Academia News

UI AAUP chapter concerned with proposed College of Liberal Arts and Sciences policy

2024-01-24T04:12:00.000-08:00

Guest Opinion | UI AAUP chapter concerned with proposed College of Liberal Arts and Sciences policy

Some faculty are concerned about the administration’s proposed changes to the CLAS Manual of Policy and Procedure.

https://dailyiowan.com/2024/01/23/guest-opinion-university-of-iowa-aaup-chapter-concerned-with-proposed-college-of-liberal-arts-and-sciences-policy/

AAUP Report of a Special Committee: Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida’s Public Higher Education System

2024-01-02T11:05:00.000-08:00

What we are witnessing in Florida is an intellectual reign of terror. There is a tremendous sense of dread right now, not just among faculty; it’s tangible among students and staff as well. People are intellectually and physically scared. We are being named an enemy of the State. The events at Jacksonville too, feel real, and people feel it could happen to them.

—LeRoy Pernell, professor of law, Florida A&M (interview with the special committee)

Report of a Special Committee: Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida’s Public Higher Education System

How the U. of Arizona Found Itself in a ‘Financial Crisis’ of Its Own Making

2023-12-15T08:47:00.000-08:00

A flawed budget model and excess spending are among the reasons given by administrators for “draconian cuts.” Read article.

In Publishing, Don’t Make the Perfect the Enemy of the Good

2023-12-13T08:51:00.000-08:00

For decades, researchers have complained that the publication and evaluation systems in academia are broken or need urgent reform. There have been calls for a more equitable system where scientists are evaluated based on the rigor, quality, significance, and impact of their work instead of their institutional affiliation and the impact factors of the journals where their research is published. On October 20, eLife, a peer-reviewed journal, announced new changes in their publishing policies that they claim will make this possible...

UI shared governance, and policies and procedures that protect it, are essential to academic freedom

2023-12-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

Academic freedom is the pillar of a free society. When it is compromised, public trust in scientific knowledge is eroded; biased teaching invades classrooms; and knowledge is politicized. The first line of protection for academic freedom is policy provisions against undue interference in the work of those involved in research and teaching. For these reasons, the university community at large must actively engage in the process of developing and revising policy documents to promote the principles of shared governance.

The University of Iowa establishes rules in its Policy Manual (PM). The UI requires each college to write their own manuals of policy and procedures, but the college’s manuals may not contradict the PM. Similarly, each college requires units within it to produce their own policy documents... DI editorial.

The original (longer) version of "Shared governance—and the policy and procedure that protects it—are essential to academic freedom"

As Harvard’s Governing Boards Meet, More than 700 Faculty Urge Against Gay’s Removal, Citing University Independence

2023-12-12T09:29:00.000-08:00

The letter dated, December 10, 2023 and addressed to the President and Fellows of Harvard College said:

We, the undersigned faculty, urge you in the strongest possible terms to defend the independence of the university and to resist political pressures that are at odds with Harvard’s commitment to academic freedom, including calls for the removal of President Claudine Gay. The critical work of defending a culture of free inquiry in our diverse community cannot proceed if we let its shape be dictated by outside forces.

As of December 10, 2023, at 4:46 p.m., the letter was signed by 726 Harvard faculty members.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/12/11/faculty-oppose-removal/

As Harvard President Faces Pressure to Resign, Some Faculty Show Support

2023-12-11T04:54:00.000-08:00

As Harvard President Faces Pressure to Resign, Some Faculty Show Support

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/10/us/harvard-president-claudine-gay.html

Culture wars on campus start to affect students’ choices for college

2023-10-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

Students have long picked schools based on their academic reputations and social life. But with campuses in the crosshairs of the culture wars, many students are now also taking stock of attacks on diversity, course content, and speech and speakers from both ends of the political spectrum...

> read article

UNC Chapel Hill and Jacksonville shootings shed light on campus security : NPR

2023-10-09T11:05:00.002-07:00

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/29/1196521007/unc-chapel-hill-jacksonville-shooting-campus-safety

Ban or Embrace? Colleges Wrestle With A.I.-Generated Admissions Essays. - The New York Times

2023-10-09T11:05:00.001-07:00

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/01/business/college-admissions-essay-ai-chatbots.html

US News releases latest college rankings after formula change | The Hill

2023-10-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

https://thehill.com/homenews/education/4210469-us-news-releases-latest-college-rankings-after-formula-change/

UNC-Chapel Hill shooting is just another day in America | Raleigh News & Observer

2023-10-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article278707964.html

‘I’m not wanted’: Florida universities hit by brain drain as academics flee

2023-07-30T18:41:00.001-07:00

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/30/florida-universities-colleges-faculty-leaving-desantis?CMP=share_btn_link

