This Professor Wants to Teach Administrators Not to Cave In to Right-Wing Outrage

U. of Missouri at Columbia

When a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania tweeted last week about possibly being pulled from the classroom after facing online criticism, a professor saw Penn administrators’ purported moves as a “knee-jerk reaction.”

Now that faculty member, Rebecca G. Martinez, an assistant professor of women’s and gender studies at the University of Missouri at Columbia, is creating what she calls the “Academic Freedom Syllabus,” to help academics and administrators better understand and react to the online threats that academics face.

Threats to academics are nothing new. When Ms. Martinez was a graduate student, at the University of California at Irvine, one of her professors told her about the hateful messages he received by mail, she said. Social media have only increased how often such threats are made. The syllabus is not yet available but will be soon, she said.

Ms. Martinez spoke with The Chronicle on Tuesday about the need for college and university administrators to protect academics’ freedom of speech, and how she hopes leaders understand the threats academics face. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q. When did you decide that you wanted to compile this syllabus?

A. The impetus was after I had seen the latest attack on an academic colleague, at the University of Pennsylvania, and realizing that this is an organized and concerted effort that with the use of social media it really accelerates.

Universities and colleges are reacting in a way that shows their concern with public relations for the university but not as much for their faculty. They’re in a difficult position, and these things happen, but maybe they also don’t realize what the effect is on their faculty, who get rape threats, whose families get threatened physically with violence.

They really need to think about that, and how to respond rather than giving in to these concerted efforts. They paint themselves as moderate critiques when in reality they are organized by the “alt-right.” We really have to protect ourselves. Our universities have to protect our academic freedom.

Q. What was it about Stephanie McKellop’s situation at Penn that really triggered you to want to make this syllabus?

A. It was just the knee-jerk, quick reaction from the institution, without even responding to her first. [In a statement last week, Steven J. Fluharty, dean of Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences, said the university was investigating the classroom practices of a graduate student to ensure students weren’t discriminated against.]

I’m just responding to the criticism without thinking about, you know, what faculty think about this issue without any kind of due process. You know you can’t do these things without due process within the university system. It’s harmful to just make statements like that because those groups then become emboldened.

Higher-ed administrators don’t have an easy job, but I invite them to also be vulnerable and not act based on fear: fear of negative attention, fear of a PR scandal. Do what is morally correct. Don’t be bullied by those who appear moderate and yet are inextricably linked, I think, to alt-right extremism.

Q. What type of material and reading have you compiled for the syllabus?

A. I came up with some subheadings. For example, the history and definitions of academic freedom, attacks on intellectuals and critical thinking, the rise of the global alt-right and attacks on academics, higher-ed responses to attacks on academics, resources, and effective responses. These are the kinds of subheadings I’m compiling so administrators can be aware of where this is coming from.

Q. Who are these readings for?

A. Academics and other higher-ed audiences. I hope administrators look at it and understand the issues. I hope faculty know how to support colleagues or themselves if they get mobbed by these groups because of their comments on social media. I thought, it’s just a shame that our institutions at the top don’t respond to faculty interests as much as outside interests.

When you put something out, you don’t need to embolden those people who are doing this moblike action on people who are your faculty. You should have their academic freedom in mind, and you should know the whole story.

I hope that those at the top will take a look at this and be informed about these issues and understand what it does to faculty who are attacked and do not feel supported by their institutions. It makes us feel very vulnerable. It makes us feel like we can’t teach the things that we need to be teaching. And it feels like our voice is taken away. What are academic institutions for if not for academic freedom?

Q. How much protection can an administrator or a university offer an academic for an independent Twitter account?

A. It is a tough thing. My concern is that often there is a knee-jerk response from the administration to put something out. Things aren’t looked at carefully. Classes are suspended or faculty reprimanded when there hasn’t been a full discussion and investigation. One of the issues is that there are these quick responses to shield themselves from a PR nightmare. It really puts academics on the defense without any support from our institution.

Q. Do you think that administrators may have to relearn how to do their jobs with this? When today’s administrators were climbing the ladder, these social-media attacks didn’t exist, or at least not to this extent.

A. Some of it is they just don’t realize what’s going on. I don’t think they realize how they’re being manipulated, sometimes by these groups. That’s what I hope to share with them. Yes, they need to seek advice from those of us who are working in this medium and from those who deal with these interactions and understand that it’s really like not only just a professional perspective but a personal one.

They need retraining on this issue. Those who are seeking these positions should answer some kind of question: What do you understand about social media and academic freedom for your college campus?

Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz is a breaking-news reporter. Follow her on Twitter @FernandaZamudio, or email her at fzamudiosuarez@chronicle.com.