My mother was a typical Jewish mother–and my grandmother was the mold they made them from down to the chicken soup-trust me. When I was a kid and occasionally late coming home, I could see my mother standing on our terrace–eight floors up and dead center of the building—watching me get off the bus and walk across the street to our apartment building. This was before cell phones were a common thing-and I thought she was being dramatic when she would claim that she had no idea if I was in a ditch somewhere when she didn’t hear from me. For the record, there were very few ditches in the Bronx. It became our joke as I moved into adulthood. I would call and open with, “not in a ditch.” I promised not to be so over the top with my own kids.[1]
I now teach a class that is made up entirely of international students in our LL.M. program. And while I am getting down to the business of the legal writing as our syllabus says we should, I am worried. I am worried about them and for them. I am worried whenever there is an uncommunicated absence that something has gone awry and that they are in the current equivalent of a ditch somewhere. Yes, they all have valid visas to be here-but that doesn’t seem to matter these days. So, lately, before I start the recording for each class[2], I ask them how they are doing? Are you ok? They are not. They are frightened and more careful than usual. They are not leaving the state or driving on major highways just in case. This isn’t the promise we made when we offered this educational opportunity. This is not what anyone bargained for….
Somewhat related, we discussed our academic freedom policy at our last faculty meeting. University-wide, we closely mirror the AAUP guidelines[3], but the current faculty handbook iteration of academic freedom only seems to cover “faculty” which makes sense due to the title of the book but, nonetheless, leaves a number of colleagues across the university without a stated policy on academic freedom.
As someone who is working on analyzing the data of our last survey, this is concerning because many of our ASP colleagues are not considered faculty—and a lot of what we do can be seen as DEI or DEI adjacent. At our meeting, we discussed changing the language in the academic freedom policy to be more inclusive of staff, practitioners-in-residence, adjuncts, etc. and I believe we will make that change shortly.
Here is my PSA for fellow ASP colleagues: check your institution’s policies and make sure you are covered by them regardless of your status. While we didn’t get to vote on the changes last week, our doctrinal tenured faculty was highly in favor of opening the coverage of the policy to everyone who is essentially student facing in any capacity. Start with your Constitutional Law scholars if you need allies.
I know that things are different in public law schools –where faculty governance is not as widely welcome-and there is only so much you can change there. But please know this: we see you. We are watching to make sure you get home safely and that you are not in a ditch somewhere.
(Liz Stillman)
[1] Truly failed at that, but my soup skills are pretty good.
[2] Because as someone who read the Tufts Daily every day for four years, I still find it hard to believe that my source for the Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes could be the basis for someone being abducted off the streets nearby and I don’t want my class recordings to ever cause anyone harm.
[3] https://www.aaup.org/programs/academic-freedom/faqs-academic-freedom
