Rebroadcast: The college educators behind the push to speak freely on campus
This rebroadcast originally aired on September 28, 2021.
Steven Salaita was a rising star in the field of American Indian studies.
In the fall of 2012, he applied for a job at the University of Illinois.
“Around a year later, I was finally offered a position,” he says. “I signed the contract. It was announced all over the internet. You know, so, it was done.”
Then, he lost everything.
“I had taken to Twitter and other forms of social media to condemn Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Palestine,” Salaita remembers.
His move to Illinois was two weeks away.
“And suddenly, I got an email out of the blue informing me that the job offer had been pulled,” he says. “I had effectively been fired.”
Today, On Point: Academic freedom on American campuses.
Guests
Keith Whittington, academic committee chair of the Academic Freedom Alliance. William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton. Author of “Speak Freely.” (@kewhittington)
Also Featured
Steven Salaita, former tenured associate professor of English at Virginia Tech. (@stevesalaita)
Emma Gerike, senior at the University of Rhode Island.
