Beltway to Obama: More Fear, Please Beltway to Obama: More Fear, Please
Eric on this week's concerts and Reed on the Beltway Media, American Exceptionalism and foreign policy.
Sep 5, 2014 / Eric Alterman and Reed Richardson
Putting ‘Medicare for All’ on the Agenda Putting ‘Medicare for All’ on the Agenda
Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Don Berwick is making an issue of single-payer healthcare reform.
Sep 5, 2014 / John Nichols
You Can’t Unsee It: Washington Football Name and Quiet Acts of Resistance You Can’t Unsee It: Washington Football Name and Quiet Acts of Resistance
When ESPN reporters and fans aren’t buying a racist name, it might be time for Dan Snyder to sell.
Sep 5, 2014 / Dave Zirin
Six Ways to Fight for Racial Justice Six Ways to Fight for Racial Justice
From making a donation to watching a video to sharing your own story, here are six ways you can support young people at the forefront of the fight for racial justice.
Sep 4, 2014 / NationAction
How the Government Created ‘Stop-and-Frisk for Latinos’ How the Government Created ‘Stop-and-Frisk for Latinos’
Indiscriminate stops and mobile fingerprinting in the Big Easy represent a frightening new frontier in immigration enforcement.
Sep 3, 2014 / Zoë Carpenter
Minneapolis Has Long Been Fractured by Racial Inequity. Can a New Mayor Change That? Minneapolis Has Long Been Fractured by Racial Inequity. Can a New Mayor Change That?
Mayor Betsy Hodges wants to make Minneapolis live up to its progressive hype.
Sep 3, 2014 / Gabriel Thompson
‘Unhiring’ Steven Salaita ‘Unhiring’ Steven Salaita
In early August, the website Inside Higher Ed reported that at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), an official offer of a tenured professorial appointment had been rescinded by a top administrative officer. That alone would have been unusual, but concerns grew after sources close to the decision-making process reported that Chancellor Phyllis Wise was responding to calls and e-mails about Professor Steven Salaita’s acerbic and emphatic anti-Israel tweets. Once scholars heard of this, protests erupted: 17,000 signatures have been gathered criticizing the decision, and 3,000 professors are boycotting UIUC. The American Association of University Professors issued a statement declaring that social media expression is private and protected speech, and that the use of “civility” as a litmus test—which the university now admits in rescinding the hire of Salaita—is unacceptable. Please support our journalism. Get a digital subscription for just $9.50! The University of Illinois board of trustees insists that “speech that promotes malice is not an acceptable form of civil argument if we wish to ensure that students, faculty and staff are comfortable in a place of scholarship.” However, the US Department of Education has determined that students’ “comfort” is not as important as free debate. There are three important issues here. First, universities are increasingly being asked to shut down criticism of Israel. Second, a review of Salaita’s teaching evaluations at his former college, Virginia Tech, shows enthusiastic appreciation of his teaching and interactions with students. Hence, the trustees’ decision is based entirely on a hypothetical potential harm to students caused by his allegedly offensive tweets. Third, the chancellor and trustees at UIUC have broken a covenant with their faculty. Faculty governance is the mainstay of the educational process. Many trustees, on the other hand, have no background in higher education; they are there primarily to safeguard and grow the endowment. What is startling about the Salaita case is that the board let its protection of the bottom line completely overshadow the university’s educational mission and hid these financial motives behind the notion of “civility.” Read Next: Noam Chomsky on the BDS movement
Sep 3, 2014 / David Palumbo-Liu
Why Firing David Gregory Won’t Change ‘Meet the Press’ Why Firing David Gregory Won’t Change ‘Meet the Press’
The Sunday classic is chasing ratings off a cliff.
Sep 3, 2014 / Column / Eric Alterman
Ferguson’s Anthem Ferguson’s Anthem
How “Fuck the Police” came to narrate the town’s humiliations and violations.
Sep 3, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Clover
Arthur Danto’s Critique of the ‘Aesthetic Terrorism’ of Jeff Koons Arthur Danto’s Critique of the ‘Aesthetic Terrorism’ of Jeff Koons
A solo Koons exhibition, Danto wrote in 1989, was “a vision of an aesthetic hell.”
Sep 2, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Back Issues and Arthur C. Danto