
The Right To Learn
Resisting the Right-wing Attack on Academic Freedom
Jennifer Ruth(Author)
Beacon Press
Published on 9. April 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
312 pages
978-0-8070-4515-2 (ISBN)
Description
"From leaders on the frontlines of the battle for academic freedom, a first-of-its-kind response to the far right's insidious attacks on the right to learn"--
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Boston, MA
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
258 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8070-4515-2 (9780807045152)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Jennifer Ruth | Valerie C. Johnson | Ellen Schrecker
The Right To Learn
Resisting the Right-Wing Attack on Academic Freedom
E-Book
04/2024
Beacon Press
€22.49
Available for download
Person
Valerie C. Johnson is associate provost of diversity, equity, and inclusion and associate professor of political science at DePaul University in Chicago. Her research and teaching explore the intersections of race and class. She is the author of Black Power in the Suburbs: The Myth or Reality of African American Suburban Political Incorporation and the co-editor of Power in the City: Clarence Stone and the Politics of Inequity with Marion Orr.
Jennifer Ruth is associate dean in the College of the Arts and professor in the School of Film at Portland State University. She has written about academic freedom and higher education in publications such as the New Republic, Truthout, Academe, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and Ms. Her most recent book, cowritten with Michael Bérubé, is It’s Not Free Speech: Race, Democracy, and the Future of Academic Freedom.
Ellen Schrecker is well known for her scholarship on McCarthyism and higher education. A retired professor of history at Yeshiva University, her latest book is The Lost Promise: American Universities in the 1960s.
Jennifer Ruth is associate dean in the College of the Arts and professor in the School of Film at Portland State University. She has written about academic freedom and higher education in publications such as the New Republic, Truthout, Academe, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and Ms. Her most recent book, cowritten with Michael Bérubé, is It’s Not Free Speech: Race, Democracy, and the Future of Academic Freedom.
Ellen Schrecker is well known for her scholarship on McCarthyism and higher education. A retired professor of history at Yeshiva University, her latest book is The Lost Promise: American Universities in the 1960s.
Content
Foreword, by Irene Mulvey
INTRODUCTION
A Time for Faculty to Act
Valerie C. Johnson, Jennifer Ruth, and Ellen Schrecker
PART I—THE CURRENT CULTURE WAR
CHAPTER 1
Academic Freedom and Political Repression from McCarthyism to Trump
Ellen Schrecker
CHAPTER 2
A Koch-Funded Racial Backlash: Understanding the Critical Race Theory Moral Panic
Isaac Kamola
CHAPTER 3
The Rise of Educational Gag Orders
Jonathan Friedman, Jeremy C. Young, and James Tager
CHAPTER 4
The Epistemology of Ignorance and Its Impact on Democracy and Higher Education
Valerie C. Johnson
PART II—WHITE RAGE, TWISTED LAWS, AND PATRIARCHAL CONTROL
CHAPTER 5
Knowledge and Good Community Organizing Can Counter the “Divisive Concepts” Campaign
Kevin McGruder
CHAPTER 6
Subverting the Intent of the Fourteenth Amendment
Dennis Parker
CHAPTER 7
“Don’t Say Gay” and Can’t Be Trans: Behind the Anti-LGBTQ+ Schooling Agenda
Sonnet Gabbard, Anne Mitchell, and Heather Montes Ireland
PART III—COLLECTIVE ACTION AND VISIBLE RESISTANCE
CHAPTER 8
The Resolutions: Mobilizing Faculty Senates to Defend Academic Freedom
Jennifer Ruth
CHAPTER 9
Silence Gets Us Nowhere: Faculty Responses to Anti-CRT and Divisive Concepts Legislation
Sarah Sklaw
CHAPTER 10
Academic Freedom: It’s a Question of Job Security
Helena Worthen and Joe Berry
CHAPTER 11
My Battle to Preserve Academic Freedom at the University of Florida
Sharon D. Wright Austin
CHAPTER 12
Florida Faculty Unions and the Struggle for Public Education
Katie Rainwater
CHAPTER 13
Schools of Education Under Fire
Marvin Lynn, Michael E. Dantley, and Lynn M. Gangone
Appendix
List of Contributors
Notes
INTRODUCTION
A Time for Faculty to Act
Valerie C. Johnson, Jennifer Ruth, and Ellen Schrecker
PART I—THE CURRENT CULTURE WAR
CHAPTER 1
Academic Freedom and Political Repression from McCarthyism to Trump
Ellen Schrecker
CHAPTER 2
A Koch-Funded Racial Backlash: Understanding the Critical Race Theory Moral Panic
Isaac Kamola
CHAPTER 3
The Rise of Educational Gag Orders
Jonathan Friedman, Jeremy C. Young, and James Tager
CHAPTER 4
The Epistemology of Ignorance and Its Impact on Democracy and Higher Education
Valerie C. Johnson
PART II—WHITE RAGE, TWISTED LAWS, AND PATRIARCHAL CONTROL
CHAPTER 5
Knowledge and Good Community Organizing Can Counter the “Divisive Concepts” Campaign
Kevin McGruder
CHAPTER 6
Subverting the Intent of the Fourteenth Amendment
Dennis Parker
CHAPTER 7
“Don’t Say Gay” and Can’t Be Trans: Behind the Anti-LGBTQ+ Schooling Agenda
Sonnet Gabbard, Anne Mitchell, and Heather Montes Ireland
PART III—COLLECTIVE ACTION AND VISIBLE RESISTANCE
CHAPTER 8
The Resolutions: Mobilizing Faculty Senates to Defend Academic Freedom
Jennifer Ruth
CHAPTER 9
Silence Gets Us Nowhere: Faculty Responses to Anti-CRT and Divisive Concepts Legislation
Sarah Sklaw
CHAPTER 10
Academic Freedom: It’s a Question of Job Security
Helena Worthen and Joe Berry
CHAPTER 11
My Battle to Preserve Academic Freedom at the University of Florida
Sharon D. Wright Austin
CHAPTER 12
Florida Faculty Unions and the Struggle for Public Education
Katie Rainwater
CHAPTER 13
Schools of Education Under Fire
Marvin Lynn, Michael E. Dantley, and Lynn M. Gangone
Appendix
List of Contributors
Notes