POLITICO: Texas A&M president exits after Black journalist's hiring at campus unravels

2023-07-23T06:57:00.001-07:00

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/21/texas-am-president-resigns-00107695

Shared Governance At America’s Universities: Reaffirming Higher Education’s Cornerstone In The Post-Pandemic Era

2022-11-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

Shared governance is a cornerstone of American higher education. In fact, faculty shared governance been called the second longest standing system of institutional shared governance in the world, second only to the Church. Strictly accurate or not, it makes the point. Shared governance in our nation's colleges and universities has been around for more than a century. Principles of shared governance and best practices for ensuring the faculty had voice in university policymaking were articulated as early as 1920, when the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) published its first statement on shared governance between faculty, administrators, and trustees... read article

Dr. Cornel West Calls Out Harvard University’s ‘Spiritual Rot’ in His Resignation Letter

2021-07-13T14:44:00.002-07:00

Dr. Cornel West. the philosopher, political activist, and public intellectual has accused Harvard of disrespectful treatment and hinted at discrimination.

https://www.ebony.com/news/education/dr-cornel-west-calls-out-harvard-universitys-spiritual-rot-in-his-resignation-letter/

Politics in Academia and the Tenure Case of Nikole Hannah-Jones

2021-07-06T09:58:00.004-07:00

Day after the UNC system's board of trustees reversed itself and approved her tenure, Nikole Hannah-Jones did, in my view, the right thing: decline UNC offer.

Hannah-Jones’ treatment was driven by politics, economics and racism and was not about her accomplishments and her standing as a serious journalist. The faculty and administrators at the University of North Carolina affirmed her standing when they offered her a faculty position with tenure at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media and recognized her accomplishments by awarding her the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism. Yet, the board, typically rubber-stamps recommendations from peers and university administrators, decided, in this particular case, to approve the faculty position but deny her tenure. Given that university boards generally consist of political appointees who may or may not have any background in relevant academic disciplines, it is inconceivable that the board can decide on the merit of one’s scholarship and academic qualification. That judgment is done by scholars in the same discipline and administrators in appropriate academic units. This leaves politics, economics, and discrimination as the driving forces behind the board’s decision.

Hannah-Jones is not the only Black academic who was denied tenure in the last few months alone. Harvard University also denied Dr. Cornel West tenure. What is striking about this case is the fact that Dr. West had a tenured position at Harvard before. He left his tenured position in 2002 after then Harvard president, Lawrence Summers, depreciated his “scholarship, his commitment to teaching, and his political advocacy.” It should be noted that this is the same Summers who argued that women are underrepresented in the sciences not because of historical discrimination, but because women underperform in math and sciences because of biological difference when compared to men.

We must consider these cases in the context of academic positions and the power structure within the system. First, it should be noted that almost three-quarters of all US faculty positions are off the tenure track and more universities are moving to limit tenure-track positions and replace them with contract laborers. Second, as the US Department of Education data on the makeup and salaries of faculty members in higher education show, Black persons and people of color are severely underrepresented and underpaid compared to white persons. In fact, most cases of tenure-denial or notices to that potentiality in the last 30 years have impacted people of color and rarely impacted white persons, especially white men.

Nikole Hannah-Jones will not be the last Black person who will face discrimination. The system as is will likely produce the same outcomes. It was the right decision to fight the denial and it was the right decision to decline the offer after the denial. The series of events underscored the corrupt nature and highly politicized processes in academia. Had Hannah-Jones accepted tenure after she was denied it, it would perpetuate the idea that the system works: it was an error that was fixed, and the system works since Hannah-Jones eventually received tenure. That is not true. The decision was reversed only because of public pressure and only because of the stature of Nikole Hannah-Jones. Anyone else who deserve tenure but lacks the stature, standing, and connections of Nikole Hannah-Jones, but happens to be a person of color will not be able to force a university to reverse itself.

Changing the system will require acts of courage from the persons who experience discrimination and systemic exclusion to refuse to legitimize the system as is, expose the social groups who benefit from it, and reveal the actors who designed it.

Read the news coverage of this case Here and Here.

UNC Journalism School Tried To Give Nikole Hannah-Jones Tenure. A Top Donor Objected

2021-06-21T07:46:00.002-07:00

On paper, The New York Times's Nikole Hannah-Jones is a dream hire for the journalism school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
She won a MacArthur "genius grant" for her reporting on the persistence of segregation in American life. She won a Pulitzer Prize for her essay accompanying "The 1619 Project," a New York Times Magazine initiative she conceived on the legacy of slavery in the U.S. And Hannah-Jones earned a master's degree from the school itself, in 2003.
Yet the UNC-Chapel Hill board of trustees declined to act upon her proposed appointment. That tenure proposal ran aground on race, politics, and, perhaps surprisingly, on a clash between diverging views of journalism.
The opposing view has been embodied by Walter Hussman, the 1968 UNC journalism graduate whose name has graced the school since he made a $25 million pledge. Longtime publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Hussman has shared his opposition to Hannah-Jones' appointment with the journalism school dean, several university administrators, and, reportedly, two members of the UNC-Chapel Hill board of trustees.

