A Case of Contesting Visions

Academic freedom at The New School

According to a report by Vice President Al Landa, who was called to the scene, the disruptors continued “to hoot and holler accusations and epithets” at Gideonse and were “on the verge of doing something physical.” The grad students’ account of the incident does not indicate an intention to do anything physical, but otherwise ...
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In Support of Professor Luciana Cadahia

An open letter

This past Tuesday morning, Professor of Political Philosophy and Latin American Critical Theory at Pontífica Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá) received a Kafkaesque letter that read (the translation is ours): “According to the article 28 of Law 789 of 2002 of our Faculty, we hereby notify you that your contract has been ...
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In Support of Professor Luciana Cadahia

Women of Color Resisting Hegemony in the Academy

An interview with Manya C. Whitaker and Eric A. Grollman

Counternarratives from Women of Color Academics: Bravery, Vulnerability and Resistance demonstrates how to build collective co-created spaces for “speaking up, speaking against, calling out and calling in”, to make visible the experiences and voices of women of color in academia, and the struggle for infrastructures of inclusion and justice at the ...
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Women of Color Resisting Hegemony in the Academy

Undocumented in the Ivory Tower

An excerpt from “Counternarratives from Women of Color Academics”

Counternarratives from Women of Color Academics: Bravery, Vulnerability and Resistance documents the lived experiences of women of color academics who have leveraged their professional positions to challenge the status quo in their scholarship, teaching, service, activism, and leadership. By presenting reflexive work from various vantage points within and outside of the ...
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Undocumented in the Ivory Tower

A Secret Invasion 

The University in Exile and conspiracy theories

Conspiracy theories offer alternative explanations for shocking historical events and sweeping cultural changes. They simplify complex socio-political factors and processes into seductive narratives of Good versus Evil. They are the opium of those who believe that they are on the wrong side of history, yet imagine that God is on ...
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A Secret Invasion 

The One Who Writes Books

Eric Hoffer and the Perks of Being Self-taught

We don’t know much about Hoffer’s first decades of life, up to his forties. The only available markers came through his voice only and they were full of inconsistencies. Many biographers have had difficulties with identifying the real pre-Longshoreman Philosopher Eric Hoffer (see Tom Bethell’s Eric Hoffer, Genius—And Enigma). He had ...
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Centering Human Relations in Learning

Human Relations Center at the New School: a place for women to come learn and to socialize

In Spring 1973, the author and women’s rights leader Betty Friedan taught a course on “Women in New York” at The New School. The eight sessions focused on the problems females faced in the city, in work and beyond, and it drew a large crowd. Enrollment consisted of 97 women ...
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Centering Human Relations in Learning

Richard Rorty: The Dark Years

The philosopher’s vision of what is dangerous and yet possible

The passages below are selections from “Richard Rorty: The Dark Years.”  Introduction No one was more acute than American philosopher Richard Rorty in echoing and epitomizing the accusations and taunts of his critics. In “Trotsky and the Wild Orchids” he tells us that conservative culture warriors characterize him “one of the relativistic, ...
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Richard Rorty: The Dark Years

Why Leonardo Da Vinci Matters Beyond a $450 Million Painting

500 years after his death he can still teach us to create what doesn’t exist yet

This celebrity treatment of Leonardo da Vinci misses why his work really matters. Whether or not the most recent discoveries survive the test of time (some attributions have been short-lived, as scholars’ opinions about authorship evolved), they are scheduled to be included in several major exhibitions in museums around the ...
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Why Leonardo Da Vinci Matters Beyond a $450 Million Painting

Academia, Grassroots Organizations, and Debt

Towards a Genuine Collaboration

What if the president of the United States, along with Congress, cancelled student debt and made public college tuition free? Just a few years ago, these goals would have seemed like the pie-in-the sky dreams of a marginal sect. Today, free public college is supported by major presidential candidates, including ...
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Academia, Grassroots Organizations, and Debt

Stephen Miller and DHS, Measles and the Anti-Vaccination Movement, and Adjunct Professors

Past Present Episode 175

In this episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss the influence of Trump adviser Stephen Miller, the resurgence of measles in the United States and the anti-vaccination movement, and the plight of adjunct professors. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: A spate of departures at the Department of ...
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Stephen Miller and DHS, Measles and the Anti-Vaccination Movement, and Adjunct Professors