JONATHAN TURLEY We just discussed a lawsuit by UCLA Professor Gordon Klein who alleges that the university threw him under the bus over a controversial email when it suspended him and posted statements strongly suggesting that he is racist. Now a second such case may be developing at Princeton with an even more direct university allegation of racism against Classics Professor Joshua Katz. The university recently featured Katz in a mandatory freshman orientation video that included a âRace and Free Speechâ section in which he is condemned as a racist. According to the site College Fix, his lawyer has said that legal possible action is being explored.
The school featured the controversy that began with a Quillette article in which Katz questioned racial justice demands lodged by faculty members in the wake of George Floydâs death. Katz was responding to 48 demands and expressly supported some.
Indeed, plenty of ideas in the letter are ones I support. It is reasonable to â[g]ive new assistant professors summer move-in allowances on July 1â and to âmake [admissions] fee waivers transparent, easy to use, and well-advertised.â âAccord[ing] greater importance to service as part of annual salary reviewsâ and â[i]mplement[ing] transparent annual reporting of demographic data on hiring, promotion, tenuring, and retentionâ seem unobjectionable. And I will cheerfully join the push for a âsubstantial expansionâ of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, which encourages underrepresented minorities to enter PhD programs and strive to join the professoriate.
