Takeaway: Save the date and RSVP now for a lunchtime teach-in on “Academic Freedom Under Attack: How We Can Fight Back Together” on Friday, October 18, at 1 p.m. on Zoom. Click here to register.
Dear colleague,
Academic freedom and democratic rights are under attack at colleges and universities around the country, including at Rutgers. States like Florida and Texas have done the most to undermine many basic functions of higher education, banning topics such as Critical Race Theory from curricula, dismantling diversity initiatives, and weakening, if not outright eliminating, tenure protections. A growing number of educators and researchers have been disciplined—or outright fired—for expressing their views.
The attack on our rights may be hitting hardest in so-called red states, but the impact can be felt everywhere. At Rutgers, a Holloway administration that once prided itself on its defense of academic freedom has issued harsh restrictions on free expression on campus—in a transparently one-sided attempt to prevent a repeat of last spring’s encampments.
The Academic Freedom Committees of our two unions are organizing a lunchtime teach-in on “Academic Freedom Under Attack: How We Can Fight Back Together” on Friday, October 18, at 1 p.m. Click here to sign up. We hope you’ll join us to hear more about the threats nationally and at Rutgers—and to contribute your own stories and thoughts to a discussion about ways we can respond, both individually and collectively.
Among the invited speakers are: Dr. Ellen Schrecker, a renowned scholar of academic freedom and American higher education and a member of the national AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom; Rutgers Law School Distinguished Professor Sahar Aziz; Rutgers Associate Professor of History Donna Murch; and Elyla Huertas of the New Jersey American Civil Liberties Union.
We need to talk together as union members to understand the scope of this assault—and plan how we can fight back together to defend our rights and freedoms.
In solidarity,
Rutgers AAUP-AFT and Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union
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