What's Wrong?

The following is a special guest post by philosopher Neera K. Badhwar. What’s Wrong? is grateful to Professor Badhwar for her contribution.

Princeton Faculty Demand Censorship

“Anti-Blackness is foundational to America. It plays a role in where we live and where we are welcome. It influences the level of healthcare we receive. It determines the degree of risk we are assumed to pose in contexts from retail to lending and beyond. It informs the expectations and tactics of law-enforcement. Anti-Black racism has hamstrung our political process. It is rampant in even our most “progressive” communities. And it plays a powerful role at institutions like Princeton, despite declared values of diversity and inclusion.”

So begins a letter dated July 4^th, 2020 to the administration signed by over 350 faculty members from the hard sciences, math, humanities, and social sciences at Princeton University. It proposes various measures to combat racism, including a committee to address discrimination in the classroom “in line with student demands”. It encourages anti-racist student activism and asks for “a formal public University apology to the members of the Black Justice League and their allies”. The letter also proposes not allowing departments to hire anyone if they can’t show “a concerted effort” to hire faculty of color. Continue reading →

Philosopher Elizabeth Harman has a short piece here.