University of California system will no longer consider SAT, ACT scores in admissions process

2021-05-16T10:13:00.005-07:00

...

Friday’s settlement, which was officially approved by the UC Board of Regents Thursday, also states that the university system will pay more than $1.2 million to the lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

The settlement also states that should UC choose to use an alternative exam during the admissions process in the future, it “will consider access for students with disabilities in the design and implementation of any such exam.”

Amanda Savage, one of the lawyers representing the students in the lawsuit, told the Times that the settlement “ensures that the university will not revert to its planned use of the SAT and ACT — which its own regents have admitted are racist metrics.”

source:

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/553731-university-of-california-system-will-no-longer-consider-sat-act-scores

University of California eliminates SAT/ACT requirement

2020-06-04T13:44:00.002-07:00

OAKLAND — University of California regents voted Thursday to stop requiring high school students to submit an SAT or ACT score for admission, the biggest blow yet to the traditional standardized tests as leaders of the elite public system attempt to address fairness concerns.

UC’s new policy, proposed by system President Janet Napolitano, calls for the SAT and ACT to be suspended through 2024 as the university attempts to develop its own testing standard. The tests will be completely eliminated in 2025, regardless of whether a new or modified UC-specific standard has been approved for use.

Prospective students will have the option of submitting standardized test scores through 2022, keeping intact a strategy recently implemented by universities across the nation as the coronavirus pandemic has hindered the ability of many students to take the tests. Beginning in 2023, the SAT and ACT will have no impact on the admissions process, though students could still submit scores to determine eligibility for certain scholarships and post-enrollment class placement.

The vote comes after decades of opposition to standardized testing from civil rights groups and education experts who say it favors wealthier, predominantly white students who can pay for extensive test prep. Most recently, the UC system was sued by a group of students, education advocacy groups and public school districts claiming the SAT and ACT are discriminatory.

read full article...

Separate And Unequal

2019-06-08T13:55:00.002-07:00

Abstract: On May 11, 2019, the US federal government indicted 50 individuals, charging them with bribery and fraud in a widespread college admission scandal involving wealthy parents, coaches, administrators, and business executives, paying bribes to buy their children’s way into the nation’s elite schools. For weeks thereafter, the public discourse had become engaged primarily with the action of the individuals, secondarily with some schools’ administrators, but not with the role played by the State. I argue that the evidence unearthed for these cases point to a human rights violation because the State, through a plurality of systems and instruments, has actively participated in perpetuating inequality and economic disparity.

First, for clarity purposes, I shall define key terms and concepts. I use the word “State” to refer to the modern nation-state governing power, as a legal person that is in social contract with society, which authorizes (through a public mandate, electoral or otherwise) it to assume legal monopoly on the use of violence and taxation and the judicious use thereof. I also define human rights as claims by members of society against the State when the State abuses its powers or fails to treat citizens equitably and fairly. As such, human rights claims are above and beyond criminal and civil claims. With these definitions in mind, let’s consider the facts related to the so-called elite schools’ admissions and to the scandal that ensued and draw appropriate conclusions.

Federal charges against some wealthy parents, accusing them of buying their kids admission to prestigious universities brought to the forefront the broader discussion of the status of private universities and the role of governments in education. Given the role higher education plays in social mobility and wealth production, a serious look at admission and teaching practices by public and private institutions is necessary. Importantly, given the principles and norms enshrined in the treaties on social and economic rights, the role of private universities that receive government funds in creating inequality must be framed within the legal and moral imperatives of human rights norms to which the State must adhere. For clarity purposes, I frame human rights violations as claims by individuals and/or social groups against the State for discrimination or for actively contributing to the creation of conditions that perpetuate inequality and economic disparity, provided that such discrimination and causation of inequality are prohibited by the national constitution or treaties ratified by the State. Access to higher education in the US is hardly a US domestic problem. Given that countries from around the world, especially oil-wealthy Muslim countries in particular, send thousands of students to study in the United States and/or establish satellite campuses of these elite universities, problems in US educational institutions are universal problem, not just a national one.

To understand the role and the degree of the State complicity and/or responsibility, let’s examine some of the facts related to education at private institutions and the many ways local and federal governments preserve this engine of inequality and economic disparity.

Key data related to representative public universities (2015/16 academic year):

University of Washington-Seattle; 31,331 undergraduate enrollment, acceptance rate 53%; $2.529 billion market value of endowment.

