Dear Editor: As a tenured professor and faculty senator at UW-Madison, I am deeply disappointed with the University Committee’s hasty and ill-conceived reprimand of my colleague Sara Goldrick-Rab for allegedly damaging academic freedom and the university with statements she made on Twitter. Regardless of what one thinks about her tweets, one does not damage the principle of academic freedom by exercising it. It is bad enough that the Legislature has weakened tenure protections at the University of Wisconsin. The University Committee ought not to compound this situation by discouraging the fearless sifting and winnowing on which our institution once prided itself.
Office of Strategic Communication