Posts Tagged ‘academic freedom’
U. of Ill. offers to reinstate Catholic instructor
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The University of Illinois says it has offered a teaching job to an instructor who was fired over a complaint that he engaged in hate speech in his explanation of Catholic Church doctrine on homosexuality.
The university also said July 29 that it would stop allowing the on-campus St. John's Catholic Newman Center [...]
Univ. questions Va. official’s motive in probing professor’s research
RICHMOND, Va. — Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s demand for records related to a former University of Virginia professor’s climate-change research is intended to challenge his conclusions rather than uncover fraud, the school said in court papers yesterday.
Cuccinelli, a global-warming skeptic, is investigating whether Michael Mann defrauded taxpayers by using manipulated data to obtain state grants [...]
U. of Ill. instructor fired for comments on homosexuality
URBANA, Ill. — The University of Illinois has fired an adjunct professor who taught courses on Catholicism after a student accused the instructor of engaging in hate speech by saying he agrees with the church’s teaching that homosexual sex is immoral.
The professor, Ken Howell of Champaign, said his firing violates his academic freedom. He also [...]
First Amendment traditions get 21st century tweak
A federal appellate judge’s simple solutions in a recent ruling for those confronted with repugnant e-mail messages — engage in debate or hit the delete button on your computer — have deep roots in First Amendment law. They involve the counter-speech doctrine and the “avert your eyes” rationale.
The underlying case involved Walter Kehowski, a math [...]
Workers can’t ‘invoke power of government’ to silence professor
PHOENIX — A federal appeals court ruling in a case involving a college professor’s racially charged e-mails says First Amendment rights mean people offended should delete the e-mails or engage the sender in debate, not “invoke the power of the government” to shut him up.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling yesterday doesn’t outright [...]
Professor dumped from oil-spill team over writings
ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis scientist who was among a select group picked by the Obama administration to pursue a solution to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been removed from the group because of writings on his Web site, the U.S. Energy Department confirmed yesterday.
Washington University physics professor Jonathan I. [...]
Ariz. governor signs bill targeting ethnic studies
PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed a bill targeting a school district's ethnic-studies program.
State schools chief Tom Horne, who has pushed the bill for years, says the Tucson school district's Mexican-American studies program teaches Latino students that they are oppressed by white people. Public schools should not encourage students to resent a particular [...]
Va. attorney general demands info on professor’s climate research
Editor’s note: The Associated Press reported on May 27 that the University of Virginia had filed a petition in Albemarle County Circuit Court seeking to set aside Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's investigative demands. Rector John O. Wynne said the university’s legal challenge to the investigation was an attempt to defend its academic freedom, including its [...]
Univ. of Wyo. must allow Ayers’ speech
Editor’s note: William Ayers spoke as planned April 28 at the University of Wyoming. Meanwhile, Ayers and the student who invited him to speak agreed to drop their lawsuit on May 18 after the university agreed to pay $50,000 in attorneys fees.
CASPER, Wyo. — A federal judge has ruled that the University of Wyoming must
allow [...]
Univ. of Wyo. cancels speech by ’60s radical
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The University of Wyoming has canceled a speech by former 1960s radical William Ayers after hundreds of objections from citizens and politicians poured in over the man who became an issue in the 2008 presidential campaign.
In a statement released by the university, UW President Tom Buchanan said he supported the decision to [...]
U.S. drops ban on 2 Muslim scholars
NEW YORK — Two prominent Muslim scholars once accused of having ties to terrorism can reapply to travel to the United States now that the State Department has concluded they pose no danger to the country, federal spokesmen said last week.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has signed orders enabling the re-entry of professors Tariq [...]
Ex-radical can’t travel to Mass. for speech
AMHERST, Mass. — A convicted domestic terrorist whose plans to speak at the University of Massachusetts sparked controversy has been denied parole permission to come to Massachusetts.
The U.S. Parole Commission declined to allow Raymond Levasseur to travel from his Maine home to speak tonight.
Gov. Deval Patrick said yesterday that he appreciated the decision.
UMass President Jack [...]
Group warns of threats to academic freedom, faculty speech
Public colleges and universities must be vigilant and do more to protect academic freedom, particularly in the wake of court decisions limiting the free-expression rights of public employees, says the American Association of University Professors.
AAUP, the nation’s largest group that represents academics, has launched a campaign it calls “Speak Up, Speak Out: Protect the Faculty [...]
Former radical to speak at Univ. of Mass. after all
BOSTON — A convicted domestic terrorist whose scheduled speech at the University of Massachusetts was canceled has been reinvited to campus by a faculty group against the objections of the school’s administration and Gov. Deval Patrick.
Raymond Levasseur, a former leader of the United Freedom Front, is scheduled to speak at the university tomorrow night.
The group [...]
Outspoken Univ. of Alaska professor loses federal funding
Editor’s note: Rick Steiner said Oct. 23 that the faculty union had decided not to pursue his claim further, and, as a result, he would resign.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The University of Alaska has rejected a faculty union
grievance filed on behalf of a professor who had federal funding pulled for
being an outspoken critic of the oil [...]
The First Amendment Center is an educational organization and cannot provide legal advice.
Ken Paulson is president and chief executive officer of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and in Washington, D.C. Previously, Paulson served as the editor and senior vice president/news of USA Today.
Gene Policinski, senior vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center and president and chief operating officer of the Diversity Institute, is a veteran journalist whose career has included work in newspapers, radio, television and online.
John Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Center in 1991 with the mission of creating national discussion, dialogue and debate about First Amendment rights and values.
Dr. Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum. He writes and speaks extensively on religious liberty and religion in American public life.
David L. Hudson Jr. is an expert in First Amendment issues who writes for firstamendmentcenter.org and for other publications. Hudson teaches law and was a scholar at the First Amendment Center.
Tiffany Villager is director/First Amendment studies at the First Amendment Center, which she joined in 1993. She also served as the center’s research manager and research coordinator, and developed the center’s library.
