By PETER HOGNESS

On June 10, delegates at the annualmeeting of the American Associationof University Professors (AAUP) inWashington called for an “inquiry in-to the conditions of academic free-dom and due process at CUNY.”

The AAUP’s concern was sparkedby four recent cases at CUNY: theweak administration response topress attacks on two faculty mem-bers at Brooklyn College (see right),John Jay College’s ban on the em-ployment of adjunct Susan Rosen-berg, and the dismissal of York Col-lege adjunct Mohammed Yousry.

“There have now been severaldistinct incidents on different cam-puses,” AAUP General SecretaryRoger Bowen told Clarion. “There’san apparent trend that causes greatconcern.”

IS IT A TREND?The events at Brooklyn College,

which unfolded in the weeks just pri-or to the AAUP meeting, heightenedthe organization’s misgivings. “Thepresident of Brooklyn College madepublic comments about investigatinga sociology professor based on hispersonal views, and that was disturb-ing,” said Bowen (no relation to PSCPresident Barbara Bowen). Press at-tacks on education faculty at Brook-lyn also worried delegates, he said.

“The larger question of the extentto which CUNY’s central adminis-tration will stand up for academicfreedom seemed to be raised in avery dramatic way by these new de-velopments,” said Joan Scott, outgo-ing chair of the AAUP’s CommitteeA on Academic Freedom. “If they’regoing to run every time the NewYork Sun publishes a tabloid article,then there are a lot of people whoare going to be in danger.”

Committee A told the annualmeeting that there was “a possiblepattern of failure to safeguard theUniversity from political interfer-ence in matters of academic ap-pointments” at CUNY.

The inquiry, which could ulti-mately lead to a full AAUP investi-gation, is more wide-ranging thanusual. AAUP inquiries and investi-gations usually focus on an individ-ual case. But in examining a poten-

tial pattern, said Scott, “problemswith academic freedom that havecome up anywhere in the systemshould be looked into.” AAUP staffwant to learn more about the workof the Hunter College Senate’s Se-lect Committee on Academic Free-dom, according to PSC officials.

Asked about the AAUP inquiry,Vice Chancellor for Univer-sity Relations Jay Hershen-son said only, “We are confi-dent that CUNY has actedconsistently with the impor-tant principles of academicfreedom.”

More than a month after PSCPresident Bowen wrote to Chancel-lor Goldstein on the attacks atBrooklyn College, the chancellorhad not responded. “The chancel-lor’s silence speaks volumes,” thePSC’s Barbara Bowen said. “It sendsthe clear message that academicfreedom is not valued at CUNY –and without protection from politicalinterference, real research andteaching are impossible. A second-class research climate is not goodenough for CUNY.”

“Threats to academic freedom atCUNY have become so widespreadbecause of structural problems,”said PSC First Vice President SteveLondon. First, London said, CUNYopposes giving adjunct faculty dueprocess rights in rehiring. Adjunctsteach about one-half of CUNY’scourses. Second, London argued,CUNY’s chronic underfunding leadspresidents to fear any publicity thatmight damage private fundraisingor efforts to boost enrollment, de-priving colleges of tuition dollars.

PROCEDURAL QUESTIONSThe AAUP had already investigat-

ed CUNY’s treatment of Yousry, anadjunct who was dismissed after be-ing indicted on terrorism chargeswith attorney Lynne Stewart, forwhom he worked as a legal transla-tor. Yousry has since been convictedand has appealed. In the AAUP in-vestigation, Roger Bowen said, “wewere not looking at his guilt or inno-cence but at the procedural protec-tions for faculty who stand accused.”

CUNY initially maintained that

Yousry was dismissed simply be-cause of the fact of the indictment.But when CUNY General CounselFrederick Schaffer commented onthe AAUP investigators’ report, hewrote that “the chancellor’s deci-sion was motivated in part out of aconcern that public confidencewould suffer if Mr. Yousry were per-

mitted to continue teach-ing at York College.”(Schaffer explained thatsome of Yousry’s coursesdealt with the MiddleEast – but did not men-

tion that Yousry’s teaching evalua-tions specifically praised him forhandling this volatile topic with“dispassion and balance.”)

“The general counsel’s com-ments,” said Scott, “seemed to con-firm something we had suspected –that they were making their deci-sion very much with the public reac-tion in mind. And that’s not the wayacademic freedom gets protected.”The subsequent cases at John Jayand Brooklyn “suggested that therewas a bigger problem than the ex-traordinary case of Yousry,” shetold Clarion.

Susan Rosenberg had taught atJohn Jay without incident for sever-al semesters – until police groupsprotested against her employmentby the college. A former member ofthe Weather Underground, Rosen-berg had spent 16 years in prison forpossession of explosives. Althoughno one questioned her conduct orcompetence in the classroom, JohnJay President Jeremy Travis an-nounced in December that no de-partment would be allowed to hireRosenberg in the future. “I wrote toPresident Travis about it,” saidRoger Bowen. “His response wasless than satisfactory.”

