The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

Student Paper Is Removed To Shield Prospective Students From Negative Article

With prospective students on campus last week for tours of Christopher Newport University, a story in the student newspaper about a suspected meth lab in a residence hall wasn't the sort of publicity some administrators wanted. So they ordered the removal of The Captain's Log, which had a front-page story last Wednesday recounting the evacuation of Wilson Hall on March 30. The removal was later overruled by the dean of admissions, who had the newspapers returned to the distribution stands. Read more at:
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/apr/11/tdmet03-cnu-removes-student-newspapers-from-campus-ar-1833078/

Welcome To Repression University

Campus spies. Pepper spray. SWAT teams. Twitter trackers. Biometrics. Student security consultants. Professors of homeland security studies. Welcome to Repress U, class of 2012. Since 9/11, the homeland security state has come to campus just as it has come to America’s towns and cities. Today, from the City University of New York to the University of California, students increasingly find themselves on the frontlines, not of a war on terror, but of a war on “radicalism” and “extremism.” Just about everyone from college administrators and educators to law enforcement personnel and corporate executives seems to have enlisted in this war effort.  Increasingly, American students are in their sights. Read more at:
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/22/big_brother_on_campus/singleton/

Treatment Of Faculty Member Tests Free Speech And Academic Freedom

Subramanian Swamy is an outspoken man. That is what got him into trouble last July. While teaching economics at the Harvard University summer school, he penned a sharply worded column for a newspaper in India. Now, the case has devolved into an imbroglio about hate speech and academic freedom. The professors who led the charge against Swamy are buried in angry e-mails from his supporters in India. Others are torn, despising both Swamy’s column and the way he was relieved of his duties. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/01/02/harvard_summer_school_professor_dismissed_by_faculty_after_controversial_column_in_indian_paper_fires_back/

U Of Iowa Faculty Member Takes Heat For Article About Iowa

Professor Stephen Bloom of the University of Iowa with his new article published Friday on the Atlantic’s website has sparked an online flap over what qualifies as an accurate, honest portrayal of Iowa’s culture and economy today and whether our state with its 1,784 precinct caucuses deserves to begin to choose the nation’s next president on Jan. 3. The New Jersey native’s “Observations from 20 Years of Iowa Life” includes this gem: “Those who stay in rural Iowa are often the elderly waiting to die, those too timid (or lacking in educated) to peer around the bend for better opportunities, an assortment of waste-toids and meth addicts with pale skin and rotted teeth, or those who quixotically believe, like Little Orphan Annie, that ‘The sun’ll come out tomorrow.’” Debate has raged in story comments on the Atlantic’s site, across Facebook and Twitter and in blog rebuttals such as Rebecca McKanna’s. Readers have seen different levels of screed or satire, tough love or sloppy generalizations in Bloom’s assessment. Read more at:
http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/12/12/iowas-scuzzy-mississippi-river-towns-and-keokuk-slums/

Public IHEs Bracing For The End Of Stimulus Spending Dollars

America's public colleges and universities have burned through nearly $10 billion in government stimulus money and are still facing more tuition hikes, fewer course offerings and larger class sizes. Many college students are already bearing the brunt of the cuts in their wallets as they prepare for their future careers. Public university systems used the stimulus to prevent deeper layoffs, maintain degree programs and keep campuses open and are now bracing for the end of the federal program. The effects will be greater in some states than others.

Visiting Professor's Film Comments May Have Cost Her A Job Opportunity

A former visiting professor at North Carolina State University claims in a lawsuit that she was abruptly dropped from consideration for a permanent post after her comments she made about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Terri Ginsberg said she had been a top tier candidate for a position in the university's film studies department until Oct. 24, 2007, when she gave an introduction to a movie called "Ticket to Jerusalem" at a film screening series on Middle Eastern topics. Kapitan said Ginsberg's situation illustrates the risks academics without the protections afforded by tenure face when they speak out even in mild terms on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Read more at:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/07/06/1325295/professor-says-comments-cost-her.html#ixzz1RRo57sZR

Rutgers Students Protest By Occupying Administrative Building

Demanding a tuition freeze, better wages for workers and a greater voice for students, about a dozen undergraduates at Rutgers University on Wednesday occupied Old Queens, the historic administration building in New Brunswick, N.J., where the president, Richard L. McCormick, has his office; 11 were planning to stay in the building until their demands were met and said they were prepared to be arrested. Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/nyregion/rutgers-students-occupy-building-in-protest.html?_r=1

Conservative Group's Email Leads To Professor's Vulgar Response

A University of Iowa professor’s vulgar response to an email promoting “conservative coming out” events this week has spurred campus-wide debate on civil discourse. She explained her initial email was a product of inflamed political passions after reading a news article of “fresh outrages committed by Republicans in government.” The spat prompted an email from University president Sally Mason. She reminded faculty, staff and students to be respectful of opposing viewpoints on a campus that encourages civil debate and freedom of expression. Read more at:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110420/NEWS02/110420038/1004/

New National Institute At U Of Arizona Will Promote Civil Discourse

The National Institute for Civil Discourse - a nonpartisan center for debate, research, education and policy about civility in public discourse - will open Monday in Tucson at the University of Arizona. The institute plans to organize workshops and conferences in Tucson, Washington and elsewhere nationwide, and will bring together leaders from across the political spectrum to develop programs to promote civil discourse. Read more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/20/AR2011022003770.html

Charges Against Student Protesters Raises Free Speech On Campus Issues

When administrators at the University of California, Irvine, decided to suspend the Muslim Student Union for a quarter over the disruption of a speech last year by the Israeli ambassador to the United States, most thought the latest controversy on campus had ended. District Attorney Tony Rackauckas of Orange County, however, disagreed — and filed misdemeanor criminal charges last week against the 11 student protesters. The charges have not only reignited campus debate about the event but have also prompted a feisty argument about the role of free speech on a college campus. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/education/10irvine.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss