The Hopkins political scientist Benjamin Ginsberg wrote
The Fall of the Faculty in 2011. I hope to wake up the faculty, he told
Inside Higher Ed at the time. We’re like the residents of a Japanese city living next to the ocean and thinking the tsunami won’t affect us.
Ten years later, is the tsunami here? The water is at least rising. Our Tom Bartlett and Jack Stripling report on the events at Linfield University, where Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a tenured English professor, appears to have been summarily fired for criticizing the institution s president. This is just the latest in a string of similar incidents, including Garrett Felber s dismissal from the University of Mississippi for what many suspect are political reasons, and L.D. Burnett s from Collin College, where she seems to have been fired for tweets criticizing Republican politicians and her institution s administration. Felber was a tenure-track professor; Burnett was a contract employee.
Inclusivity, Sure. But Not for the Zionists.
Two years ago, I wrote about a scandal involving Williams College’s student-led Council’s decision to vote against recognizing a club because, student comments suggested, it was pro-Israel. Ultimately, the college administration stepped in and approved the club anyway.
Now in Southern California, another prestigious small college, Pomona College, may be headed down a similar road. Not content to make the usual symbolic statements against Israel, Pomona’s student government, the Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) voted unanimously to boycott, as far as its internal spending is concerned, companies said to “support the occupation of Palestine.” The resolution not only draws on a blacklist found on the website of the notoriously Israel-obsessed U.N. Human Rights Council but also promises to cooperate with the anti-Israel club, Students for Justice in Palestine, in monitoring compliance.
Adam B. Steinbaugh, attorney for a national campus civil liberties organization that defends students and faculty rights, said the lack of due process afforded to fired English Prof. Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, is alarming. “I think this is bogus. There’s no at will exception for tenured faculty. It’s the nuclear option. I think they’re right in calling this an extraordinary action. I don’t see this sort of dereliction of procedure very often.''
ADL calls on Oregon university president to resign over firing of Jewish professor who alleged antisemitism A 2018 photo of the Linfield University campus in McMinnville, Ore. (George Rose/Getty Images)
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(JTA) Criticism is mounting over the firing of a Jewish professor who accused his Oregon university’s leadership of making antisemitic comments, with the local branch of the Anti-Defamation League joining calls for the president of the school to resign.
Students as well as fellow academics are also protesting the decision by Linfield University, a Baptist-affiliated school with some 2,000 students, to fire Daniel Pollack-Pelzner. According to The Oregonian, the university has hosed down sidewalk-chalk messages supporting Pelzner, threatening the students who wrote them with fines, and has torn down flyers criticizing his termination.
(The Center Square) â A newly released
survey of students at over 500 colleges and universities who belong to Greek-letter fraternities and sororities found that the majority of students donât feel comfortable publicly disagreeing with their professors on a controversial topic.
âStudents who arenât able to freely express ideas among professors or peers are unlikely to realize the full measure of what higher education has to offer,â Nathan Harden, editor of RealClearEducation, said. âStudents are equally underserved by campuses where they donât feel that their student organizations are treated equally or welcomed on campus. Fostering an environment where students are free to explore a diversity of ideas is one of the chief goals of the university â and this includes the right to form voluntary associations based on shared interests or beliefs.â