Monday, February 24, 2020

Faculty Letter Opposing Request that UCSC Undergrads Inform on Disruptors



February 13, 2020

Dear Chancellor Larive and Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Kletzer,

We, the California Scholars for Academic Freedom,* a group of over two hundred scholars throughout California, write with grave concern about the Google form “Notification of Class and Section Disruption” sent on February 7, 2020 to UCSC undergraduates in relation to the graduate student strike demanding a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).  This form asks students to surveil and report on conversations occurring in the course of instruction.  It sets a dangerous precedent of surveillance that undermines the core principles of academic freedom.

The university produces knowledge and practice critical to the operations of a democracy. The ideal of academic freedom is at the core of the university in a democratic society. 

Academic freedom is a cornerstone of education in a free society. Its definition includes such items as what are called ‘the four essential freedoms’ of a university, to determine, on academic grounds, who will teach, what they may teach, how they teach and who may study.

Academic freedom requires that faculty and students can participate in intellectual debate free of any censorship or retaliation. Central to academic freedom is that the political, religious, or philosophical beliefs of others, including politicians, administrators and members of the public shall not be imposed on students or faculty. 
California Scholars for Academic Freedom call on you rescind the link to the Google form and refuse to use any data collected through that mechanism as the grounds for disciplinary measures against faculty and students.

On behalf of California Scholars for Academic Freedom,

Susan Slyomovics
Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

Walid Afifi
University of California - Santa Barbara
Professor, Dept of Communication
Director, Center for Middle East Studies

Craig Reinarman
Professor Emeritus of Sociology & Legal Studies
Rachel Carson College 338
University of California
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
831-459-2617

Sondra Hale, Professor Emerita
Anthropology and Gender Studies, UCLA. sonhale@ucla.edu

                                          

1 comment:

  1. I'll be talking about the Asian American student-snitches groomed by Student Services and Counseling that lead to my forced resignation from the University of California, Davis after twenty-one years of tenured service. The UCD faculty union (and its outside "consultant") was complicit and infested with rats. Join me "McDuff interview with Professor Hamamoto. Professor Hamamoto battled "Big Pharm @ 8:00pm EST on February 27, 2020." https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiAai8IYbDua9mujrNfIVbg

    ReplyDelete

Note: Firefox is occasionally incompatible with our comments section. We apologize for the inconvenience.