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From: Fernanda Zamudio-Suarez
Subject: Weekly Briefing: Victor Orbán came for his university. Here's his advice.
Victor Orbán came for his university. Here’s his advice for American college presidents.
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Victor Orbán came for his university. Here’s his advice for American college presidents. In late 2016, Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, tried to expel Central European University from the country. To fight back, Michael Ignatieff, rector and president of Central European University in Budapest and Vienna between 2016 and 2021, framed Orbán’s move as an affront to academic freedom. Citizens in Budapest rallied around the institution. Read his advice for American college presidents under attack here.
This Cornell University law professor wants to root out race consciousness from higher education one Office for Civil Rights complaint at a time. William A. Jacobson says that anti-Black racism is wildly exaggerated. He thinks that white people are more likely to be victims of discrimination. In 2020, students, alumni, and some law professors unsuccessfully tried to get him fired for a series of blog posts that they perceived created a hostile learning environment for Black students. He’s since started one of the country’s most aggressive campaigns to identify and report race-conscious programs in higher education. Jacobson and three other lawyers have filed 60 complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Our Jasper Smith has the story.
A new Indiana law is putting public college professors under strict scrutiny in the name of intellectual diversity. Indiana passed Public Law 113, also known as the Senate Enrolled Act 202, last spring. It requires trustees who oversee public colleges to develop policies to discipline professors who don’t “foster a culture of free inquiry, free expression, and intellectual diversity within the institution.” Public colleges also must establish a complaint system so students and employees can report faculty members for violations. This leaves many instructors feeling anxious and trapped. Our Christa Dutton reports.
This week on College Matters from The Chronicle: a war on ‘woke’ classes. A Florida law bans public colleges from offering general-education courses that teach “identity politics” or those “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States.” This has prompted colleges to pore over hundreds of courses. Listen on Apple, Spotify, and Youtube.
Last week’s most read story: This interview with the former Columbia University president, Lee Bollinger.
—Fernanda
