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Education Desk
The Education Desk is our education blog focusing on key areas of news coverage important to the state and its improvement. Evidence of public policy performance and impact will be reported and analyzed. We encourage you to engage in commenting and discussing the coverage of education from pre-natal to Higher Ed.Dusty Rhodes curates this blog that will provide follow-up to full-length stories, links to other reports of interest, statistics, and conversations with you about the issues and stories.About - Additional Education Coverage00000179-2419-d250-a579-e41d385d0000

UI Faculty Association President Calls Salaita Report A Game Changer

    

  Bruce Rosenstock, president of the Campus Faculty Association at the University of Illinois, said the report released today by the school’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure is a “bombshell and a game changer” that will force university officials to revisit their decision to not hire controversial professor Steven Salaita.

Rosenstock sais if officials fail to respond appropriately, the university could face censure from the American Association of University Professors, making it difficult to attract any professors to the school. He also said that his colleagues are praising the report.

“I haven’t been speaking to people, but I've been watching the email grow in my inbox over the last few hours, saying this is an incredible, amazing and courageous report.”

 

Chancellor Wise issued a statement saying she is reviewing the report with university officials.

 

 

UPDATE:

Here is Chancellor Wise's full statement:

I received the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure’s report this morning, and I thank them for their time and effort. I have read the report. It contains a great deal of information, and it is important that I thoroughly review it and discuss the findings and recommendations with the authors, the provost, deans and other campus leaders.  
 
 
I strongly believe that shared governance, academic freedom and freedom of speech are foundational to the missions of all universities.  I know that my July massmail has been interpreted by some as creating a speech code policy. That was not my intent at all.  To the extent that it can be read as elevating civility above academic freedom, I want to make clear that I understand that my message was incorrect, and I apologize for that.  I look forward to further discussions on this topic with the faculty and to the clarity those conversations can provide to the campus community.
 
 
I sincerely regret that our campus has experienced negative impacts arising out of this matter and that the impact has been disproportionately felt by many of our faculty in the Arts, the Humanities and the Social Sciences. I want to make clear that we support the AAUP’s 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, as well as the updated statement released in 1970. It is our responsibility to foster a campus community where the most uncomfortable and contentious issues can be debated freely and openly. I look forward to continuing the conversations about how to fulfill that responsibility.
 
 
Finally, I want to make clear that since Prof. Salaita was not hired we have repeatedly reached out to Prof. Salaita’s attorneys to attempt to resolve this matter and to reimburse him for his reasonable losses. We are committed to continuing this process.
 

 

 

After a long career in newspapers (Dallas Observer, The Dallas Morning News, Anchorage Daily News, Illinois Times), Dusty returned to school to get a master's degree in multimedia journalism. She began work as Education Desk reporter at NPR Illinois in September 2014.
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