Academic Freedom

Petition

Providence College (PC) in Rhode Island is a small Catholic institution perhaps more famous for its prowess in basketball than for graduating former US Senator Chris Dodd (CT-D) and six term Chicago Mayor Richard Daly. Founded by Dominican Friars in 1917, the college lately finds itself split between its Catholic identity and its commitment to academic freedom and inquiry, especially on issues such as LGBTQ rights. The motto of PC is “Veritas” but truth is sometimes difficult to determine when science and society butt up against religion and dogma.

University of California scientist Tyrone Hayes discovered a widely used herbicide may have harmful effects on the endocrine system. But when he tried to publish the results, the chemical’s manufacturer launched a campaign to discredit his work. Hayes was first hired in 1997 by a company, which later became agribusiness giant Syngenta, to study their product, Atrazine, a pesticide that is applied to more than half the corn crops in the United States, and widely used on golf courses and Christmas tree farms.

“The premise of democracy, if it’s to be taken seriously, has to focus on youth, which become the ultimate symbol of the future.” H. Giroux

“Are Adjunct Professors the Fast-Food Workers of the Academic World?” Is this provocative, evocative, adversarial, or emblematic of an age of casino capitalism, corrupted Admin Class, and a see/ hear/speak no evil compliant groups of people who are in the 20 percent?

“I’m telling you, this place is the most racist place I’ve ever been to. September 10, it was Latinos and Blacks. And then September 11 came, and it’s Muslims. It’s a list. I top the list.” That’s Vera, student in the USA, in the film, If These Halls Could Talk.

January 20, 2014
President Wallace Loh
Office of the President
University of Maryland
College Park, Md 20742
Dear President Loh;
I have read your response to the ASA boycott of Israeli academic institutions. In fact, if reports are correct, you said:

It’s been a bit of a gap week or two, since pining in with this sort of catharsis,  but some of us schmucks have to make some really lousy money and attend to some really rotten job hunting in a time of pure delusion, all the while that white noise buzzing, the white static noise of the mush of NPR and mainstream mindlessness and the BS of labor stats and economists who deserve what the SEALs and Obama said what happened to Osama (right, US punk prez, directs US amped-up murder incorporated to shoot to kill, ask no questions later, I don’t need no stinking badge, and then burial at sea, hea

By Lawrence Davidson | To The Point Analyses | January 14, 2014

Part I – An Inevitable Controversy

We certainly hope that the MLA does not consider a one-sided punitive resolution against Israel like the one adopted by the American Studies Association [ASA]. The “blowback” against the ASA has been significant.
— Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs

It is still too early to assess, but I would nevertheless venture to predict that next year will not be an easy one for Israel’s enemies on campus.
— Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl