Monday, March 7, 2016

Academic Freedom, Free Speech & (Social) Media

Oberlin is dealing with a thorny academic freedom/free speech on social media issue: a rhetoric and composition professor who has been saying inflammatory, anti-Semitic, and just plain false things on social media.  It sounds like a complicated situation (much more so than that of the chemistry professor-cum-porn star described below; though I can imagine some possible problems, the two jobs are clearly separate, and he seems to have done his best to keep them so).  

It sounds like Oberlin is addressing the issue thoughtfully (which also means more slowly, and with more nuance, than the 24/7 media cycle/outrage machines on all sides of the issue would prefer);  this is probably a privilege reserved to private colleges these days.  

Speaking of which, Melissa Click was fired by the MIzzou board last week, and the AAUP is protesting (mostly on procedural grounds).  More thoughts on the implications of that situation, including the role of the legislature, here


- unknown

12 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Yep, and even used it correctly. Couldn't resist. Aren't words with dual meanings fun?

      And I'm responsible for this one, too (apparently I was capable of thinking up double entendres this morning, but not of signing my name).

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  4. Melissa Click and the protesters actually struck me as model snowflakes.

    Draw attention to yourselves with a public protest in a public place. Bemoan the media attention and insist you have a right to privacy... Forreal? The point of a protest is to draw attention!

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    Replies
    1. If she improves her attention-drawing skills, maybe we can talk about "Click-bait"?

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    2. Lmao. We got there. We did it, boys.

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  5. The Oberlin prof looks like a real train wreck. Does academic freedom cover being a blithering nutcase?

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    Replies
    1. Within limits. The Florida guy harassing Sandy Hook parents got canned.

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    2. I was kind of wondering about the possibility of mental illness myself, and considered mentioning it, but felt that might be unfair to all the people with mental illness who manage their conditions effectively, do their jobs whenever they can, and seek appropriate help, take a leave, etc., etc. if and when they need it. I realize sometimes one symptom of mental illness can be an inability to perceive that something is wrong, and I recognize that that's a pretty awful Catch-22, but yes, something seems pretty seriously off in this case to me, too -- which is a reason for compassion, but perhaps also a reason for removing this person from active service to the university until she's in a mental state more conducive to academic inquiry and the teaching thereof.

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