Thursday, May 22, 2014

New column day

Here, following up on the Robert Buckingham saga at the University of Saskatchewan by asking whether tenured university professors should be the only workers who have any hope of being able to discuss issues of public importance without fearing for their jobs.

For further reading...
- Buckingham's story is told here, here, here and here among other places - with the latest news seeing the U of S terminating the president who oversaw his firing.
- The terms of the U of S Faculty Association's collective bargaining agreement made public in association with the story are here.
- Matt Kwong reports on the uncertainty of academic tenure across North America, while Lauren Williams discusses Kansas' restrictive social media policy which is referenced in the column.
- Finally, Debbie Mihalicz sees the silencing of professors as part of a corporate mindset at the U of S. The Star Phoenix highlights how the firing creates reason to distrust the university's leadership. And Lindsay Tedds discusses the dangers of insisting that professors stick to the party line - though in keeping with the column, I'd think her points apply more broadly than the university setting alone.

No comments:

Post a Comment