Academic Freedom

Professors urge University of Texas at Austin to lift a pause on recruiting participants for an approved study on the effectiveness of antiracist training for white children and parents.

A dozen University of Michigan professors argue that the controversy over a blackface Othello is more about teaching preparation than free expression, and that better university training and protocols could have lessened the fallout for everyone involved.

Students at the University of Illinois at Chicago escalate their calls for a law professor accused of racism to be fired, now that he’s scheduled to return to the classroom. The professor says he’s caught up in something that isn’t really about him.

Constraints on discussions of important social issues, however sensitive, subvert the goals of a liberal arts education, write David Wippman and Glenn C. Altschuler.

U of Florida says three professors can now testify as experts in an elections lawsuit, and accept customary payment for their time. The professors are suing the university anyway. UF’s faculty union describes a larger pattern of apparent political interference in academic matters.

If the standards the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used in his case are applied broadly, it could have unfortunate repercussions for many other academics, argues Alex Small.

Astronomer withdraws paper and puts book sales on hold amid controversy. Some say he’s a casualty in the culture wars; others say he burned himself.

The University of Florida’s critics aren’t satisfied with its change of heart -- that professors can testify in a voting rights case against the state now, as long as they do it for free.