Tag Archives: academic freedom

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A response to legislators seeking to end tenure

Legislators in Missouri and Iowa have introduced bills to eliminate tenure at public colleges and universities in those states. It is too early to know if these proposals will receive support. However, following attacks on faculty and public institutions in Wisconsin, North Carolina, and other states, we must treat this legislation seriously. The Chronicle of Higher Education posted a Q&A with Representative Rick Brattin, the author of the Missouri legislation. Representative Brattin’s comments reveal the folly of his proposal and the lack of basic understanding of faculty. In today’s post, I want to republish the Q&A along with my response which is in brackets below.

A response to legislators seeking to end tenure

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Post-tenure review: Latest Battlefront in Wisconsin

For several years now, Wisconsin has been the focal point in the fight between conservative politicians and higher education. Governor Scott Walker has systematically attacked higher education in Wisconsin resulting in increased accountability, decreased autonomy, and drastic cuts in state appropriations. Of particular note, Governor Walker and the state legislature passed legislation dramatically curtailing the long-held protection of tenure and academic freedom in the state. The flagship campus in Madison has been hit particularly hard by the controversies with other institutions trying to steal faculty and a significant decline in research expenditures. While many may have thought the policy changes were over in Wisconsin, a recent policy change by the Board of Regents will change post-tenure review renewing the concerns of faculty and higher education supporters.

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FAU conspiracy professor is not protected by academic freedom

Florida Atlantic University is moving to terminate Communications Professor James Tracy, a critic of the media and a frequent conspiracy theorist. Predictable, Professor Tracy and his supporters have suggested his comments are protected by academic freedom and freedom of speech. In today’s post, I will explain why Tracy’s comments are not protected by tenure and academic freedom as well as why I would vote to terminate him if I was on his faculty grievance committee.

Both proponents and critics like to suggest that academic freedom provides a blank check for faculty to say or do anything they want without repercussion.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

For starters, academic freedom doesn’t cover cray-cray.

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Don’t take a faculty job at LSU

Long before the levees broke in Hurricane Katrina, the state of Louisiana has struggled. Some of the disasters are problems from within the state such as corruption and political incompetence while others are outside the state’s control such as the BP oil spill or the FEMA response after Katrina. It is no surprise that the higher education system of a state struggles when a state has taken as many body blows as Louisiana in the last ten years. Decreases in state support of higher education has led to the closing of academic programs and LSU even threatened to declare financial exigency. However, the latest round of problems for LSU are a manmade disaster that leads me to say to future prospective LSU faculty: Don’t take a faculty job at LSU.

LSU has a long history of problems regarding the way the institution treats faculty.

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9/11 and Higher Ed: What We Can’t Forget

I worry we have forgotten some of the important lessons of September 11th for higher education.

Like much of the nation, I can’t help but think back to that clear day in September, 2001.  I remember hearing someone on the train who had a cell phone talking about a plane hitting a building.  I think I noticed her because cell phones were still a novelty.  The idea of a plane hitting a building on purpose never occurred to me.  I had only been in Philadelphia for a few weeks starting graduate school.

By the time I got to the office, we all rushed down to the dean’s conference room to watch the news.  It was horrifying and shocking.  I had never been to New York City so I didn’t have a full appreciation for the magnitude of the moment unlike so many of my colleagues at the sight of the towers coming down.  The rest of the day is a blur of images.  Trying to get home, but told to leave 30th Street Station because there was a fear of a bomb.  Going back to sit by myself watching the news on a classroom computer.  Walking to the house and noticing a fighter jet overhead.  Even years later it is amazing the details of a single day that you remember.

As with the rest of the country, higher education was impacted by September 11th.

Photo credit: Scott Hudson