The Syracuse University Senate’s Agenda Committee will present a resolution related to attacks on academic freedom during the Senate’s Wednesday meeting.

The meeting will be held at 4 p.m., the Senate’s second meeting in two weeks in Maxwell Auditorium. In addition to the academic freedom resolution, nominees will be presented for two open positions on the Senate’s Agenda Committee.

The Agenda Committee’s resolution states that “significant numbers” of SU community members have appeared on lists created by non-academic organizations that call for the blacklisting of academics for their views.

Dana Cloud, a professor of communication and rhetorical studies, appeared on a website called Professor Watchlist, which sets out to expose professors who the site believes “discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” At the time, Cloud called it McCarthyism and said it was “really quite frightening.”

“Non-academic organizations, in hopes of silencing the expression of views with which they disagree, are increasingly turning to the tactic of blacklisting academics, creating photo galleries of targeted individuals and publishing their contact information to encourage their harassment, and encouraging students to engage in anonymous denunciations of academics to the lists,” the resolution states.

The resolution also claims that academic freedom is essential to the “production, dissemination and exchange of knowledge” and that protecting members of the university community from harassment is necessary for the preservation of academic freedom.

The resolution proposes that the Senate decry “the blacklisting of our colleagues” and call upon members of the SU community to ensure that the lists aren’t used in hiring, promotion, tenure or other situations that require evaluation.

The nominees for the Agenda Committee positions consist of Shobha Bhatia, the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence in the College of Engineering and Computer Science; Lori Brown, a professor in the School of Architecture; Cloud, the professor of communication and rhetorical studies; and Mark Monmonier, a distinguished professor of geography in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Bhatia teaches civil and environmental engineering, and her current research focuses on the development of sustainable materials to protect water quality, according to the Senate agenda. She is also the vice president of the North American Geosynthetic Society and a co-editor for Geotechnical News.

Brown has been a professor of architecture at SU since 2001, according to her faculty webpage. Before that, she worked as an architect for several firms based in New York City. In addition to being a member of the American Institute of Architects and the American Association of University Women, she has been awarded artist residencies at Macdowell, Jentel and Caldera, per her webpage.

Cloud, the professor of communication and rhetorical studies, researches topics including Marxist theory, feminism, social movements and postmodernism, among other things. She’s also a self-described member of the International Socialist Organization, she told The Daily Orange in December.

Monmonier researches the history of cartography, which is the science of drawing maps. He has “written extensively” on the use of maps as a surveillance tool and as “analytical and persuasive tools” across a number of areas, according to the Senate agenda.

Published on March 28, 2017 at 9:45 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu