academia

The Farce of Microsoft’s Anti-Racism and the Capture of Academia

Michael Kwet / Truthdig Apr 17, 2023 In recent years, most large tech corporations have begun pushing anti-racism public relations and touting their donations to Black causes. There is no company more steeped or skilled in this practice than the elder of the group, Microsoft. By deploying fleets of flacks, messaging professionals and hired intellectuals, the company has managed to maintain a pristine image as a “moral leader” of Big Tech, while avoiding and deflecting attention from its deep and sordid history of collaboration with police, prisons, intelligence agencies and militaries. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

Protecting Accused Sexual Harassers on an Illinois Campus

By Rachel Otwell / NPR Illinois and Alex Mierjeski / ProPublica Aug 30, 2019 Campus leaders vow reforms, but many say it’s a long road. Dig deeper ( 14 Min. Read )

The Academics Who Unleashed the Demon of Geopolitical Power

Alfred McCoy / TomDispatch Dec 3, 2018 As a generation of leaders crowds onto the world stage with its own bold geopolitical visions, it's important to trace the roots of the elusive term "geopolitics." Dig deeper ( 16 Min. Read )

From Academia to Art School: An ‘Old Black Woman’ Starts Anew

Paul Von Blum / Truthdig Aug 31, 2018 African-American historian Nell Painter's inspiring and captivating memoir tells of her going to art school at age 64 after a brilliant academic career. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

Forget Tribalism, Disavow Politics and Stand Up for Inclusive Justice

Teodrose Fikre / The Ghion Journal Mar 30, 2018 When we glom on to political labels and attach ourselves to partisan ideologies, we allow the establishment to shatter us into encampments. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

The Elites Won’t Save Us

Chris Hedges / Truthdig Feb 13, 2017 The danger we face does not come, in the end, from Trump and his malignant cabal. It comes from severely weakened and corrupted democratic institutions. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

Professor Who Criticized Trump Is in Hiding After Death Threats

By Kali Holloway / AlterNet Dec 15, 2016 Academics increasingly are being targeted by conservative elements. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

America Treats Most Academic Faculty Like Peons, and the Results Are Not Pretty

By Roslyn Fuller / AlterNet Sep 20, 2016 The growth of insecure faculty members in American higher education has consequences that reach far outside the classroom and far beyond the lives of poorly paid teachers. Dig deeper ( 17 Min. Read )

The Intellectuals We Abandon

Chris Hedges / Truthdig Sep 5, 2016 The late political philosopher Sheldon Wolin explicated the mechanisms of control and manipulation used by the powerful But those who most need to read his work have been left in darkness by an academy that has turned its back on the oppressed and caters to the elites (Pictured, Wolin and James Baldwin, right) The late political philosopher Sheldon Wolin explicated the mechanisms of control and manipulation used by the powerful). Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

Academia Is Still Plagued by Sexual Harassment and Assaults

Ruth Rosen / Truthdig Jul 13, 2016 Anita Hill’s groundbreaking testimony at the 1991 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas gave women new language for coping with age-old problems. But it didn’t make the problems go away. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

Exile as a Space of Disruption in the Ivory Tower

By Henry A. Giroux / Disrupt(ED) Feb 8, 2016 The spaces of retreat from public life occupy too many institutions of higher education, which have been transformed into dead zones of the imagination mixed with a kind of brutalizing defense of their own decaying postures and search for status and profits. Dig deeper ( 9 Min. Read )

Greenpeace Sting Exposes Academics Hired as Climate-Change Deniers

By Deirdre Fulton / Common Dreams Dec 9, 2015 Professors from major U.S. institutions agreed to write reports promoting the benefits of CO2—and said they did not need to disclose fossil fuel funding. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )