Thimann Lecture Hall of UC Santa Cruz

Has the Culture War Come for Libraries?

“The Culture War Has Come for Higher Ed,” proclaimed a recent headline in The Chronicle of Higher Education, summarizing ongoing attacks on intellectual freedom and the closely related concept of academic freedom. Although the same risks apply to academic libraries and librarians, they are often excluded from this discussion about freedoms required for teaching and research. Recognizing that academic librarians have academic freedom is only the first step, albeit an important one.

NY Municipal Archives.

An Interview With Snowden Becker. “Keeping the Pieces:” Police Work and Documentation

Bodycams, First Amendment, Live PD, law and order: police work has been in the news a lot lately, and I have been thinking about how the police order, organize, and control all of that information when literal life and freedom are on the line. I sat down with Snowden Becker, formerly of UCLA, and a researcher into police archives and work to talk about these topics and intellectual freedom.

World Religions

Fear and Intellectual Freedom

Discussions of Islam are essential to many subjects; history, literature, art, political science, geography, and science would all be immensely hurt by eliding Islam. Teaching calligraphy without talking about Islam would be like teaching art history without talking about Catholicism. Teachers and scholars need to be able to teach reality, not have to bend curriculum to societal fears. Students and children need to know what is real, not what some wish was real.