From leaders on the front lines of the battle for academic freedom in higher education, an empowering collection on fighting back against anti-CRT policies, book banning, and more

Spanning over 40 years of contested history through to today, The Right to Learn speaks out fearlessly against the far right’s decades-long war against intellectual freedom. This essential anthology outlines and contextualizes the culture wars’ demonization of critical race theory, Ron DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, and other hot-button issues.

With an introduction that places the current crisis within the broader context of the ongoing attacks on American democracy, The Right to Learn features the testimony and analysis of activists, scholars, and attorneys with firsthand experience in the struggle against well-funded conservative groups’ assaults on academic freedom.

An impassioned, inspired resource for those fighting on the ground for the right to learn, this anthology is structured in 3 parts designed to equip educators with the necessary tools to understand the battle—and to fight back.

  • PART 1 explores educational gag laws, featuring, among others, PEN America staff members Jonathan Friedman, Jeremy C. Young, and James Tager.
  • PART 2 offers perspectives on key issues from those on the front lines: activists, educators, and attorneys like Dennis Parker, director of the National Center for Law and Economic Justice.
  • PART 3 investigates the implications of undermining academic freedom, with insight from experts such as Sharon D. Austin, one of the professors barred by the University of Florida from testifying against a restrictive voting rights law and a plaintiff in the main legal case against Ron DeSantis’s “Stop WOKE Act.”

As they confront today’s attack on higher education, The Right to Learn’s expert contributors reveal that what’s at stake is the pursuit of the real-world and contemporary knowledge a democratic polity requires
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

About

From leaders on the front lines of the battle for academic freedom in higher education, an empowering collection on fighting back against anti-CRT policies, book banning, and more

Spanning over 40 years of contested history through to today, The Right to Learn speaks out fearlessly against the far right’s decades-long war against intellectual freedom. This essential anthology outlines and contextualizes the culture wars’ demonization of critical race theory, Ron DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, and other hot-button issues.

With an introduction that places the current crisis within the broader context of the ongoing attacks on American democracy, The Right to Learn features the testimony and analysis of activists, scholars, and attorneys with firsthand experience in the struggle against well-funded conservative groups’ assaults on academic freedom.

An impassioned, inspired resource for those fighting on the ground for the right to learn, this anthology is structured in 3 parts designed to equip educators with the necessary tools to understand the battle—and to fight back.

  • PART 1 explores educational gag laws, featuring, among others, PEN America staff members Jonathan Friedman, Jeremy C. Young, and James Tager.
  • PART 2 offers perspectives on key issues from those on the front lines: activists, educators, and attorneys like Dennis Parker, director of the National Center for Law and Economic Justice.
  • PART 3 investigates the implications of undermining academic freedom, with insight from experts such as Sharon D. Austin, one of the professors barred by the University of Florida from testifying against a restrictive voting rights law and a plaintiff in the main legal case against Ron DeSantis’s “Stop WOKE Act.”

As they confront today’s attack on higher education, The Right to Learn’s expert contributors reveal that what’s at stake is the pursuit of the real-world and contemporary knowledge a democratic polity requires

Table of Contents

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

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