Nikki Han
Daily Princetonian
Excerpt: Princeton University faculty can only vote on proposals that are “actionable within the context of university operations,” not those simply expressing political positions or beliefs, after a vote at the faculty meeting on April 28.
Hundreds of faculty members filled the entire lower section of Alexander Hall in Richardson Auditorium for the vote. Ultimately, an overwhelming majority of faculty members supported the passing of the following amendment to Section II.C.2 of the Rules and Procedures of the Faculty, introduced by the Ad-hoc Committee on Faculty-Wide Statements:
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Faith in higher education continues to plummet, and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)—the nation’s leading organization representing faculty interests and a longstanding voice on academic freedom and university governance—has decided to train its guns on the growing movement to establish civic education centers at public universities. The AAUP’s objections amount to a single, unlovely demand: we get to decide what students learn, and nobody else gets a vote.
Six days after the report went online, the AAA fired back with a full-throated defense. “Anthropologists welcome rigorous critique of the discipline,” wrote its president, Carolyn M. Rouse. “What we cannot accept is a sweeping verdict about anthropology’s intellectual culture, scholarly practices, and professional norms built on selective evidence and issued without consultation.
Since faculty voted in may to proctor in-person exams, national news outlets and some alumni have decried the end of Princeton’s 133-year-old tradition of unsupervised testing, but students, faculty, and recent graduates say the conversation within the campus community has been mild.