Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Brian Leiter, a law school professor here and my partner in crime in finding Kalven Report violations, is touting Kalven’s Principle of institutional neutrality in this new letter from the Chronicles of Higher Education. Click to go to the site, but I’ve reproduced the letter below. As instantiated several times this week, college administrators who … Continue reading Brian Leiter defends the Kalven Report
Pamela Paul’s new column in the NYT (click on screenshot below or find the piece archived here) is about “mission creep” in American universities: the drift away from teaching, learning, and doing research to promulgating social justice. As we’ve discussed so often, there are dangers inherent in this transformation, and some of them are occurring … Continue reading Pamela Paul on why universities can’t stop themselves from promulgating and pronouncing on Social Justice
The article below is from the conservative National Review, but of course if you want to find out what’s going on with colleges and universities, especially vis-à-vis free speech and academic freedom, you have to look at right-wing sources. This is not to imply that the Right doesn’t censor or suppress speech, but since most … Continue reading Princeton University violates the Kalven Report (even though it doesn’t have one)
According to the New York Times, Barnard College is in a big kerfuffle involving free speech, institutional neutrality, and academic freedom. The problem is that they’re conflating them all, so the campus is full of stress and argument that, with some good will, could be avoided. Here I proffer a simple solution to the College’s … Continue reading Confusion at Barnard about free speech, institutional neutrality, and academic freedom
Now that the horrors committed by Hamas in Israel are being revealed in detail, colleges and universities are issuing statements about the Israel/Palestine war. As I adhere to the University of Chicago’s Kalven Principles of institutional neutrality, I don’t think any such statements should take sides, even though I think that there’s a clear right-and-wrong … Continue reading How uber-Woke colleges respond publicly to the horrific slaughter, rape, and kidnapping by Hamas
I swear, maybe I should try writing some of my website posts as articles for magazines, where I could actually get paid. It’s not that I need the dosh, but getting a check is a special form of love in return for one’s words. Don’t worry, though, I’ll never monetize this site. The reason I thought … Continue reading Atlantic article on why universities shouldn’t make official political or ideological statements
Yesterday someone called this quote to my attention; it seems to have been made in 1961 [1935; see comment #12 below] by Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977), who became President of the University of Chicago at only 30 and served for 16 years, adding an additional six years as Chancellor. Here’s the Quote of the Week, … Continue reading Quote of the week: “A university is not a kindergarten. . . “
There are actually two principles of free speech that should be proclaimed and adhered to by every college and university in America, whether they be private or public. (Religious schools, of course, must exempt themselves.) 1.) There must be freedom of speech for all as that freedom is described by the First Amendment and construed by … Continue reading UC Irvine Chancellor officially weighs in on Rittenhouse verdict: says it shows racism of the jury