University of Michigan; 29,821 undergraduate enrollment, acceptance rate 26%; $11 billion market value of endowment.

University of Illinois-UC; 33,955 undergraduate enrollment, acceptance rate 66%; $2.556 billion market value of endowment.

University of Texas-Austin; 40,492 undergraduate enrollment, acceptance rate 36%; $30 billion market value of endowment.

University of Wisconsin-Madison; 32,196 undergraduate enrollment, acceptance rate 58%; $2.746 billion market value of endowment.

University of Iowa; 24,503 undergraduate enrollment, acceptance rate 80%; $1.387 billion market value of endowment.

University of Minnesota; 35,433 undergraduate enrollment, acceptance rate 45%; $3.49 Billion

Key data related to representative private universities (2015/16 academic year):

Princeton University; 5,394 undergraduate enrollment, acceptance rate 7%; $22.29 billion market value of endowment.

Harvard University; 6,766 undergraduate enrollment, acceptance rate 6%; $37.62 billion market value of endowment.

Columbia University; 6,162 Undergraduate Enrollment, acceptance rate 6%; $9.64 billion market value of endowment.

Yale University; 5,746 undergraduate enrollment, acceptance rate 7%; $25.54 billion Market value of endowment.

Stanford University; 7,062 undergraduate enrollment, acceptance rate 5%; $22.223 billion market value of endowment.

As of the 2017-18 academic year, there were 4,298 degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the U.S.

Private non-profit: 1687 (with only 98 being 2-year colleges; 300 of these are Faith-connected)
Public: 1626 (with 876 being 2-year colleges)
Private for-profit: 985 (506 of them being 2-year colleges)
At any given year, about 20,000,000 students enroll in these universities and colleges.

Source: 2017 stats; National Center for Education Statistics (https://nces.ed.gov/)

____________

The Real Cost of Elitism:

To understand the real engine behind inequity in society, one must look at the allocation of resources and the burden of educating the next generations:

50% of the endowment wealth dedicated to education is controlled by just 20 schools. Combined, these 20 schools enroll less than 5% of total number of students. Out of these 20 schools, 17 are private universities, and 8 of them, known as Ivy League universities. These eight Ivy League universities, alone, control 20% of the total US endowment wealth but responsible for just 1% of the students at any given year.

Understood in the context of economic and social inequality in American society, these figures define systemic discrimination and such discrimination is, at minimum, enabled by the State. Preserving an elite education system contribute more to inequity and less to education and learning.

Flawed standards and self-perpetuating reputation:

The metrics used for ranking schools are outcome-based measures that interest students, such as whether they will get good jobs, can avoid large student debt, or like their instructors. These outcome-oriented metrics do benefit from large endowment. Wealth can be used to limit class sizes, reduce student-instructor ratio, pay for tutors and other resources, provide scholarships instead of teaching assistantships, and lower the rate of admission. Such a metric does not measure if a student who attended a private university would exit more prepared than if the same student had attended a public university.

While endowment can be private donations, they are hardly used by these institutions for teaching and research activities. Research in private universities are generously funded by federal grants and contracts. In fact, more federal money goes to private schools than to public universities. In addition to federal grants and contracts money, private schools benefit from favorable tax policies and exemptions and unequal research funding and donor tax write-offs. The grants and policies increase disparity between rich, elite private schools and poor public institutions, which increase the gap between the poor and rich people in society at large.

Some people could argue that public schools do receive state money. While it is true that public schools receive government funds, state appropriations come with strings attached that limit public universities’ ability to increase tuition or become more selective in their admission practices in ways that would increase revenues. For instance, most states require public universities to guarantee admission to state residents who would meet minimum standards related to standardized testing scores and high school grades. Moreover, state contributions are dependent on the political and economic factors and, generally, some states’ appropriations to education has been in decline and it is projected to reach zero by the end of next decade.

Ivy League schools, on the other hand, do not need much resources since they are highly selective and students who are admitted to such schools are well prepared through elite education in private high schools or through private tutoring. Public universities, meanwhile, because they must admit more students who may not have gone to well-funded public high schools require more money and resources to meet the needs of a diverse student population. In reality, private universities in general and Ivy League institutions in particular, spend ten times per student than the average public university. For example, based on the 2016/17 data, Princeton University’s tax-exempt status produced about $100,000 per student per year in taxpayer subsidies, nearly ten times more than the $12,000 per student taxpayer subsidy at Rutgers University, the state flagship, and nearly fifty times more than the $2,400 per student at the nearby community college, Essex County College.

Private universities are having it both ways: they receive more research grants as well as other forms of public privileges like tax preferences, and research subsidies—all without government oversight.

