By William Barnett
Medium
Excerpt: The attacks on academic freedom in Florida and elsewhere have pernicious effects on higher education for faculty and students alike.
When I taught courses on religion and public policy, controversial issues arose frequently. Since I was teaching at a Jesuit college, abortion and social justice concerns became the focus of many discussions online and in class. In these courses, I made sure to include resources and discussion about official Catholic teachings (the tradition is rather complex and historically varied) along with material about other religious and secular positions. In today’s educational climate, I would likely be prohibited from including such materials and discussion in my courses in Florida, Texas, and several other states.
Ryan Quinn
Inside Higher Ed
Excerpt: The University of Virginia and Dartmouth College have become the latest higher ed institutions to publicly reject the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education." Now just three of the nine institutions that the federal government originally presented with the document have yet to announce whether they will sign.
Daniel Miller and Jaweed Kaleem
LA Times
Excerpt: The University of Southern California on Thursday rejected the controversial education compact the Trump administration offered it and eight other schools, saying it would undermine “values of free inquiry and academic excellence.”
Sarah McLaughlin
FIRE, The Free Speech Podcast
Excerpt: FIRE Senior Scholar Sarah McLaughlin discusses her new book, "Authoritarians in the Academy: How the Internationalization of Higher Education and Borderless Censorship Threaten Free Speech."