The AAUP has received a re-sponse from CUNY’s chancellor tothe resolution adopted by the annu-al meeting, and Chancellor Gold-stein has asked for additional infor-mation. Roger Bowen said that spe-cific decisions about the direction ofthe inquiry and who will carry it outwill be made after further ex-changes with the Chancellor, withan announcement likely in the fall.

observant Catholic?” It urged Brook-lyn College President Christoph Kim-mich to reject the department’schoice of chair, and expressed thehope that he would “be pressured bythe CUNY trustees to act.”

Kimmich did not wait long to re-spond. Instead of forwarding Short-ell’s name to the Board of Trustees,the usual procedure for election ofdepartment chairs, the presidentsent a letter to both the Sun and theNews. “I have convened a commit-tee of three high-ranking BrooklynCollege officials and asked them toinvestigate the situation,” Kimmichannounced. The letter denouncedShortell’s views and said that whilehe has a right to express them,“what is not protected is the injec-tion of views like these into theclassroom or…responsibilities hemight assume as chair of the sociol-ogy department.” Kimmich conced-ed, however, that no one had actual-ly accused Shortell of misconducttoward any students or colleagues.He did not specify what the commit-tee had been asked to investigate.

In an interview with the onlinejournal Inside Higher Ed, Shortellsaid that his critics forget “the na-ture of professional ethics.” For ex-ample, he said, “I don’t worry whenI visit my dentist…that I am going toreceive substandard care becausehe is a conservative Republican andI am not.” Shortell said he had al-ways “treat[ed] people fairly in myprofessional role.”

PERSONAL WRITINGOn his personal website, Shortell

wrote that “the world is filled withreasonable people” who are reli-gious, including some of his friends.He compared the “manifesto”rhetoric of his anti-religion essay tobooing at a sports event: “Is it agross overgeneralization? Of courseit is.” He is quite aware, he wrote,that “the manifesto is not an appro-priate form of speech in other con-texts, such as the classroom.”

Although the Sun has attackedShortell for the same essay before,in 2003, it has never criticized hisprofessional work – much of whichdeals with the sociology of religion.He has written on the CatholicChurch in modern Central Americaand on religious discourse in the USabolition movement, and PSC FirstVP London noted that it is Shortell’sscholarly work that was the basisfor his hiring, promotion and tenure.“Potshots from the conservativepress are no substitute for profes-sional review,” London said.

The Sun stayed on the offensive.“Taxpayers…have the right to drawthe line at what kind of person theywant teaching students and partici-pating in the tenure process,” stateda second editorial on May 25. In re-sponse, the PSC chapter called theattacks on Shortell an assault on theright of all faculty “to speak and

write freely,” and Brooklyn Collegefaculty demanded that Kimmich letthe sociology department choose itsown chair.

CHANCELLOR SILENTIn a June 3 open letter to Chan-

cellor Goldstein, PSC PresidentBarbara Bowen reminded him thatacademic freedom is protected un-der the PSC contract. She demand-ed that the chancellor “send an un-ambiguous signal that the normalUniversity procedures will be fol-lowed in the election of ProfessorShortell and that witch-hunts offaculty will not be condoned atCUNY.” (At Clarion press time,more than a month later, Goldsteinhad not responded.)

On June 6, Shortell withdrew hisname from consideration as depart-ment chair, expressing disappoint-ment with lack of support he had re-ceived from the administration. “If itwere simply a matter of resistingthe media attacks, I would have re-mained,” he told Clarion. “But thelonger the college administrationdelayed in making a decision, themore the department’s work envi-ronment deteriorated.”

Shortell said it was “curious” thathe had not been contacted by Presi-dent Kimmich or the investigatingcommittee. “In fact,” he added, “Istill don’t know whether or not thecommittee is still ‘investigating’ me.It is rather Kafkaesque.”

By the time Shortell withdrew, theSun had fired another salvo. On May31, an article charged that one of thecriteria used by the National Coun-cil for Accreditation of Teacher Edu-cation (NCATE) to evaluate theSchool of Education’s curriculumamounted to “screening students fortheir political views.” The article,however, focused its attack on an as-sistant professor of education, PriyaParmar.

The Sun’s report featured twostudents who had complained tothe School of Education about “Par-mar’s alleged disapporval [sic] ofstudents who defended the abilityto speak grammatically correctEnglish.” Citing the class syllabus,the Sun claimed that a centraltheme of Parmar’s class was “theidea that standard English is thelanguage of the oppressors whileEbonics, a term educators use todenote a dialect used by African-Americans, is the language of theoppressed.”

