I've gotten accused of being snarky and self-righteous lately, which tbf is probably warranted. So let me try this one with some sincerity: Everyone upset about the Muhlenberg should acknowledge the long line of tenured faculty fired for protected speech after leftwing outrage.
I'm talking about people like Charles Negy, who was fired after sending out these tweets.
foxnews.com/media/central-…
Or Tim Boudreau, who was fired for using the n-word in class *as part of a lesson on language, journalism, and the law.* He also was tenured.
mlive.com/news/saginaw-b…
There are many other cases like these, especially once you start tallying up the non-tenured profs who've been fired or the tenured ones who were demoted, suspended, or otherwise punished for protected speech that pissed off the Left.
And yes, that includes speech critical of Hamas.
latimes.com/california/sto…
Why am I bringing this up, if not to be a dick? Because I care deeply about the health of academic freedom, and I don't think it can survive if we don't aggressively defend it against ALL attacks.
For instance, nobody on the Left wants to defend Amy Wax. Hell, few on the Right do either, and I sympathize. But the same arguments used to punish her were used to justify suspending Jodi Dean (google her) last spring.
I don't know how else to explain this stuff. It's not complicated, it's just politically inconvenient. Please just take my word for it, as someone who's paid very close attention to the issue. These problems are linked. That's it.
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