[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Neither your freedom to read or listen would be impinged upon by any of that, even setting aside that you’re using “freedom to” as an ethical construct rather than a legal one.

The Princeton issue reads as a committee which would hold sway over Princeton University Press rather than the faculty’s ability to publish outside the university. Which Princeton is wholly within their rights to incorporate into their practices, employment does not guarantee publication by the university.

This is mistaken and, although wholly innocent in terms of motive, a slander against the freedom to read commitment of the staff of the Princeton University Press.

The word "Press" never appears anywhere in the letter I criticized in #109. It's not in the text, nor in the titles of the (by my count) 406 signatories.

I checked the Princeton University Press employee list and, for each of the several dozen with the word Director, Publisher, or Editor in their job title, I did a search to see if any had signed the letter. I could not find any Press people, even though many other non-faculty Princeton affiliated people did sign.

This could be a coincidence. Or it could be that the Press people rank freedom to read higher than the signatories. As a reader, I hope their declining to sign reflects publisher values.

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Any other issues raised by that committee read as textbook examples of at will employment and contracted employment.

Tenure for university faculty, and freedom to read -- especially for non-fiction -- are thus connected.

Originally Posted by MGlitch

The professor is still free to publish if they can find a publisher or can self publish.

Princeton faculty salaries will then become golden handcuffs. That's just what I'm against.

P.S. For reference, here is the entire paragraph I criticized:

Constitute a committee composed entirely of faculty that would oversee the investigation and discipline of racist behaviors, incidents, research, and publication on the part of faculty, following a protocol for grievance and appeal to be spelled out in Rules and Procedures of the Faculty. Guidelines on what counts as racist behavior, incidents, research, and publication will be authored by a faculty committee for incorporation into the same set of rules and procedures.