The Hawaii case is clear-cut: the law school acted wrongfully and violated the academic freedom rights of the professor. The administrators at the University of Hawaii need a lesson in core AAUP academic freedom principles. The LSU case is ambiguous at this stage, but highly suspicious. Faculty do not have a right to discuss unrelated political topics during classtime, but they certainly have the right to discuss political issues, even controversial ones, relevant to the subject-matter. Given that Louisiana Governor Landry is an open enemy of the First Amendment and academic freedom, one suspects the worst.



My former colleagues at another university in Middle East have also been moved to online teaching indefinitely, with the students…