All not-for-profit private universities are heavily supported, directly or indirectly, by governments. Federal student loans, tuition tax credits and Pell Grants allow them to raise fees. The tax-deductible treatment of private donations helps these universities fund new facilities, buildings, and resources. Private universities benefit from state and local (city and/or county) government exemption of facilities from property and, in some cases, sales taxes. In addition to research grants, the federal government often offers generous allowances for overhead expenses. Endowments themselves benefit from tax privileges. Despite all these tax-payers’ provided benefits, private universities are shielded from federal control by claiming that, as “private” universities, they are not subject to governmental interference. The same cannot be said about public universities, which are subject to government oversight.

In public universities, faculty members and administrators are mindful of constitutional rights and limitations. Faculty members in public universities honor the First Amendment, adhere to the terms of the Establishment Clause, and obey state and federal laws relevant to access, discrimination, violence, harassment, and civil rights. Private universities often ignore many of these limitations. In fact, elitist private universities, because they sidestepped government oversight, often engage in discretionary practices, violate human rights, and flout constitutional norms. Admission standards in most private, elite universities, discriminate when they give preference to legacy admissions–children and grandchildren of alumni. Many of the private institutions that receive public funding and privileges are also faith-based and they engage in theological discourses, clergy training, and religious activities.

Ivy League institutions were the first to rely on standardized testing, which contributed to the exclusion of racial and ethnic marginalized social groups. Numerous studies have established that, since the adoption of standardized testing, students of color, especially those from low-income families, have been negatively impacted. Settled research data from the last fifty years demonstrate that students who are African-American, Native American, Asian, and other marginalized social groups have struggled with discriminatory bias from standardized tests. The legal cases related to admission added new data that support the finding that Ivy League metrics, which rely heavily on GPA and standardized testing scores, favor the rich and discriminate against the poor. From expensive prep classes to expensive private schools, these indicators are now revealed as function of wealth and means, not indicative of personal, natural aptitudes.

Education, evidently, is directly connected to economic and social conditions and the reverse is true. As such education is a human right and the State is responsible for providing equal access to education as required by treaties it had ratified and pertinent national laws. Furthermore, since discrimination is illegal, State-enabled discrimination in education is, therefore, a human rights violation. The many affirmative action measures adopted by federal and state governments support a proposition whereby the State’s function includes leveling the playing field for historically disadvantaged social groups, allocating resources on need base, and addressing systemic discrimination and conditions that contribute to undue economic disparity. Therefore, the State is responsible for making education accessible, affordable, and fair. When education through private universities is used as an instrument for perpetuating inequality and when the State funds such an instrument of inequality, the State, then, violates human rights.

It might be true that, in free market economy, private entities and civil society institutions are not responsible for narrowing the wealth gap or for solving problems of social and economic inequality. However, when such entities receive public funds, such institutions, notwithstanding their status as private enterprises, must be subjected to government oversight to ensure equal and fair treatment of all students, a critical charge of governments. And when the State fails to undertake oversight over institutions it funds through public moneys, the State is liable for all and any practices and policies that violate equal access and equal treatment undertaken by these institutions.

One could argue that the fraud indictments against 50 persons proves that the government has undertaken action when evidence for abuse became available and therefore the State should not be accused of human rights violation for failure to act. Such an argument is flawed for a number of reasons. First, the State participated preserving a system that invited criminal abuse. Second, charging these and even future individuals with fraud will not fix a system that perpetuates inequality. Third, the charges are purely criminal; they do not address the more important issue of access to education and problem of discrimination practiced by private schools. Fourth, the State took no legal action against private institutions that receive public moneys and that discriminate in their admission practices and perpetuate economic disparity.

A human rights claim against the State does not absolve these wealthy individuals of their criminal activities and for abusing policy intended to help persons with disability and members of historically disadvantaged social groups. Indeed, persons who defraud the system are not only committing crimes, they are also contributing to inequity and economic disparity. Furthermore, those who choose to send their children to private universities over public universities are contributing to inequity as well. But that is a moral position, different from the State’s active funding of a system that demonstrably and measurably perpetuates inequity and economic disparity. Moreover, criminal charges against individuals committing fraud to buy a seat for their children in elite universities will not stop these elite universities from creating economic disparity through arbitrarily, highly selective systems that allow only the select few to benefit from the vast resources they hoard. Such an endeavor might be legitimate for private enterprises. But when such institutions receive disproportionate amounts of moneys and services from governments, then their actions become discriminatory, not merely selective, and such discrimination is thus enabled by the State, making it a human rights violation.

__________
* Prof. SOUAIAIA is a member of the faculty at the University of Iowa with joint appointment in International Studies, Religious Studies, History, and College of Law. Opinions are the author’s, speaking on matters of public interest; not speaking for the university or any other organization with which he might be affiliated.

