Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse fired tenured Professor Tom Alter for engaging in protected political speech as a private citizen, in a move that the Committee to Defend Tom Alter has described as a direct assault on academic freedom and the First Amendment and academic freedom rights to freedom of speech, association, and of assembly. In this segment, Frann Michel talks with Bill Mullen, Emeritus Professor of American Studies at Purdue University and chair of the Committee to Defend Tom Alter, a coalition of faculty, students, staff, union members, and community supporters dedicated to protecting academic freedom and free speech rights. They discuss what's happened so far, what's distinctive as well as representative about this case, how supporters of free speech and academic freedom have organized in response, and what concerned listeners can do.
Image by Françoise Foliot; Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism and the University; licensed for public use under Copyright: CC-BY-SA 4.0