UCLA’s Discrimination Office Targeting Professor Threatens Academic Freedom

Jul 31, 2020 · · No Comments on UCLA’s Discrimination Office Targeting Professor Threatens Academic Freedom

When a political science lecturer at UCLA read to his class Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and showed clips from a documentary on racism, he found himself in hot water. The reason: Both the letter and the documentary included the N-word. Many students complained, which in turn pitted UCLA against the … Continue reading “UCLA’s Discrimination Office Targeting Professor Threatens Academic Freedom”

Misusing Editorial Power to Censor Unpopular Research

Jul 22, 2020 · · No Comments on Misusing Editorial Power to Censor Unpopular Research

Academic freedom is under assault by people who want to control research and speech. One of their strategies exploits the gatekeeping functions of journal editors to censor unpopular ideas. The leading open-access journal in the field of intelligence research, the Journal of Intelligence, has a policy listed on its website since 2018 that states, “The … Continue reading “Misusing Editorial Power to Censor Unpopular Research”

‘Witches’ and ‘Viruses:’ The Activist-Academic Threat and a Policy Response

Jun 17, 2020 · and · Comments Off on ‘Witches’ and ‘Viruses:’ The Activist-Academic Threat and a Policy Response

How much of academia is infiltrated by activists? Some conservatives claim that “neo-Marxism” and its sister paradigms like feminist pedagogy, post-structuralism, and post-modernism have long infected certain departments in the humanities and social sciences. Those paradigms have now spread to more disciplines and funding committees. However, conservatives have been slow to explain how activist departments … Continue reading “‘Witches’ and ‘Viruses:’ The Activist-Academic Threat and a Policy Response”

Math Professor Mocks a Leftist Belief and Gets Fired

May 1, 2020 · · No Comments on Math Professor Mocks a Leftist Belief and Gets Fired

Humorless, intolerant leftist academics are a force to be reckoned with on many college campuses, and a new case at the University of North Texas (UNT) pushes the envelope. After earning his PhD in mathematics from Baylor University in spring 2019, Nathaniel Hiers found employment at UNT. He began teaching full-time as an adjunct faculty … Continue reading “Math Professor Mocks a Leftist Belief and Gets Fired”

Professors Fight to Save Free Speech on Campus and Academic Freedom in Arkansas

Jul 12, 2019 · and · No Comments on Professors Fight to Save Free Speech on Campus and Academic Freedom in Arkansas

In March 2018, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees adopted new rules that fatally undermine academic freedom. We authored this piece for the Martin Center explaining the damage the amendments would inflict on higher education in the state. Unfortunately, the Board of Trustees ignored our warning, a warning reiterated by numerous other faculty and … Continue reading “Professors Fight to Save Free Speech on Campus and Academic Freedom in Arkansas”

Reforming Higher Education: A Reading List

Jun 28, 2019 · · No Comments on Reforming Higher Education: A Reading List

As more students have headed to college and a degree is seen as a way to shape students as workers and as citizens, higher education’s mission has become more important. Its leaders, and their personal beliefs, have become more contentious, too. In recent months, many conservative thinkers have publicly debated how to reform higher education—or, … Continue reading “Reforming Higher Education: A Reading List”

A Witch Hunt Comes for a Nonconformist Professor

Jun 7, 2019 · · No Comments on A Witch Hunt Comes for a Nonconformist Professor

On 30 April 2019, St. Edmunds College, University of Cambridge, rescinded a fellowship to the outstanding young researcher Noah Carl, who self-identifies as a conservative. The rescinding was unjust, and it came after a sustained and equally unjust campaign of leftist protest and demonstration against Dr. Carl. The campaign was unjustly supported by leftist press … Continue reading “A Witch Hunt Comes for a Nonconformist Professor”

Caveat Magister: Even Medical Professors Must Not Say Politically Incorrect Things

Apr 24, 2019 · · No Comments on Caveat Magister: Even Medical Professors Must Not Say Politically Incorrect Things

How far has the United States gone down the road of punishing people for uttering politically incorrect thoughts? Very far indeed, as an incident at the University of Louisville shows. Yes, we know that faculty in the “soft” fields of the social sciences endanger their careers if they happen to say something that upsets someone … Continue reading “Caveat Magister: Even Medical Professors Must Not Say Politically Incorrect Things”

The Radical Experimental College in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Apr 8, 2019 · · No Comments on The Radical Experimental College in the Blue Ridge Mountains

North Carolina is widely respected for institutions such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, both research-intensive and high-prestige schools. But it’s less known for a radically experimental college that was tucked away in the Appalachian mountains more than half a century ago. Just east of Asheville, Black Mountain College … Continue reading “The Radical Experimental College in the Blue Ridge Mountains”

The Board Ain’t Broke, So It Don’t Need “Fixin’”

Feb 4, 2019 · · No Comments on The Board Ain’t Broke, So It Don’t Need “Fixin’”

Attacks by academics and the media on the University of North Carolina system’s Board of Governors have become a major part of the state’s political landscape in recent years, and such attacks may be intensifying. The board is described at times as inept, divisive, “partisan,” “anti-intellectual,” and mean-spirited; unless they are “reined in,” North Carolina’s … Continue reading “The Board Ain’t Broke, So It Don’t Need “Fixin’””