Cowardice, Elitism, Racism And Academia

2019-04-29T13:52:00.001-07:00

While launching his political 2020 presidential campaign, Donald Trump, clarified beyond doubt what he means by his slogan, “Make America Great Again.” He called on four congresswomen to go back to their countries of origin. The four congresswomen are, Ilhan Omar (MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Rashida Tlaib (MI), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY). Omar is a naturalized Muslim US citizen who was admitted to this country as a refugee from Somalia. Pressley is a Black US-born citizen whose ancestors were enslaved and brought to this country against their will. Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez are US-born citizens descendants of non-white migrants. The implication is clear: in the mind of Trump and some of his supporters, being a woman of color who migrated recently, whose parents migrated recently, or whose ancestors were slaves would preclude her from being an equal citizen to her white counterpart. Making America great again, therefore, is about taking America back to before the 1868 14th Amendment (citizenship and slavery), before the 1870 15th Amendment (citizenship and race), and before the 1920 19th Amendment (citizenship and sex). This white nationalism impulse is now supported by a growing body of evidence in the form of statements and policies.

The attack on these women was ostensibly triggered by their critical views of some of the US domestic and foreign policies. Trump equated their criticism and political views to being unpatriotic and disloyal. This comes from a man whose slogan implies that America (especially under Obama) was not great, and that he is the person capable of making America great again. When white men, like Trump, criticize the conditions of the country, it is patriotism; but when non-white American citizens do the same, it is treason. This is not a political campaigning rhetoric; it is a lethal narrative that will be co-opted by those who wish to make American a homeland exclusive of non-white people and who are willing to kill to achieve that goal. This toxic, lethal discourse amplified by the chief executive officer will endure beyond political cycles, and should Trump lose his bid for another term, his supporters will likely resort to more violence.

When the political leader of the nation’s highest office makes a statement telling a group of citizens to go back to their countries of origin, reasonable, fair-minded persons would expect leaders at places of work to standup and remind everyone that we live in a country of laws where discrimination, threats, and retaliation are illegal. Regardless of what a president would say or do, leaders should reaffirm that respect for the law and the constitution that binds us together must supersede personal politics—including the president’s. An unequivocal stance from leaders of the institutions that is responsible for educating future generations is fundamental given the institutions’ core mission. Silence emboldens those who act above the law. But silence is what is happening.

Ronald Brownstein of The Atlantic reported that leaders of universities and companies are all silent and none of them are willing to go on the record saying anything about such racism. Off the record, however, they admit that if the statements were made by someone in their institutions, the person making them “would face serious consequences… But virtually none of those leaders — from schools and universities to big global companies to nonprofits and local government — have been willing to publicly express that consensus as President Donald Trump has deployed that incendiary and openly racist language himself.”

Leaders in my institution, the University of Iowa, too, were silent: No leader from the department, college, or central administration came out publicly to reassure students and employees who are of the same background as these women or who have family members who fit the same profile as these women that, as leaders, they condemn racism and that they stand up for constitutional rights of all citizens, as equal under the law. That silence, for a person like me who feels that Trump’s tweets are directed at my family members who share the same background as the four congresswomen–is stunning.

As I live this experience, I could not help but think of the words of the president of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, to the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom he invited to give a speech at the Morningside campus in 2006. Introducing his guest, Mr. Bollinger said:

We at this university have not been shy to protest the challenge–and challenge the failures of our own government to live by our values, and we won’t be shy about criticizing yours. Let’s then be clear at the beginning. Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator.

While there are reasons to be critical of Mr. Ahmadinejad, calling someone now term-limited into retirement a dictator is more problematic for an institution that received money from the Saudi government whose crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, has no concepts or institutions of election or term limited positions. As absolute ruler who controls all the levers of power, bin Salman sent his agents to literally dismember a US resident Saudi dissident with medical saws in a diplomatic building in Turkey. Ignorance aside, consistency and credibility are the real issues leaders of US academic institutions must be mindful of.

It has been a week since Trump published the most recent racist tweets. Yet, Columbia University has not issued a public statement about this or other discriminatory statements and policies of “our own government.” I now realize that persons from “shithole” countries, to borrow the words of the head of “our own government,” are expected to criticize their governments and white men who are not even citizens of such countries do, too. But the reverse is not true. We, non-white citizens that is, cannot criticize “our own government” and if we do, we will be asked by the white president to go back to our countries of origin and neither the president of Columbia University nor any other university president will “challenge the failures of our own government.” It is easy for white people to challenge a brown-skinned president of a distant Muslim country and expect brown-skinned persons to join in. In fact, we are not expected to just join in, we are expected to only limit our challenge to governments in our countries of origin. The rudeness to an invited guest who also happened to be the head of a state was applauded, but the discrimination against US citizens is met with absolute silence–racism is deeper than a tweet. While Trump’s racism is explicit, the silence of leaders and professors of academic institutions is implicit. And while administrators silence can be explained, though not justified, by their worry about losing government funding or about challenging their hiring/firing superiors (public university presidents are usually hired by board members appointed by political leaders), the silence of senior professors is even more troubling.

