In my life, 2012 is a 50th year for lots of things. Today is my 50th wedding anniversary, for example. And I joined the Linguistic Society America 50 years ago — also (so they informed me yesterday) the AAUP.
I still read the AAUP’s magazine, Academe. Last week I was startled to see in the latest issue that Grove City College (in western Pennsylvania) is still on the list of censured institutions; the Academe report on academic freedom and tenure at Grove was the first such report I read when I joined the AAUP! From Wikipedia:
Since 1963, the American Association of University Professors has placed Grove City under censure for violations of tenure and academic freedom. In fact, Grove City’s administration of that era has the distinction of having been on the AAUP’s list of censured administrations longer than any other college that is currently censured. In its report, the AAUP Investigative Committee at Grove City concluded that “the absence of due process [in the dismissal of professors at Grove City] raises…doubts regarding the academic security of any persons who may hold appointment at Grove City College under existing administrative practice. These doubts are of an order of magnitude which obliges us to report them to the academic profession at large.”