ASSIGNED READINGBut in fact no such statement ap-

pears in the syllabus, and Parmarsaid that the Sun had distorted bothher views and her teaching. She be-lieves it is essential for all studentsto learn standard English, she toldClarion. “They have to be able tosucceed in the mainstream,” Par-mar said.

“I also believe in the need to ap-

preciate and respect linguistic di-versity,” she added. “It’s my job toexpose my students to different di-alects of English.” The reference toEnglish as “the oppressors’ lan-guage,” she said, comes from an as-signed reading by a former Distin-guished Professor of English at CityCollege and the Graduate Center,bell hooks.

Two students who were found tohave used plagiarized material inthe final class assignment com-plained that this was an act of polit-ical retaliation. In a letter to the Sun,the dean of the School of Educationsaid that the plagiarism finding wassimply based on the facts, and thatan appeals process was available toany student who felt his or hergrade was unfair.

Other allegations in the article in-cluded the charge that Parmar hadforced students to watch the filmFahrenheit 911. The Sun did notmention that the film was chosen bymajority vote of the students, to an-alyze in a lesson on media literacyand political propaganda. The paperalso reported that four studentswere said to have dropped out ofParmar’s class; in fact, only one stu-dent did so.

The Sun attempted to tie its at-tack on Parmar to a broader criti-cism of NCATE’s role in accreditingschools of education – though itfailed to note that NCATE was thechoice of CUNY’s chancellor for CityUniversity’s teacher training pro-grams.

The article alleged that by pro-moting evaluation of “dispositions”for effective teaching, NCATE wasexcluding conservatives from theprofession. It objected to NCATE’sstatement that good teaching couldbe influenced by “values such as car-ing, fairness, honesty, responsibility,and social justice,” arguing that thelast is irrelevant to education.

In their interviews with the Sun,however, no student mentioned theissue of dispositions or its relation tosocial justice. Parmar toldClarion that dispositionswere not assessed in thatclass and were not an ele-ment in students’ grades.

The Sun’s article quotedonly two faculty members atBrooklyn College. One of them, his-tory professor Robert David John-son, was featured prominently, de-nouncing the “extremist beliefs ar-ticulated by Professor Parmar.” InJune almost every faculty memberin the School of Education signed aletter addressed to Johnson, askinghim to refrain from attacking otherfaculty members through the press.

The Sun interviewed four stu-dents who were critical of Parmar tovarying degrees, but none of thedozens who rallied to her defense.“Professor Parmar challenged ourviews and sought further inquiry re-gardless of where she personallystood on our positions,” said a lettersigned by more than 30 studentsfrom that class. Contrary to what

the Sun implied, the students wrote,Parmar never said that non-stan-dard English should be taught inclassrooms.

Parmar said it was “comforting”that so many students had reachedout to her to express their support.“I love to teach,” she told Clarion. “Iam used to students challenging thecontent of the course, that’s naturaland expected. I encourage it.”

RACISMBowen’s open letter to Chancellor

Goldstein called on CUNY to rejectthe Sun’s vilification of Parmar andthe School of Education. The lettercondemned the racist assumptionsunderlying the Sun’s attack on Par-mar, noting that “the Sun’s screedabout Professor Parmar, who is awoman of color, leaned heavily on amischaracterization of her teachingon Standard English and Ebonics,and treated with contempt the ideathat reducing social inequities is rel-evant to education.”

On June 7, more than 70 facultymembers attended a PSC chaptermeeting to plan further action. Theyexpressed bitter disappointment inPresident Kimmich’s weak stance.“It hadn’t really occurred to me thata president’s first instinct would notbe to protect his faculty,” said ScottDexter, associate professor of com-puter science.

“Faculty members from the right,left and center voted unanimouslyfor the two resolutions presented bythe union,” said David Bloomfield.One resolution set plans for the fall,including an educational campaignon “the centrality of academic free-dom to Brooklyn College’s missionin this diverse borough.”

CHAIRS IN QUESTIONThe other noted that “President

Kimmich has questioned whether ornot academic freedom applies to de-partment chairs,” and emphaticallyreaffirmed that it does. It pointed outthat department chairs are covered

by the PSC contract, whichstates that academic free-dom applies to all unionmembers, and that theyare elected by their peersto represent the depart-ment’s views. “Depart-

ment chairs are called upon to makeacademic judgments on personneland policy,” it emphasized, “[and] canbest carry out these duties with theprotection of academic freedom.”

Parmar and Shortell both praisedthe union’s quick and firm re-sponse. “When this erupted into thenews media, the union was the firstplace I turned,” Parmar said. “Itwas just a natural reaction, and theunion has been my greatest level ofsupport.”