In Academia, the most compelling justification for tenure is the need to protect experts and scholars against intimidation, threats, and retaliation so that they are able to express themselves freely on critical matters of public interest and speak fact-based truth to power. Unfortunately, it would seem that courage, in academia, is limited to pointing out the wrongs done by dead kings and dictators, foreign authoritarians, and/or democratically elected leaders of countries “our own government” does not like—not for any other principle- or fact-driven reasons. Many of us make use of the archived writings of the few courageous dissenters (who put their freedom and sometime their lives at risk and spoke truth to power) to reconstruct reality but avoid, at all cost, to speak against cruelty in the moment and challenge failure to uphold the law the instant it happens—not after the deed is part of the archived history. How useful is tenure if all it affords us is delayed outrage against dead racists, fascists, authoritarians, and violators of human rights.

Simply, it is cowardice that prevent academicians from standing up for social justice, rule of law, and human rights. Systemically, cowardice is a result of a tenure process that was turned into a domestication, pacification, and elitism-inducting scheme. In many institutions, tenure-review processes lack transparency, due process, and fairness empowering senior faculty members to indulge their personal biases and political views. Such corrupt process, overtime, produced distorted understanding of collegiality and became an obstruction to innovation, debility to imagination, and decrepitude to originality. A typical academician must go through an average of six years of navigating the sensitivities and temperaments of mentors as a graduate student, about seven years of fittingness with senior colleagues as a junior faculty member, and an average of eight years of expected reverence to elitist class of full professors as an associate. After about twenty years of leading a life shaped by the views and judgements of one’s mentors and senior colleagues, one is likely to lose perspective of who they were and what they stood for. These are some of the reasons that are making faculty unionization more appealing to some faculty members than the elitist tenure system. The silence of senior professors in the face of such openly racist attacks on historically marginalized social groups is the strongest argument against the value of tenure system as is. The good news is that there are more options than tenure/non-tenure binary options. For instance, faculty members could stop pursuing further promotion beyond the associate rank with tenure and focus on the public good they could do rather than on subjugating themselves to further domestication for the sake of a useless rank that has to do with prestige and elitism and less with achievements and expertise. If we have to choose between public good and elitism, public good should prevail.

For administrators, however, presidents of US universities like Mr. Bollinger and the president of my own university are adding to their credibility deficit and betraying the core missions and values of the institutions they lead. Knowledge is consequential and leadership is responsibility therefore silence is not an option. To regain the trust of the people they lead and communities they serve and for their words to have meaning, they need to stand up for the laws of this country and say to a president, who has built a self-incriminating body of evidence, and tell him, “Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel racist.”

The Case Against “Chief Diversity Officer”

2018-10-06T13:57:00.001-07:00

by Ahmed E. Souaiaia*

In few days or weeks, the University of Iowa will announce the hiring of new Chief Diversity Officer (CDO). The title makes the position seem powerful and decisive. That ostensible power is bolstered by the administrative authority that will come with the position–the CDO will be named either a Vice President or an Associate Provost. The person who will be hired will likely be a member of a historically disempowered social group. Combined, the title, the reporting line, and race, gender, ethnicity, or other personal identity marker are meant to give vulnerable members of the University community the sense that they will be treated justly at Iowa. But the persistence of the problems of discrimination, violence, racism, retaliation, harassment, and exclusion shows that none of these outward elements of the position really matter. They are window-dressing, with no capacity for positive real change.

The basic flaw in designing this position lies in ignoring three basic truths about issues of diversity and inclusion. One, a working and learning space can be made diverse and inclusive through adherence to principles of justice, equity and full compliance with University policies and state and federal laws related to civil rights, human rights, and labor and health matters. Two, the fact is that the executive branch of government, in this case the University Office of the President, is either the abuser or potential abuser of rights. Three, all instances and acts of discrimination, racism, harassment, threats, intimidation, and exclusion occur in the classroom or immediate workspace environment—the smallest administrative unit, not at the college or university level. These basic facts should be the guiding principles for configuring the position and allocating resources.

Diversity and inclusion is not about creating a “welcoming and respectful environment that enables everyone to perform at their full potential.” It is about creating transparent and just institutional policies that value relevant personal experiences (as much as it values the “prestige” of the degree granting institution) while complying with state and federal laws. To de-emphasize the importance of institutional policies and procedures, and the need for principled adherence to well-thought out internal policies is to create the perception that the CDO is tasked with creating exceptions to the rules to accommodate persons belonging to historically disempowered social groups. This erroneous perception creates deeper problems including stigma, stereotyping, and resentment. It suggests that members of social minorities are at Iowa not because of their qualifications but because of affirmative action.

