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By Brenner M. Fissell, Chronicle of Higher Education
Colleges and universities occupy a special place in American life, but when stripped down to their legal studs, they are nothing more than nonprofit corporations incorporated by the laws of the states they sit in. Beyond basic rules about board structure and corporate officers, state law says almost nothing about how corporations govern themselves internally.
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Last summer, a former student journalist asked the University of Michigan’s student paper The Michigan Daily to take down or anonymize an article they had written more than 10 years ago. The article mentioned their involvement in a movement calling for the school to divest from companies associated with the Israeli government. In the email, they explained that their partner was a green card holder, and they were about to travel abroad with their young child. They worried they would not be allowed back.
The declaration is a statement of purpose for the research university—a reaffirmation of pathbreaking research, transformative education, and the covenant between universities and the society they serve, grounded in academic freedom, merit and excellence.
Almost a decade after the "Hypatia Affair" nearly ended her career, the philosopher reflects on public shaming and being a cautionary tale.