“I am proud to be part of groupof scholars and teachers whorefuse to be pushed around,”Shortell said. “This time I was theone in need of assistance. Nexttime, I have to be willing to come tothe aid of others.”

6 NEWS Clarion | Summer 2005 Clarion | Summer 2005 NEWS 7

Brooklyn College was the site of two controversies about academic freedom.

By DANIA RAJENDRA and PETER HOGNESS

Two Brooklyn College professorsand the college’s School of Educa-tion were in the headlines in Mayand June, under attack in the dailypress. In response, the PSC urged afirm stand against political interfer-ence with academic decisions, anddemanded that the college presi-dent and CUNY’s chancellor speakout in defense of faculty members’rights.

“What happened at the college isthat management did notstand up for academic free-dom,” said Nancy Romer, amember of the PSC ExecutiveCouncil and professor of psy-chology at Brooklyn. “That isvery disturbing.”

“The Brooklyn College fac-ulty and the union University-widerallied to the defense of our col-leagues and academic freedom,” saidPSC First VP Steve London, associ-ate professor of political science atBC. “The PSC will continue to moni-tor the situation and press manage-ment to speak out.”

INVESTIGATION INVITEDA resolution adopted by the cam-

pus PSC chapter asked for an inves-tigation by the American Associa-tion of University Professors (see

left). “These attacks have producedan atmosphere of fear and intimida-tion,” it stated. “Academic freedomis in jeopardy at Brooklyn College.”

David Bloomfield, vice chair ofthe Brooklyn chapter, told Clarion,“Because of the voice we’re provid-ing for academic freedom, the unionhas received increased supportacross campus and across CUNYand beyond.”

The first article ap-peared in the New YorkSun, and was picked up bythe Daily News under theheadline, “Top profsparks outrage.” The pa-pers assailed the sociolo-gy department’s election

of Timothy Shortell as chair, citingan anti-religious essay he wrote in2001 and posted on a personal web-site. “Can there be any doubt thathumanity would be better off with-out religion?” Shortell had asked.“In the name of their faith, thesemoral retards are…doing real harmto others.”

The Sun’s May 18 editorial asked,“How could someone who…deemspeople of faith ‘moral retards’ possi-bly be fair in evaluating the tenurecandidacies of an Orthodox Jew or an

Does CUNYallow politicalinterference?

College failsto defendacademicfreedom

Weak response from administration

AAUP to question CUNY

Two Brooklyn College professors under attack

Four recent cases called ‘disturbing’

Joan Scott headed AAUP’s Committee A.

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The New York Sun was launched in2002 by a group of wealthy right-wing investors, including RichardGilder and Roger Hertog, two for-mer chairmen of the Manhattan In-stitute. Their stated aim was tobuild a politically influential paperas a conservative alternative to TheNew York Times.

How conservative? Here’s one ex-ample: shortly before NYC’s mas-sive anti-war march in February2003, a Sun editorial suggested thatthe NYPD “allow the protest andsend two witnesses along for eachparticipant, with an eye toward pre-serving at least the possibility of aneventual treason prosecution.”

RIGHTWARD TILTBut editorials weren’t the main

place where the Sun’s backersthought that the Times should tiltmore to the right – it was the news.The goal of the Sun was not to be“objective” – indeed, its presidentand founding editor, Seth Lipsky,heaps scorn on the idea. “If it’s objective, you would fall asleepreading it – if you could still read itafter throwing up on it,” Lipsky tolda group of Yale students in late 2003.“I don’t believe in journalists having‘responsibility,’” he said.

September 2004 saw the resigna-tion of Sun news editor Stuart Mar-ques, a veteran of the Daily News,the NY Post and other papers.

“Sources say he clashed with SunPresident and Editor Seth Lipskyover the hardline conservative po-litical direction of the fledgling pa-per,” the NY Post reported.

The Sun is thus a very differententerprise from a paper like theWall Street Journal, which keeps itsconservative editorials largely sep-arate from its news reporting. It ismore like Rev. Sun Myung Moon’sWashington Times, with its politicalbiases driving its approach to thenews.

In a recently leaked e-mail, man-aging editor Robert Messenger con-ceded that the Sun is not a “conser-vative general interest newspaper”but “a niche product catering to aspecific audience.”

The Sun’s circulation is said to bearound 60,000 – or about three timesthe size of Clarion’s. That leaves itsome distance from challenging either the Times, with 1.1 million, orthe Post, with a little under 700,000.

However, even 60,000 may be aninflated figure. According to anNYC wholesaler’s employee, whowrote last year to the Poynter Insti-tute’s influential journalism web-site, the Sun only charges news-stands a penny per copy. At thatrate, wrote William Breen, “it doesn’t pay for dealers to return unsold copies....Virtually everycopy they print is ‘sold.’”

-PH

What is the NY Sun?