Open Letter to College and University Presidents on Student Protests

Academic freedom and free speech are essential. Universities must protect them.

https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/open-letter-to-college-and-university-presidents-on-student-protests

• Schools must not single out particular viewpoints for censorship, discipline, or disproportionate punishment
• Schools must protect students from discriminatory harassment and violence
• Schools can announce and enforce reasonable content-neutral protest policies but they must leave ample room for students to express themselves
• Schools must recognize that armed police on campus can endanger students and are a measure of last resort
• Schools must resist the pressures placed on them by politicians seeking to exploit campus tensions

#aclu #american-civil-liberties-union #free-speech #freedom #liberty #academic-freedom #university #universities #protests #free-expression #civil-liberties #university-presidents

‘Slavery was wrong’ and 5 other things some educators won’t teach anymore

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/03/06/slavery-was-wrong-5-other-things-educators-wont-teach-anymore/

In the following, Greg Wickenkamp is an eighth-grade social studies teacher, and Noll is Superintendent Laurie Noll. This was Iowa.

She continued: “To say ‘Is slavery wrong?’ — I really need to delve into it to see is that part of what we can or cannot say. And I don’t know that, Greg, because I just don’t have that. So I need to know more on that side.”\
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As Wickenkamp raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips, she added, “I’m sorry, on that part.”\
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Wickenkamp left the Zoom call. At the close of the year, he left the teaching profession.\
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Contacted for comment, Noll wrote in a statement that “the district provided support to Greg with content through a neighboring school district social studies department head.” She did not answer a question asking whether she thinks teachers should be permitted to tell children that slavery was wrong.

#education #public-education #slavery #freedom #liberty #academic-freedom #history #teaching #teachers #curriculum #curricula #schools #public-schools #conservatives #conservatism #racism #social-studies