My Labor Day Dream: More faculty advocate for tolerance & responsible change in the Academy!
Academe is a funny place. Everyone has an opinion. Yet, no one has a public opinion.
Recently, a very senior person commented: "I don't have the courage to speak up like you do!"
I've processed the comment, turned it over in my head a fair bit, & I find it puzzling.
Speaking out on academic issues isn't about courage - it's about responsibility.
In the US & many other countries, faculty are granted tenure so that they can speak up on issues of scholarship & academic life.
Yet, because of fears of social sanctions, administrative sanctions, & external scrutiny, many faculty fail to exercise the right to voice that accompanies tenure.
As a one-time leader, I have had many faculty aske me to step in - & share concerns with senior leaders in the field - because they were afraid of reprisals.
Sometimes, the people who are afraid are from historically disadvantaged groups. Sometimes, they are people who serve on the senior person's editorial board. Sometimes, they are people who simply don't want to put out the effort required to solve problems.
But, here's the thing, the academy does not work if faculty are not active in governance of universities & disciplines.
It is incumbent upon faculty to self-regulate (e.g., run out the cheats & predators), to support governance (e.g., serve on committees & improve the system) & to speak to the world about controversial ideas (e.g., ideas tied to our work & which shape how we think).
Absent faculty fulfilling this responsibility, we will see governance of academic institutions, journals, & funding agencies increasingly turned over to staff - who do not fully participate in our intellectual endeavors - such as research or teaching.
So what to do?
(1) Academics must to respect the right to hold many different opinions - not just on "right" vs. "left" but also on how we govern, interact, & treat each other.
Tolerance is a baseline for shared governance.
(2) Academics need safe reporting mechanisms for misconduct, harassment & beyond.
Retractionwatch.com documented 18,000 cases of academic misconduct by 2018.
https://lnkd.in/eGCx_9iB database documents 1100+ cases of sexual misconduct.
There are more. But people are afraid.
Fear of reprisals undermines shared governance.
(3) Academics need to learn when & how to have a polite discourse.
Too often difficult problems go unattended to bc people are afraid of a senior scholar, department chair, a dean, or a journal editor lashing out.
We need to develop shared rules for what is responsible "academic discourse" & what is irresponsible "troublemaking".
We need to create a climate that makes it more possible for difficult conversations to occur.
I plan to keep speaking up, respectfully, about academic issues & hopefully some of you will join me.
It's the only way we can build a better academy together!
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