Cancelling Dr. Seuss

[dismalist]

It's also heartening to see that not everyone caves. Apparently, George Washington University has some intestinal fortitude. The university was petitioned to get rid of Justice Clarence Thomas' course at the law school, where he is an adjunct.

The university refused on the grounds that there must be open debate, even if its offensive to some. Sounds like U Chicago principles.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3540706-george-washington-university-rejects-calls-to-remove-clarence-thomas-from-teaching-role/

[marshwiggle]

It's also heartening to see that not everyone caves. Apparently, George Washington University has some intestinal fortitude. The university was petitioned to get rid of Justice Clarence Thomas' course at the law school, where he is an adjunct.

The university refused on the grounds that there must be open debate, even if its offensive to some. Sounds like U Chicago principles.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3540706-george-washington-university-rejects-calls-to-remove-clarence-thomas-from-teaching-role/

Over time, the more this is publicized the more these places will attract the best and brightest students who are interested in real intellectual challenge, and the most "cancelly" places, left or right, will mostly attract the drones who don't think too much and don't want to.

[Langue_doc]

Lincoln continues to be canceled, this time based on a single complaint.
https://www.thecollegefix.com/cornell-library-removes-gettysburg-address-lincoln-bust/

Cornell library removes Gettysburg Address, Lincoln bust

[marshwiggle]

Lincoln continues to be canceled, this time based on a single complaint.

And an unspecified one, at that.

He asked the librarians about it, and they had no details to provide, except to say it was removed after some sort of complaint, he said. It's been replaced with, "well, nothing," Wayne said. The walls are white, according to photos Wayne took for The Fix.

Someone should put a plaque on a huge blank wall identifying it as "Everything that can be said that is not offensive." (Of course, the plaque would then be removed for being offensive.)

[Wahoo Redux]

Someone should put a plaque on a huge blank wall identifying it as "Everything that can be said that is not offensive." (Of course, the plaque would then be removed for being offensive.)

Marshy, that hyperbole is pretty darn funny.  Good job.

[Langue_doc]

Lincoln continues to be canceled, this time based on a single complaint.

And an unspecified one, at that.

He asked the librarians about it, and they had no details to provide, except to say it was removed after some sort of complaint, he said. It's been replaced with, "well, nothing," Wayne said. The walls are white, according to photos Wayne took for The Fix.

Someone should put a plaque on a huge blank wall identifying it as "Everything that can be said that is not offensive." (Of course, the plaque would then be removed for being offensive.)

The irony is that with all the canceling (NYC Planned Parenthood scrubbing out Margaret Sanger's name, Sierra Club erasing John Muir, SF school district removing or trying to remove Lincoln's name) and calling out so-called microaggressions, the Supreme Court ruling has now taken away women's right to their own bodies.

[marshwiggle]

Someone should put a plaque on a huge blank wall identifying it as "Everything that can be said that is not offensive." (Of course, the plaque would then be removed for being offensive.)

Marshy, that hyperbole is pretty darn funny.  Good job.

Sadly, I don't think I'm being hyperbolic. Someone would certainly be offended by the sarcasm.

[Wahoo Redux]

IHE: Punished, Then Vindicated for Her Past

A former porn performer won $1.7 million after suing Southwestern Oregon Community College for discriminating against her because of her past work.

[jimbogumbo]

I read this earlier, and have to say I was pleased. The self-anointers of what is "classy" really anger me. And, we are supposed to be the country of it's never too late.

[marshwiggle]

I read this earlier, and have to say I was pleased. The self-anointers of what is "classy" really anger me. And, we are supposed to be the country of it's never too late.

I wouldn't necessarily have a problem if the program had some sort of "code of conduct" that students were required to agree to, but if faculty actually engaged in professional mischief just to get rid of her, they get no sympathy from me.

That's when Gililland claims instructors' and administrators' behavior toward her shifted. She said Sperry gave her an assignment and then claimed she had given Gililland a different assignment and gave her a failing grade on it as a result. Sperry also docked Gililland's grade on a make-up exam as a penalty for completing it late, despite Gililland's request to take it early because of a doctor's appointment, according to court documents. Gililland said in the lawsuit that she was recovering from a kidney infection and sepsis at the time.

Profs get to make the rules for their own courses, but their students and they themselves need to abide by them.

[Wahoo Redux]

IHE: Is Penn Going to Punish Amy Wax?

Dean of law school says she deserves a "major sanction." A faculty panel is studying the issues involved with her statements about Black, Asian, Latino, Jewish and gay people.

[marshwiggle]

IHE: Is Penn Going to Punish Amy Wax?

Dean of law school says she deserves a "major sanction." A faculty panel is studying the issues involved with her statements about Black, Asian, Latino, Jewish and gay people.

Since this is a higher education professional publication, this shows how far things have changed:

Some students and faculty at the University of Pennsylvania have been clamoring for years for the ouster of Amy Wax, the polarizing law professor who courted scandal with incendiary and racist remarks and writings and seemed to relish the resulting controversies. Despite the repeated calls for her removal from her tenured position, and the criticisms of her actions—including by university leaders—that followed each controversy, Wax remained in the position and seemed firmly protected by free speech and academic freedom rights.

The inherent dismissal of academic freedom as an important principle and assumption of the need for censorship would have been totally foreign a couple of decades ago.

[Parasaurolophus]

Some students and faculty at the University of Pennsylvania have been clamoring for years for the ouster of Amy Wax, the polarizing law professor who courted scandal with incendiary and racist remarks and writings and seemed to relish the resulting controversies. Despite the repeated calls for her removal from her tenured position, and the criticisms of her actions—including by university leaders—that followed each controversy, Wax remained in the position and seemed firmly protected by free speech and academic freedom rights.

The inherent dismissal of academic freedom as an important principle and assumption of the need for censorship would have been totally foreign a couple of decades ago.
[/quote]

Twenty-plus years ago, they remembered the McCarthy era.

[downer]

Clearly, Amy Wax is a problem for the Penn Law School that the Dean wants to go away.

She is alleged to have said it is rational for her to fear being in elevators with black men.

Is it rational for black students to fear being in her classes? I wonder what the student teaching evaluations say. She certainly seems to favor a "harsh" approach rather than providing "warm" comments, looking at her RMP.

She seems to teach two main courses:
Freedom, Responsibility, and Neuroscience
Conservative Political and Legal Thought

Both courses look like they were designed for her. I don't see a course in Marxist Political and Legal Thought in their catalog.

[dismalist]

Perhaps strangely, perhaps not, it looks to me like Amy is a piece of work!

Academic freedom to talk drivel is limited to talking drivel on one's own subject, in her case, the law. See AAUP statements on academic freedom of 1940:

Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject. Limitations of academic freedom because of religious or other aims of the institution should be clearly stated in writing at the time of the appointment.

Apparently, but only apparently she extends her reach a tad beyond the law.

In any case, perhaps Penn's statements on freedom of expression are narrower or broader than some on either side would like. I don't know. That is surely relevant for "extra-mural" statements, which Penn or any other private university can regulate however the hell it pleases. Maybe it's better phrased as an ex post vs ex ante question. Again, I don't know.

Without doing unbiased investigations it's hard to know all the detail of what's going on. Maybe some students just don't like her. Maybe she's acid. I don't know.