Fighting for Civil Discourse and Academic Freedom

FACULTY FORUM

CHAPTERS

SURVEY OF INSTITUTIONS

Recent Articles

University of Washington in Seattle. Photo: Steve Ginn/Wikimedia Commons
University of Washington to Continue Israel Studies Program Despite Funding Controversy
720 360 Dion J. Pierre

The University of Washington (UW) said it will continue its Israel Studies Program (ISP) after giving back a $5 million contribution to a major funder who opposed statements made by the program’s chair. The school agreed to return the gift to prominent, Seattle-area philanthropist Becky Benaroya, who proposed adding terms to the funding after learning…

How Our Illiberal Universities Betray Liberal Democracy
1024 768 Philip Carl Salzman

The quest for knowledge at our universities has ended because knowledge is “settled”: science, philosophy, sociology, ethics, and politics are all settled. The time for questions is over; now is the time for action, for activism, for transforming society and culture. As John M. Ellis puts it in The Breakdown of Higher Education, “academia now holds…

The War Against Academic Freedom
1024 768 Philip Carl Salzman

The Enlightenment ideal of the university is a community of scholars seeking the truth. The methodology of this ideal is a multiplicity of voices and views engaged in discussion and debate, in seeking and adducing evidence, and in drawing and challenging conclusions. Western universities have gradually but decisively moved away from the Enlightenment ideal. Many institutions have…

Academia’s Disturbing Distortion of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
150 150 Norman L. Cantor

Academics are expected to treat controversial issues with reasoned analysis — objective evaluation of opposing sides. Commentary following the recent 11-day war between Israel and Hamas revealed a shocking deviation from that standard among many American academics. Faculty groups at scores of universities — including Princeton, Brown, Vassar, and CUNY — issued utterly one-sided, distorted,…