Targeted Harassment of Faculty: What Higher Education Administrators Can Do

• Published in: Liberal Education Vol. 104; no. 2; pp. 50 - 55
• Main Author: Scott, Joan Wallach
• Format: Journal Article Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Association of American Colleges and Universities 22.03.2018
• Subjects: Academic Freedom; Administrators; Anti Intellectualism; Bullying; Civil Rights; Classrooms; College Administration; College campuses; College Faculty; College Students; College teachers; DeVos, Betsy; Education; Emotional Response; Employee dismissals; Employment; Employment terminations; Freedom of Speech; Governance; Higher Education; Middle Eastern Studies; Political activism; Political Attitudes; Political parties; Politics; Presidents; Social networks; Speech; Speeches; Students; Trustees; Universities; University professors; New York (Syracuse); Connecticut (Hartford); United States > US; Tennessee
• ISSN: 0024-1822; 2693-518X

There is nothing new about attacks on college and university faculty for what is deemed unacceptable political expression. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) was founded more than one hundred years ago in response to exactly these kinds of attacks. This article discusses good and bad examples of responses to the targeted harassment of professors. Examples of bad responses include the removal of the targeted teacher from the classroom for unspecified reasons of campus or individual safety and security; the suspension and then firing of instructors, untenured professors, and contingent faculty without hearings to determine what campus rules they have violated; and the immediate placement on leave of absence of tenured faculty accused of offensive speech. The good examples are those in which administrators defend the speech rights of their faculty and follow established procedures of due process and faculty governance. In the good examples, the university leader refuses to bow to the demands of legislators, politicians, trustees, donors, or outside agitators, instead using the occasion to instruct trustees about the principles of free speech and academic freedom upon which the university is based. Two cases are provided as examples: (1) the case of tenured associate professor Johnny Williams at Trinity College in Connecticut; and (2) the case of Professor Dana Cloud at Syracuse University.