Here are some basic facts. First, there are many members of disempowered social groups who are as qualified as any person belonging to the privileged social groups who can be admitted to work or study at the University of Iowa. Second, most, if not all, of these individuals want to be considered for admission and for work on the basis of their qualifications and, importantly, uniquely relevant life experiences, not based on personal identity. Third, members of disempowered social groups are rarely given the benefit of the doubt and they must perform better than the average employee to escape disparaging comments about quota and affirmative action whereas their “entitled” counterparts are often given the benefit of the doubt and enjoy the luxury of choosing to do an average job without fear of being stereotyped. To disregard these truths about historically disempowered social groups and legacy privileges and to continue to use them as props signal willful acts designed to preserve a flawed system and conscious persistence on injuring the dignity of vulnerable people. No person of any social group should be made to feel that they were employed or were admitted to a school because of some special treatment when they are where they are because they are qualified, and in many cases, more qualified than their average counterparts belonging to the dominant social group.

Knowing that the prevention of discrimination, violence, harassment, retaliation, and racism is the responsibility of the university government, the moniker CDO should be replaced by Justice and Equity Officer (JEO) to reflect the real mission of such a position: to monitor the government’s compliance with and enforcement of the rules prohibiting acts of discrimination, racism, harassment, threats, intimidation, and retaliation. Reconfiguring this position would endow a JEO with power and authority independent from the executive branch of the government. Furthermore, such a position must exist outside the normal University hierarchy. By making the officer for this position a member of the cabinet the appearance of independence–if not actual independence–is compromised. If all members of the University community could be confident that they would be treated fairly and equitably and could expect the rules to apply the same way to all, problems of diversity and inclusion would largely resolve themselves.

At a time when the University is facing serious legal and financial challenges hindering its ability to offer faculty and staff raises to match inflation, hiring a “Chief Diversity Officer” and increasing the number of highly paid administrative staff requires more deliberation. Diversity and inclusion is a function of the prevalence of justice and equity in the classroom and work space. By creating an environment that is fully committed to justice and equity, persons of diverse backgrounds and experiences will come (no need for recruitment) and will stay (no need for retention measures) of their own volition. Since it is often the case that acts of discrimination, racism, harassment, threats, and exclusion occur in the classroom or within the department (including dorms, training facilities, etc.), all resources and assets should be made available at the department/unit level. A step that does not require additional spending is to use existing resources and HR staff to ensure that departmental administrators and anyone with a supervisory role are not bigots themselves, and do not tolerate bigotry, racism, discrimination, retaliation, threats, intimidation, and violence. Another step could be the creation of robust tools and processes at the department level to report and deal with any event or act that may erode the principles of justice and equity early, before it becomes serious or costly.

_________

* Prof. SOUAIAIA teaches at the University of Iowa. Opinions are the author’s, speaking on matters of public interest; not speaking for the university or any other organization with which he might be affiliated.

The Three-Legged Stool: Academic Freedom, Shared Governance, and Tenure

2016-11-21T08:48:00.000-08:00

Abstract:
This chapter outlines the relationship between academic freedom and shared governance. It situates academic freedom as one leg of a three-legged stool, with the other being shared governance and tenure. It shows how the relationship between the three components that sustain the faculty's role is under threat from numerous forces: (1) the managerial model that now dominates the corporate university; (2) the massive reliance on contingent faculty which leads to no structural role in shared governance; (3) the loss of faculty vigilance over and understanding of the relationship between shared governance and academic freedom; (4) the renewed culture wars waged by the Right to deprive faculty of both academic freedom and the key elements of shared governance; (5) the rampant laissez-faire commercialism; and (6) financial crises which leads to furloughs, salary cuts, or program eliminations.

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814758595.003.0002

What is the difference between “Muslim” and “Islamic”?

2016-11-07T16:30:00.000-08:00

by Ahmed E. Souaiaia *

Abstract: Social labels and categories are exercise in control. They describe opponents, create boundaries, exclude social groups, justify discrimination, and promote persecution. They are imbued with sociopolitical power. Muslims used labels, internally for the first time, during the formative period of the community to privilege the elite and marginalize dissenters. They called those who challenged the established order, Khawarij [Outsiders]. Today, Muslims living in Western societies are often labeled radical Islamic extremists. But aside from this politically charged phrase, even common adjectives, such as Islamic and Muslim, are misused. So in what contexts should these adjectives be appropriately used and why is it important to use social labels judicially?

Continue reading the essay...

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