Compiled by Scholars at Risk
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Iranian scientist’s death ‘probably the work of western security agencies‘
The Guardian, 7/28
Unruly humanities scholars threaten the discipline, event hears
Matthew Reisz, Times Higher Education, 7/28
Scholars at Risk calls for letters: Vietnamese professor to face trial
Scholars at Risk, 7/27
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Author Archives: Michael Anthony
The Rhetoric of Hate v. Forgiveness
A short, but respectable analysis of an aspect of conservative media’s responses the tragic bombing and shootings in Norway came across my screen today. In “Norway’s Sorrow: Why Is It So Hard For The Religious Right To Denounce Evil?,” Kurt Ostrow argues that a certain segment of the media is unable to simply denounce the attacks and leave it there. They condemn the actions of Anders Behring Breivik, who claimed responsibility for the attack, but then go on to ask if there aren’t real causes for concern that set him off. Ostrow points out that is is part of a very real trend, and provides some excellent examples to support his case, both from Europe and the United States.
He then goes on to make an excellent point.
Right-wing politicians and pundits everywhere have decided it politically prudent to conflate Islamic (of or relating to Islam) with Islamist (of or relating to Islamic militancy or fundamentalism). Or worse: they actually believe this misdirected, misinformed hate.
Academic Freedom Media Review-July 2 – July 8, 2011
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
From where I sit – Digging deep to survive terrorism
Ruth Young, Times Higher Education, 7/7
Oral History, Unprotected
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 7/5
Throwing Out a State Vote
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 7/5
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SAR Academic Freedom Media Review, June 25 – July 1, 2011
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
MALAWI: Closed campuses set to open
University World News, 7/1
Oxford academic wins right to read UEA climate data
Fred Pearce, The Guardian, 7/1
Sowing seeds of freedom in the ‘Arab Spring’
Paul Jump, Times Higher Education, 6/30
There’s no good reason for this inequality
Liz Schafer, Times Higher Education, 6/30
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Blame it on the Dave Matthews Band and their Caravan!
This post is slow in coming because I’ve been lethargic, tired and just feeling kind of blah since this weekend. Now that I am sitting down to write it, and though it pains me greatly to do so, I am publicly accusing an outfit that heretofore has been a positive force in my life: The Dave Matthews Band. The Dave Matthews Band is responsible for the DMB Caravan, a three day music festival visiting four cities this summer. This past weekend, June 24-26 was the first of the four at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I was there, and it took it’s toll. To understand why, let me tell you a little about me.
Most people don’t see me as an addict, but in fact I am. It just that the things I am addicted to are not illegal or even controlled, and music is my most powerful addiction by far. If music is an addiction live music is it’s purest, most potent, addictive form, and this festival served up something like 40 amazing acts over the course of three days! The schedule was pretty well planned out with three stages scheduled to have performances on them from around 1:30 pm to 10:00 or 11:00 pm, but staggered so that you usually only had to choose between two acts at any given time. The tickets were not cheap, just under $200 for three days, but once you were in you had 10 hours at an open bar of music, an addict’s dream! Someone like me should never have been let in the door!
Mariachi El Bronx
More than that, this musical bar was packed with top shelf brands. The variety of musical styles represented was impressive. If you are a Dave Matthews fan, you wouldn’t have been disappointed. The band plays each night, there’s a Dave and Tim Reynolds, and solo projects of band members are also featured. Of course they all sound great. The members of DMB set standards for musicianship whether you like their music or not. On the other hand, if you had gone expecting to hear three days of bands that sound like the Dave Matthews Band, you would have left deeply disappointed. To cite just a few examples, Mariachi El Bronx are, fundamentally, a Mariachi band cross-pollinated with hard core rock and roll. The Carolina Chocolate Drops play music that is, at its foundation, pure bluegrass, even if they are covering a Beyonce tune. Damian Marley, one of Bob Marley’s sons, plays reggae based music as might be expected. Lisa Hannigan is contemporary singer-songwriter from Ireland in what I suppose we could call the contemporary folk style. Thievery Corporation play music that incorporates everything but the kitchen sink. One of the things they all share with the Dave Matthews Band is that they are innovative and not afraid to stretch their wings. Consequently, none of them are easily classifiable and none of them sound very much like the other.
