano FROM: Council of UC Faculty Associations We write to ask you to delay the start of spring quarter by two weeks, to begin on April 13 rather than March 30. We came to this solution following an intensive discussion among our members about the challenges of moving to remote teaching, at least through the spring quarter,…
UC Santa Cruz graduate student workers are trying to negotiate with UCSC for fair wages for their critical work in teaching students. University officials, negotiators, and the Office of the President have been adversarial and punitive, not recognizing the importance of these young teachers to the teaching mission of the UCSC and the larger UC system or the need for a COLA to support the rising living costs faces by these teachers. Without quality teachers there can be no quality teaching. Without a COLA, there can be no quality teachers. Please join me in supporting these teachers in their quest…
To the UC Community: At the UCSC General Assembly on February 21, COLA wildcat strikers voted overwhelmingly to continue to withhold Fall grades beyond Janet Napolitano’s midnight deadline. At least 85 UCSC graduate student workers, and very likely more, have refused to submit to Napolitano and INC Kletzer’s threat to revoke Spring appointments and block future ones. Nearly 20% of these workers are international graduate students, who now face the risk of de facto deportation. We feel the collective strength of our fellow workers’ commitment to act decisively in solidarity. We know of pledges to withhold winter grades and commence…
