Academic freedom
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Federal judge orders Texas State to continue paying philosophy professor it wrongfully fired…
….in violation of his First Amendment rights. Thank goodness for judges, and FIRE, which retained the local lawyers representing Professor Robinson.
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The American Bar Association needs to investigate Texas Tech Law School for violating the First Amendment rights of a student
A Texas Tech Law alum writes: Texas Tech, as you might know, is in the forefront of demolishing any semblance of academic freedom. Their new system Chancellor (Brandon Creighton) is the former state legislator who authored SB17, the legislation that outlawed DEI, requires Regent review of syllabi, and loosens tenure protections. A Texas Tech School…
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Meanwhile, faculty and students at Ghent are still conspiring to get Cofnas fired
This document was sent out to encourage philosophers to file complaints about the fact that Dr. Cofnas was appointed to a post-doc: Note that it evens supplies text to use in filing a complaint! Let me observe that this is not only an attack on Dr. Cofnas’s academic freedom, but also on the academic freedom…
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Cambridge’s violation of the academic freedom rights of Nathan Cofnas (and its own free speech policies)
Dr. Cofnas reviews the gory details. It’s particularly shocking that Cambridge Philosophy hired a not very competent lawyer to review the academic merits of his research rather than scholars in his field: that would be a fatal due process violation in the U.S. under AAUP standards. (Earlier coverage here and here.)
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Another casualty of the Texas war on academic freedom
Philosopher Christy Mag Uidhir, whose earlier objections to the new intrusive policies we noted, writes: I have notified the University of Houston that I will be resigning my position as Professor of Philosophy effective June 1st, 2026. Not sure what I’ll be doing next, but I do know that whatever it is, I won’t be…
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The Republican war on academic freedom and freedom of expression: a survey of faculty
From CHE: Academic researchers’ self-censorship occurred across nearly all disciplines, the survey found. Twenty-nine percent of respondents who lived in states with a [prohibition on] “divisive concepts” law said they had altered their research, and 10 percent said they were looking for a job in a different state because of the political climate. Researchers in…
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What an embarrassment: Harvard raising money to hire faculty who contribute to “viewpoint diversity” which is not an academic value
Pathetic. Public universities can’t do anything when their legislatures create institutes and schools for the purpose of hiring right-wing faculty. But Harvard departments will need to stand firm in what looks to be massive push for affirmative action for faculty with the right “politics” but not the right scholarly bona fides to be appointed on…
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More on faculty fleeing Texas due to the war on academic freedom and free expression
Story at IHE. (Thanks to Ruchira Paul for the pointer.)
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Open letter in support of Texas State philosophy professor wrongfully fired for his lawful political speech
Here (earlier coverage of this case).
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The Texas war on academic freedom: Texas Tech University system edition
An outright ban on any teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity! As philosopher Alex Byrne observed on Twitter: Want to write your thesis on the fraternal birth order effect? (Gay men tend to have more older brothers.) Nope. “Graduate theses and dissertations may only center on SOGI topics as a strictly temporary teach-out exception,…
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Peterson from Texas A&M to Southern Methodist University
Martin Peterson (normative ethics, decision theory), will be leaving his endowed professorship in the Department of Philosophy at Texas A&M University, to take up a University Professorship at Southern Methodist University, with an endowed chair in “Ethics in Artificial Intelligence.” That’s a big loss for Texas A&M (and the second senior loss this year), but…
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Texas war on free speech and academic freedom: Texas State University edition
A tenure-track philosophy professor, fired because of his lawful speech about the Israel-Palestine conflict, has sued the university. Let us hope the courts can make these rogue universities comply with the Constitution. (Thanks to Peter Kail for the pointer.)
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Free University of Brussels rescinds appointment of strident anti-Israeli, pro-Palestinian academic
I can’t see having a meal with Harry Pettit, who seems a bit morally depraved, but his political speech is probably lawful even in a jurisdiction with typical EU hate speech laws (see, e.g.). In any case, barring a legal judgment against him, it seems to me the VUB has clearly violated his rights, including…
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Controversy about Nathan Cofnas, once again
Previously the controversy was at Cambridge, now Dr. Cofnas has been appointed as a post-doc at the University of Ghent in Belgium, and perhaps predictably, some faculty and students are calling for his appointment to be terminated because of his racist views. This would, of course, be a serious violation of academic freedom: he was…
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Oklahoma legislature advances legislation to end tenure for all hires after 2027, including at the public research universities
The legislature has decided to do the Governor one better, and destroy the research universities, as well as the other state colleges and universities. Of course, Oklahoma may also inspire a race to the bottom with other red states. Tenure is a form of non-monetary compensation, so at some point there will be pressure to…
David J. Gunkel «Person, Thing, Robot: A Moral and Legal Ontology for the 21st Century and Beyond» (MIT, 2023) Link:…