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SAR Academic Freedom Media Review: 18-24 June 2011
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here . The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
American U. in Cairo Professor Is Killed in Baghdad
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/24
Scholars at Risk welcomes the release of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, Iranian scholar Emadeddin Baghi
Scholars at Risk, 6/23
Outspoken Chinese artist is free but has to stay quiet
CNN, 6/23
8 Bahrain Activists Get Life Sentences
Lara El Gibaly and David Jolly, The New York Times, 6/22
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If There's a Rock & Roll Heaven, They Have a New Saxophonist!
I still can’t believe that Clarence Clemon’s has died! The sky should be darker! We have had so many grey days, how dare the sun shine today!
Clarence was the saxophonist in The E Street Band with Bruce Springsteen and a personal hero. Some of you will be interested to know that he was as saxaphonist on Lady Gaga’s Born this Way, seen in the video below, but I grew up idolizing him as “the Big Man” in the E Street Band. A post on Bruce Springsteen’s site today reads simply:
It is with overwhelming sadness that we inform our friends and fans that at 7:00 tonight, Saturday, June 18, our beloved friend and bandmate, Clarence Clemons passed away. The cause was complications from his stroke of last Sunday, June 12th.
Bruce Springsteen said of Clarence: Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band.
Below is a 1978 performance of “10th Avenue Freeze Out,” the song that gave him his nickname, followed by the new video of Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory.” After that are a few other random videos of Clarence at work. Enjoy!
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Academic Freedom Media Review-June 11-17, 2011
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available at http://scholarsatrisk.nyu.edu/Events-News/Academic-Freedom-News.php. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Possible Setback for Program Integrity Rules
Libby A. Nelson, Inside Higher Ed, 6/16
When Presidents Exit the Public Square
Jeffrey Selingo, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/16
Student Freedom of Speech and Dissent Under Siege: The Irvine 11
John L. Esposito, The Huffington Post, 6/16
News in Brief
Times Higher Education, 6/16
UAE: End Trial of Democracy Petitioners
Human Rights Watch, 6/15
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Scholars at Risk Academic Freedom Media Review, June 4 – 10, 2011
Scholars at Risk would like to draw attention to the killing of Dr. Maksud I. Sadikov, Rector of the Institute of Theology and International Relations in Russia. According to media reports Mr. Sadikov was shot to death in a car in Makhachkala, the capital of the Dagestan region, on Tuesday, June 7, 2011. The motives for this apparent assassination are not clear at this time but seem to relate to Dr. Sadikov’s efforts to promote moderate religious education in the region to counter terrorism and extremism in the Caucasus. Please see the following two articles for additional information relating to the killing of Dr. Sadikov:
Rector at Muslim University in Russia Is Shot to Death
Andrew E. Kramer, The New York Times, 6/7
Senior Dagestani Muslim Killed in a Hail of Bullets
Natalya Krainova, The Moscow Times, 6/8
Please find below a compilation of articles in the news media addressing academic freedom issues over the past week.
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The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
BC asks for Irish project secrecy
Kevin Cullen, Boston Globe, 6/9
Annual Report 2011 of the Network of Concerned Historians
Antoon De Baets, Network of Concerned Historians, 6/8
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Certainty, Politics and Faith
(CNN)– On August 6, Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants you to drop the Texas BBQ, grab a moist towelette and fold your hands to pray. On Monday, Perry declared the date a “day of prayer and fasting for our nation’s challenges.”
“America is in crisis, ” the Republican governor says on a website promoting the event. “We have been besieged by financial debt terrorism, and a multitude of natural disasters.”
Perry invited the 49 other governors in the U.S. to issue similar proclamations, “encouraging their constituents to pray that day for unity and righteousness for our states, nation and mankind.” He wants other governors to join him at Houston’s Reliant Stadium, home to the NFL’s Houston Texans, for an August 6 event called The Response, organized by a conservative Christian group.
—Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor
More power to these people for organizing a spiritual event. It’s within their rights and if it achieves positive results so much the better. If the governor of Texas thinks it might help, he ought to attend, maybe even encourage family and friends, anyone he can. But he must do so in his capacity as a private citizen. This should be obvious. What is wrong with the governor? Does he not have any constituents who might be Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or any other religion? Does he not have any atheist or agnostic constituents? The United States of America does not have an established religion and it is not for the governor to advise people to go to any specific religious event. I passionately believe is a cornerstone of our system of government and thus of our greatness as a nation. But let’s leave that aside for now.
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